"Sexual molestation of children is a volitional act. It is a matter of choice."
– Andrew Vachss
Hidden in Plain Sight
With the long term effects of child abuse covering a wide range of fears, anxieties, depression, anger, hostility, inappropriate sexual behaviour, poor self-esteem, tendency toward substance abuse and difficulty with close relationships, it is little wonder that we seeing problems in youth of society.
One North American study from five years ago once again confirmed sexual assaults on children were committed by relatives at 47 percent; 49 percent by acquaintances, such as a teacher, a coach or a neighbour and only 4 percent by strangers. 20 percent of sexually exploited children who were interviewed were involved in prostitution rings that worked across state lines.1
This underlines the sad, statistical reality that another other study found, in that most prostitutes on the street were sexually abused as children. 59 percent of incarcerated women in maximum-security prisons were sexually abused in childhood and 80 percent of women in prison and jails have been victims of sexual and/or physical abuse. A report on convicted killers shows that 83.8 percent suffered severe physical and emotional abuse 32 percent were sexually abused as children. 75 percent of juvenile girls identified as delinquent by the courts have been sexually abused. 2
According to one UK survey conducted by Great Ormand Street Hospital in the UK, one in eight boys who were sexually abused grew up to be a paedophile. “The research, published today in the Lancet, showed that 26 of the 224 former victims studied went on to commit sex offences, nearly all of which involved children.” 3 It was also significant – though perhaps obvious to most - that if the child has been abused by a woman, his mother for example, as well as suffering from neglect and violence, the likelihood of becoming an abuser tripled the probability. That said, it is far from proven that some paedophile and child molesters automatically come from generational abuse. Many counsellors and psychologists note in their experience it is not necessarily true that cases suggest the abused will carry on the pattern of abuse. It may depend entirely on the intrinsic qualities of the victim involved.
While abuse certainly has many cases of infanticide caused by the mother and step mother, sexual and physical abuse remains the province of the male. A child’s vulnerability is a key factor in all abuse. With a rapist against adult women it is usually the physical vulnerability. With a child it is the innocence. It will surely come as not surprise to many that sexual victimization “may profoundly interfere with and alter the development of attitudes toward self, sexuality, and trusting relationships during the critical early years of development” 4 with a propensity for victims to seek an escape through substance abuse 5 Abuse or neglected children are 67 times more likely to be arrested between ages 9-12 then those who aren’t and are more than twice as likely to run away from home than non-abused children. 6
If we it were true that the highest statistics are incorrect, the lowest estimates of child abuse are still far too high. From a 1988 study a “typical” child sex offender molests an average of 117 children, most of whom do not report the offence. 7 Another study concluded the average child molester abuses between 50 and 150 children before he is arrested the first time, and an average of 360-380 children in his/her lifetime. Broken down, convicted child molesters who abuse girls have an average of 52 victims each. Men who molest boys have an average of 150 victims. 8
Further, from only 232 child molesters studied using methods which guaranteed confidentiality and thus provided a reduced margin of error where the interviewees could feel free to talk as they wished, offering much needed data. The results included 55,000 attempts at child molestation, with a total 17,000 victims. Other research included interviews from 561 offenders including other sexual offences who admitted to over 291,000 offences and over 195,000 victims.
According to psychologist Anne Salter’s research and in-depth interviews with countless sex offenders she came across a wide number of victims ranging from an average of 10 to 1,250. 9 As Salter mentions, conceiving such figure it difficult but she allows us to imagine it rather aptly by describing it in the following way: “…consider that the Louisiana Superdome, site of five Super Bowls has a maximum seating capacity of 72,675. If all the victims of those 561 men wanted to meet, they would have filled two and one-half super-domes. Despite the astounding figures most of these offences had never been detected.”
This is the truth that needs to be reiterated time after time. Statistics can be erroneous but what appears as a consistent correlation both in quantitative and qualitative data, as well as the simple logic that wraps around these field of sexual abuse, is that we will not hear of most of the abuse that is taking place as we read these words, let alone see the offences reach a courtroom.
One study in an increasing number from The Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati, US, shows that allegations made by child victims match closely with confessions of paedophiles. The study, presented to the Pediatric Academic Societies and American Academy of Pediatrics at a joint meeting in May 2000, also showed that genital exams are most often normal in victims of sexual abuse, even when genital penetration is admitted to. Physical examinations tended to be unreliable indicators of abuse. According to the authors, emphasis on listening to children became all the more important, something that has been seriously lacking in the past.
Reviewing the records of 31 paedophiles who confessed between 1994 and 1999, the researchers had access to the case files: “which contained all available victim, witness and perpetrator statements, and pertinent victim medical records. They analyzed each case for admissions or denials of specific sexual acts. They also analyzed victim medical histories, examinations and reports from criminal investigators for specific histories of sexual assault and exam findings.” What was more disturbing still, was the total acts of sexual abuse exceeded the above quota. Researchers discovered: “The 31 perpetrators confessed to a total of 101 acts of sexual abuse, some of which they committed multiple times. The perpetrators abused 47 children. The 45 old enough to provide a history described 111 acts of sexual abuse.” 10
Other research discoveries by Dr. Abel do not bode well for the psyche of the male abuser in society. The research confirmed the possibility of a generational time-bomb of damaged children and potential abusers. Conclusions made in the course of this research included:
Boy victims of sex crimes are at high risk to become sexually attracted to children and to become child sexual abusers.
Men who have sex with children are nearly always committing additional sex crimes.
Men who have sex with children usually start that behavior before they are 18 years old.
Men who have sex with children usually have 3 victims before they are 18 years old.
Men who have sex with their own children may also be having sex with other children in the community. 11
The links between social and economic depravation, crime and abuse are clear with the latter underpinning much of the dysfunctional elements within our different societies. If the data is even close to being true, then the effects of sexual abuse on children have clear ramifications for societies as a whole. The sexual exploitation industry is booming on the back of dysfunctional families.
Notes
1 ‘Children's Sexual Exploitation Underestimated, Study Finds’ By Raymond Hernandez, The New York Times, September 10, 2001.
