child abuse

NAME: OKOH PRECIOUSMATRIC NUMBER/REGISTRATION NUMBER: 17BE022092/1700637COURSE CODE: MAC 227COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO PUBLISHINGSEMESTER: OMEGASESSION: 2018/2019COURSE CO-ORDINATOR: MRS ADEBAYO, A.O.I.SUBMISSION DATE:TOPIC: CHILD ABUSE: THE HAVOC CAUSED BY PEDOPHILESINTRODUCTIONChild abuse cases are prevalent in our present-day societies. The issue of child abuse assumes several forms such as verbal abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse/molestation and physical assault etc. The perpetrators of this act could either be friends, strangers, family members or by persons held in high position of trust. However, the focus of this chapter will be on the sexual abuse of children and the havoc caused by pedophiles. Below are some highlighted sub topics that will be deliberated on in this chapter:• What is child abuse?• What is pedophilia?• What are pedophile acts?• What is the reason behind pedophilic acts?• The negative effects of abuse on children.• WHAT IS CHILD ABUSE?“A child is any person under the age of 18 years, according to the Child Care Act 38 of 2005, and was defined by the Child of Justice Act 75 of 2008 and the 1996 constitution of South Africa (1996) section 28 (3) as someone under the age of 18 years (Benzuidenhout 2003). “Child abuse” is then defined as a violation of human rights, along with the other forms of violence and sexual exploitation of children. In this context, the sexual offenses against children gain a new sense: no longer the theft of innocence or of chastity, as they had been formerly represented, but as violence and the violation of rights. In Brazil the problem of “child abuse” has gained visibility as a “human rights violation”” (Lowenkron, 2013). Also, “Sexual abuse is any sexual act perpetrated by one person against another. Child sexual abuse is any sexual act between two persons (adult and child, child and child), perpetrated for the gratification of the one who is more powerful in terms of age, emotion, physicality and intellect” (Omar, 2010). “Child sexual abuse can be loosely defined as the use of a child for the sexual gratification of an adult (Crosson-Tower, 2005). In addition, Child sexual abuse will be defined as the exploitation, involvement, or exposure of the child to age-inappropriate sexual behavior by older or more powerful peers or adults (Runyon et al., 2006). Child sexual abuse has been associated with a number of risk factors and short and long-term effects” (Unger). WHO IS A PEDOPHILE? In simple terms, a pedophile is a person, or rather, an adult, who is sexually attracted to children, usually within the range of 0 to 13 years of age. “Pedophilia is a clinical diagnosis usually made by a psychiatrist or psychologist. It is not a criminal or legal term, such as forcible sexual offense, which is a legal term often used in criminal statistics. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System’s (NIBRS) definition of forcible sexual offenses includes any sexual act directed against another person forcibly and/or against that person’s will or not forcibly or against the person’s will in which the injured party is incapable of giving consent. By diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, a pedophile is an individual who fantasizes about, is sexually aroused by, or experiences sexual urges toward prepubescent child” (Ryan C. W. Hall, 2007). According to world health organization (WHO) Pedophile acts are sexual behaviors that an adult major (16 years or over) essentially of the male sex, acts out towards prepubescent children (13 or under). There must normally be a five-year age difference between the two, except in the case of pedophilic practices at the end of adolescence where what counts more is the difference in sexual maturity. A few general characteristics complete the definition: some pedophiles prefer boys and others girls, while still others are aroused by both sexes. Those who are attracted to girls tend to select children aged between 8 to 10 years old. Whereas those who prefer boys like them to be older. (UNESCO, 2001)Pedophile behaviors varies, ranging from exhibitionism without physical contact to acts of penetration aimed (or not) at sexual zones. To achieve their ends, pedophiles sometimes use different means as well as different degrees of coercion. Pedophile primarily involves male perpetrators. (UNESCO, 2001) Classification of pedophiles;a. “Situational pedophilia: some adults sexually assault children without necessarily feeling any real sexual attraction towards them. These are often isolated, impulsive acts committed by individuals with pathological personalities.” (UNESCO, 2001)b. “Preferential pedophilia: this is the conventional form of pedophilia that involves sexual deviance regarding prepubescent children, acted out in various forms. It can be described as using criteria such as sexual preference, exclusive or non-exclusive type, type of sexual offence strategies used, ways of penetration, character, traits, weak or strong social competencies” etc. (UNESCO, 2001)“Technically, individuals who engage in sexual activities with pubescent teenagers under the legal age of consent (ages 13-16 years) are known as hebophiles (attracted to females) or ephebophiles (attracted to males). The term hebophilia (also spelled as hebephilia) is becoming a generic term to describe sexual interest in either male or female pubescent children. Distinctions noted in the literature between hebophiles and pedophiles are that hebophiles tend to be more interested in having reciprocal sexual affairs or relationships with children, are more opportunistic when engaging in sexual acts, have better social functioning, and have a better posttreatment prognosis than pedophiles. The term teleiophile applies to an adult who prefers physically mature partners. There is also a subclassification of pedophilia known as infantophilia, which describes individuals interested in children younger than 5 