Chow Po Yee (Bobo)
50382362
50382362@student.cityu.edu.hk
Child sexual abuse: lts long-term and short-term effect on child development
1. Introduction
¡§Wouldn¡¦t being shot by a gun as bad or worse than being sexually abused?¡¨ People asked Rebecca, a female survivor of childhood sexual abuse. The answer to that question is no, it wouldn¡¦t be worse. ¡§If someone had shot me when I was a child, I would have been rushed to the hospital and received care. People would not have expected me to keep it a secret, and most of all, they would have believed me.¡¨ she said. Being sexually abused is one of the painful experiences that other people cannot realize. Is the victim of child sexual abuse the only one to know about the unhealed hurt? Between 1985 and 1993, the number of cases of child abuse in the United States increased by 50 percent. In 1993, three million children in the United States were reported to have been abused. Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported cases is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened. The long-term emotional and psychological damage of sexual abuse to a child can be devastating. According to the definition given by the National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence, sexual abuse can be physical -- including genital or oral stimulation, fondling and intercourse; non-physical -- including indecent exposure, obscene phone calls or "peeping toms"; and/ or violent -- as in rape or other forms of sexually violent behaviour. In view of the worsening problem of child sexual abuse, I would like to arouse public¡¦s awareness that everyone should be more alert about how sexual abuse affects child development. Therefore, this paper will focus on the common causes of sexual abuse, its devastating effect on victims and how parents can help to avoid child sexual abuse from happening. Not only the victims themselves, but everyone needs to understand what sexual abuse is and the unresolved hurts from being sexually abused.
2. Common causes:
This section talks about why sexual abuse takes place by identifying relevant societal and individual factors.
2.1 Repressed sexuality
As a society, our whole approach to sexuality is shame based. With a shame-based personality, that individual is likely to explore or express the depths of that shame in a sexual way. People are fascinated by what shames them. Such repression has shaped our sexuality into a secretive and hidden force. When ones have sexual desires and needs, this idea causes shame in them and so they feel compelled to act in the most shameful and shameless way possible to heap further shame on themselves, to express the addictive ¡§evil¡¨ of sexual impulses.
2.2 Patriarchal values
There is a direct relationship between patriarchy and sexual abuse. Society conditioned men to be the heads of families and households. Men feel mastery and dominance in that role. This message becomes part of the belief system of men and women. But the twentieth century has seen the beginning of a significant change in the power relationships of men and women. The rules are changing; women and men are now equal under the law. Man may feel very powerless. He may think he lacks success and prestige when he measures himself against expectations of what men ¡§should¡¨ be. He may experience emotions of anger and frustration and a sense of failure. His frustration and emptiness are significant ingredients in the occurrence of sexual abuse. It is a desire to feel and exert power.
2.3 Family instability
Children are sometimes at increased risk of experiencing sexual abuse during periods of family instability or crisis. A family member with a psychiatric problem, a person addicted to drugs, gambling or alcohol, a parent experiencing loss of money or a job, or a parent experiences difficulty functioning in the parenting role may be potential abusers.
3. Short-term and long-term effect
3.1 Short-term effect
The followings are the initial effects of child sexual abuse.
3.1.1 Emotional Problems
The abused children have symptoms of emotional problem. There is an immediate sense of isolation and alienation, a feeling that ¡§I am somehow different.¡¨ Child sexual abuse can make the victims experience negative repercussions to self-esteem and interpersonal relationships.
3.1.2 Behavioral Problems
Some sexually abused children exhibit behavioural symptoms, such as irritability, fearfulness, sleep disruption, a sudden change in personality, problems in school, unwilling to participate in or change clothing for gym class at school, runs away from home, bizarre or unusual sophistication pertaining to sexual behavior or knowledge, including sexual acting out, and reports sexual assault by parent or guardian.
3.2 Long-term effect
The followings are the long-term consequences of child sexual abuse.
3.2.1 Abuse¡¦s Effect on Identity Development
A child who has been sexually abused feels a great sense of guilt, not only for herself but also for the perpetrator. The child who is forced to engage in sexual activities at a young age becomes extremely confused about sexuality and loses the sense of boundary between her body and her perpetrator¡¦s. Because of this, she may learn to view her body and her developing identity with shame (Jacobs, 1994).
More seriously, the child¡¦s shame might be more intense if the child felt pleasure from the abuse. ¡§In part the shame of incest is the shame of experiencing pleasure at the will and domination of another. Just as the daughter¡¦s body has been taken from her, her sexuality is conditioned by the control of the more powerful other¡¨ (Jacobs, 1994, p.125). She may feel that she was responsible for the abuse, in which case her shame will be accompanied by self-blame (Blume, 1990).
