Childhood Sexual Abuse

1881 Words8 Pages
Children who experience sexual abuse continue to be associated with adult sexual behavior, but the difference in the effects of the type of sexual abuse and of force on the sexual behavior outcomes have had few studies. The purpose of the study conducted by Theresa E. Senn and her team was to connect sexual abuse characteristics to later sexual risk behaviors, as well as, exploring whether or not the gender of the child lessened the relations (Senn,2010). The sample of the study was derived from patients that were attending an STD clinic and were asked to complete a survey that evaluated past sexual abuse along with lifetime and current sexual behavior. The article further adds that sexual child abuse has been connected to a wide variety…show more content…
People who experienced both penetration and force sexual abuse reported engaging in a greater amount of frequency of sex trading, number of previous STD diagnoses, and number of lifetime partners thank those who were not sexually abused and those who were abused without force or penetration. This phenomenon can be explained through the engagement phase as mentioned in Crosson-Tower. In the engagement phase the perpetrator gains access to the child and conveys that the behavior is acceptable. This is often accomplished by misrepresenting moral standards and the use of various methods to elicit cooperation by the child. Generally, the perpetrator uses the child’s need for affection and contact or other means of awards such as material to what they believe, receive consent (Crosson-Tower,2009). This process is called grooming. By enticing, entrapping, and or forcing children to engage in sexual activities children such as those in the study may begin to view sexual acts as rewarding or normal. As seen with most of the children who were abused had more partners possibly because they continue to feel that is the only way they are able to receive affection as they experienced with…show more content…
I believe this for various reasons. First, child abuse and neglect has been happening for centuries, in the beginning we saw children as property and a means of profit. It took societies a long time to realize that children are not property they are humans who have rights and that there are certain actions a parent should not project on their children. Yet why does child abuse continue to exist today? Well children today still have very little rights and there really is no clear cut answer to this question, some will say because of poverty, stress, cycles of abuse, or high crime. Thus, the solution to the problem of child abuse is simple, eliminate all the factors that influence the child maltreatment. But that is easier said than done. One popular misconception is that most children who are abused come from lower class families. However, many kids are abused in both middle and upper classes as well when finance and crime are not issues. This then makes the solution to eliminating child abuse more complex. As much as I dislike to sound pessimistic, it will be extremely difficult to rid the world of all the factors surrounding child maltreatment. Furthermore, it is impossible to know if all children were not suffering from child abuse because of the large population that exists in our society that would require annual visits to every home in the United

More about Childhood Sexual Abuse

Open Document