years. These distinctions are important in understanding current research about paraphilias, selection criteria for studies of sexual behavior, and tests that gauge sexual interest (eg plethysmography). Pedophiles may engage in a wide range of sexual acts with children. These activities range from exposing themselves to children (exhibitionism), undressing a child, looking at naked children (voyeurism), or masturbating in the presence of children to more intrusive physical contact, such as rubbing their genitalia against a child (frotteurism), fondling a child, engaging in oral sex, or penetration of the mouth, anus, and/or vagina. Generally, pedophiles do not use force to have children engage in these activities but instead rely on various forms of psychic manipulation and desensitization (eg, progression from innocuous touching to inappropriate touching, showing pornography to children)” (Ryan C. W. Hall, 2007).Caitlin Walters, reveals in his book, A Pedophiles New Playground: How Primetime Television and Movies Are Supporting Pedophilia, that pedophiles do not even need to download child pornography from illegal sites to lure children to do their dirty duties anymore. He gave examples of different prime time television and movies that portray pedophile acts in one way or the other. The likes of glee, pretty little liars, mad men, little miss sunshine are some of the examples he gave in the book. “Pedophiles can take advantage of the previous relationship that they may have built up with the victim to help encourage the victim to act out whatever movie or show they decide to have the victim watch. A victim might not think there is anything wrong with what they are doing if they are acting like a show that is on television or a movie that anyone can purchase” (Walters). In these cases, the pedophile must have had quite a personal relationship with the victim. This is why it becomes easy for the child to fall prey to this kind of act because of their vulnerability. It could just be one of those days when the adult comes to visit with some snacks, food, clothes or in informal terms, goodies or goody bags. Then he/she would just casually play the video and throw suggestions at the male or female child. Obviously, the innocent child would not see it as doing anything wrong especially when this involves children at a very young age, say, 3 to 5 years. The child may be open to such abuse because he/she might not have been exposed to sex education at that tender age. So, this makes it easy for the pedophile to strike and the main stream media further enhances their plot. Meanwhile, what do we mean by child pornography, as earlier mentioned. Child pornography can be defined as “the use of underage persons as subjects or models in the production of sexually suggestive, provocative, or explicit materials (Walters) Child pornography was discovered as a national problem in the late 1970s.” Statistics regarding the prevalence of child pornography vary widely, making it very difficult to quantify just how significant, or insignificant, a problem child pornography really poses. In May, 1977 the Chicago Tribune reported that “child pornography has become a nation-wide multi-million-dollar racket that is luring thousands of juveniles into lives of prostitution‟ and exploiting up to 100,000 children at any time.” In a 1983 House Report, Congress estimated that “tens of thousands of children under the age of 18 are believed to be filmed or photographed while engaging in sexually explicit acts.” While there were differing reports of the prevalence of child pornography from its discovery though the early 1990s, the invention and wide availability of the internet has led the United States into “the golden age of child pornography.” Child pornography is used by pedophiles in many different ways. Some of these ways include blackmail, profit, instructional aids, self-gratification, conditioning, advertising, collections, sexual record, and access. This section will focus on the uses of child pornography that has led many to conclude that “child pornography is child abuse.” The danger of child pornography has led some to believe that child pornography is “an even greater threat to the child victim than… [routine] sexual abuse. This is because the pictures or video not only is a permanent documentation of the abuse, but the “recording of the act also becomes a collateral violation against the child’s dignity.” A child must not only deal with the abuse he or she suffered, but they must also go through their lives knowing that there is a recording of their abuse that is “circulating within the mass distribution system for child pornography.” (Walters) “In general, most individuals who engage in pedophilia or paraphilias are male. There was a time when it was believed that females could not be pedophiles because of their lack of long-term sexual urges unless they had a primary psychotic disorder. When women were studied for sexually inappropriate behavior directed toward children, these behaviors were classified as “sexual abuse” or “molestation” but not pedophilia. From federal data on sexual crimes, females were reported to be the “molester” in 6% of all juvenile cases. The study by Abel and Harlow of 4007 “child molesters” found 1% to be female, but the authors believed this number was low because of the systematic underreporting of women for molestation. One reason why acts of pedophilia committed by women are underreported is that many acts are not recognized because they occur during the course of regular “nurturing or caregiving activities,” such as when bathing and dressing children. Pedophilic women tend to be young (22-33 years old); have poor coping skills; may meet criteria for the presence of a psychiatric disorder, particularly depression or substance abuse; and frequently also meet criteria for being personality disordered (antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, dependent)” (Ryan C. W. Hall, 2007).The havoc caused