In addition, survivors of child sexual abuse may view themselves as a sexual object. ¡§Their self-esteem becomes based on what they can do for someone else¡¨ (Blume, 1990). This is because they learned at an early age that their sexuality and identity were for another¡¦s pleasure.
3.2.2 Abuse¡¦s Effect on Sexual Aspect
Child sexual abuse has significant impact on sexual activity. Maltz (1991) stated that sexual abuse can make it difficult for a survivor to form and maintain healthy sexual relationships. Maltz (1991) wrote ¡§Some survivors may withdraw from sex, preventing any fresh discovery of healthy sex. Other survivors may become preoccupied and driven by sex¡¨ (p. 65). They may be afraid of closeness and intimacy. By avoiding sex, the survivors may feel they are protecting themselves from being abused again. Or the survivors act sexually aggressive; they can feel a sense of mastery and being in control.
On the other hand, various studies have shown that a high proportion of prostitutes, both male and female, were sexually abused as children. Sometimes the children who have been sexually abused may mistakenly learn that providing sexual ¡§favors¡¨ is a way in exchange for candy or privileges. They may become adolescents who provide sexual favors for money in their later lives.
3.2.3 Mental Health Damage
There is a close relationship between a history of child sexual abuse and mental health problem in adult life. The child who has been sexually abused will have a higher rate in adult life of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, substance abuse disorders, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorders (Briere and Runtz 1988; Winfield et al. 1990; Bushnell et al. 1992; Mullen et al. 1993; Romans et al. 1995 and 1997; Fergusson et al. 1996; Silverman et al. 1996; Fleming et al. in press). A more controversial literature links multiple personality disorder with child sexual abuse (Bucky and Dallenberg 1992; Spanos 1996).
3.2.4 Health damage
Child sexual abuse victims will have a higher risk of several serious diseases later in life, according to a study in the journal, Psychosomatic Medicine. Drs. Murray B. Stein and Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, of the University of California, San Diego, analyzed data on more than 1,300 elderly people. In men, the history appeared to increase the risk of thyroid disease, while in women it raised the risk of arthritis or breast cancer.
3.2.5 Cycle of violence
Children who are abused are more likely to become criminal offenders as adults. Childhood abuse increased the odds of future delinquency and adult criminality overall by 40 percent (Widom, 1992). In addition, the victims are at risk of becoming ensnared in this cycle of violence. One expert estimates that forty percent of sexual abusers were sexually abused as children (Vanderbilt, 1992).
4. Prevention of sexual abuse
The ideal response to child sexual abuse would be primary prevention strategies aimed at eliminating, or at least reducing, the sexual abuse of children (Tomison, 1995).
4.1 Social Interventions
What can society do to prevent child sexual abuse?Social strategies for preventing child abuse include increasing the value society places on children, increasing the economic self-sufficiency of families, enhancing communities and their resources, discouraging excessive use of corporal punishment and other forms of violence, making health care more accessible and affordable, expanding and improving coordination of social services, improving treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, improving the identification and treatment of mental health problems, increasing the availability of affordable child care and preventing the births of unwanted children through sex education, family planning, abortion, anonymous delivery and adoption.
4.2 Families
What can parents do to prevent child sexual abuse? Stay alert to sexual abuse and tell your children what it is. Each parent must decide how best to handle the topic of child sexual abuse with his/her own child. The suggested ways are as followings:
Tell her/him to remember where and when the incident happened.
5. Conclusion
There is no easy answer or complete answer about why one person sexually abuses another. There are, however, clues that point us to things we must change if we are working toward eliminating sexual abuse in our society. As can be seen from the above evidence, the effects of child sexual abuse on children are often severe and long-lasting, the more important it is to accurately assess and ameliorate the effects of the experience so that the child can recover and go on to master other life tasks successfully. Therefore, for a start, we must recognize that the problem exists and talk about it in an open and respectful way that involves everyone who is affected. We realize that all abuse cannot be eradicated immediately through sudden, dramatic steps. However, we can still commit ourselves to taking gradual steps moving us towards healing the victims. On the other hand, there is still a question still unanswered. The number of reported child sexual abuse cases has been increasing in recent years. We can, therefore, conclude that there are increasing disclosures of child sexual abuse cases. However, it seems unlikely that we shall ever know whether children are more often sexually abused now than they were in the past. Therefore, is it the case that the government does a good job in encouraging the victims to report the cases? Or is the problem of child sexual abuse getting worse? Much more research needs to be done on government¡¦s strategies towards child sexual abuse and its prevalence all over the world.