The Forum > General Discussion > How do we halt the sexual abuse of boys?
How do we halt the sexual abuse of boys?
- Pages:
-
- Page 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- ...
- 10
- 11
- 12
-
- All
The National Forum | Donate | Your Account | On Line Opinion | Forum | Blogs | Polling | About |
Syndicate RSS/XML |
|
About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy |
http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/2007-RegionalComSafety/briggs.pdf
Australian boys are sexually abused far more frequently than the reportage would indicate. This paper beautifully explains the reasons for this, but answers are thin on the ground. How can we make it easier for boys to report sexual abuse?
The paper's conclusion:
"Boys are at greater risk of sexual abuse than reports indicate. They do not report sexual crimes because they do not recognise them as reportable offences or they are afraid to do so. When male offenders are involved, they are afraid of violence, being disbelieved, getting into trouble and, worse, being taunted as gay and effeminate. They worry about their sexuality and imagine that they were abused because they were identified as gay, not because they were young, uninformed and vulnerable. In addition, boys may find genital fondling and the receipt of oral sex pleasurable and that, in turn, increases both
the difficulty of rejecting more obnoxious and painful abuse and the offenders; opportunity to blame the victim for his abuse. Guilt and embarrassment prevent reporting and can lead to long term psychological harm resulting in physical and/or mental illness,
low self-esteem, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, poor concentration, relationship problems, drug and alcohol abuse, angry anti-social behaviour and crime, including repeating the abuse with children.
Bentovim (2006) and Abel et al (1987) found that one in 4-5 male victims re-enacts the abuse and becomes an offender while Abel and Harlow (2001) found that one in twentt male adolescents is already a paedophile. Abel et al (2001) suggest that if young offenders are identified and receive treatment, they have a high chance of leading normal lives.
Quite clearly the protection of boys has been neglected compared with the abuse of girls. Given the cost of child sexual abuse to society, the taxpayer and the individual, this has to be rectified.
Boys need school-based child protection programs that involve parents and address issues relevant to them. Some of those issues are clearly different from issues for girls."