by pedophiles“Generally, abused children experience the greatest psychological damage when the abuse occurs from father figures (close neighbors, priests or ministers, coaches) or involves force and/or genital contact. The specific long-term effects on abused children as they grow into adulthood are difficult to predict. Some individuals adapt and have a higher degree of resilience, whereas others are profoundly and negatively changed. Studies have found that the children abused by pedophiles have higher measures of trauma, depression, and neurosis on standardized psychometric testing. Individuals who experience long-term abuse are significantly more likely to have affective illness (eg, depression), anxiety disorders (eg, generalized anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, panic attacks), eating disorders (anorexia in females), substance abuse, personality disorders, and/or adjustment disorders and to make suicidal gestures or actually engage in serious suicide attempts than those who are not abused.These children often have problems with long-term intimacy and feelings of guilt and shame over their role in the incident. In addition, sexually abused children have lower levels of education and a higher frequency of unemployment. It is difficult to determine whether the higher frequency of unemployment is because of the sexual abuse or whether the unemployment as an adult is a marker for a trait that led the abused child to be seen as vulnerable as a child. We have clinically treated 10 adult men who were molested by a priest or minister. Many of these men reported initially liking the relationship with the clergyman because of the attention they received and having a special relationship with a person of power and respect. Later, these men reported feeling rejected, abandoned, and betrayed. They all reported multiple sexual acts. Five were “passed around” to other pedophilic clergy, who also engaged in multiple sexual acts with them. Common features seen in the abused men included guilt, anger, and confusion about the abuse. Eight of the abused men had either treatment-refractory or recurrent depression, 7 had divorced at least twice, 6 had made serious suicide attempts, and 4 had alcohol or drug dependency issues. All reported fear of isolation from others, shame, and a fear of emotional dependency on others. Five reported they were gay or bisexual, whereas 3 of the remaining 5 had difficulty with both emotional and physical intimacy with their spouses.” (Ryan C. W. Hall, 2007)A typical example of this pedophile act is the 2014 Nigerian movie, “October 1” directed and produced by “Kunle Afolayan.” This was one of the predominant themes in the movie. The king’s son, Prince Aderopo, was a victim of pedophilia. The young village boy and his friend were the only recipients of this scholarship. At first, the young boy was excited about this rare privilege but he was quick to change his mind when he and his friend started experiencing sexual advances from the Reverend Father resident in the school where he had gotten the scholarship. Every night, he was being molested by this particular Reverend Father. His friend could no longer nurse the molestation, so one day, he planned his secret escape and found his way back to the village, with the mindset of believing that education is bad. But because of the keen desire Aderopo had for education, he reluctantly stayed back and had to endure six years of sexual molestation/abuse. This whole experience made him very angry and hostile. Although he got the educational training he had always wanted, but being abused as a young boy had traumatized him for life. Returning back to his community, as the first university graduate, he used this opportunity to unleash his pent-up anger for the six years of his life. His deadly agenda was to rape and assault six virgins representing his six years of sexual violation. He had successfully killed five virgins but fortunately, the last girl was saved. This is just one of many examples. This story clearly states how the experience had damaged him. He had no emotions or conscience towards anyone because the last girl whom he was meant to kill, used to be his lover/crush when they were still young. It was evident that he still had some hidden feelings for her, but he was on an agenda and his desire for vengeance was stronger than anything else and his anger had already overpowered him. He was helpless and he had lost every desire for anything that had to do with intimacy or relationships.In other words, this story makes us realize that pedophiles can be anyone really. Be it your family member, relative, friend, stranger, or even a religious head, as cited in the example above. Because who would think that a Reverend Father would sexually violate any child? Initially, the gesture was intended to be a good motive but unfortunately it was turned the negative. Whenever sexual molestation comes form people held in high positions of trust, it makes it difficult for the child to trust anyone again even after he/she must have grown into an adult. There always will be trust issues in any relationship they find themselves in, that’s if they are even courageous enough or interested in sustaining any relationship with anyone, be it informal or formal. “A socio-demographic profile of the 325 women who experienced abuse at the hands of family members or other persons in position of trust, (82%) perpetrators were people close to and trusted by the child. Perpetrators were mainly male family members. (36%) mostly uncles, cousins, although some 4% reported a father and brother as the perpetrator and some 3% reported other more distant family members. In addition, some of the 46% of perpetrators were other persons in position of trust, largely neighbors, family, friends and domestic.” (Shireen J. Jejeebhoy) “The visible and invisible scars of past child abuse prevent many people from achieving their potential, thereby draining our society of much good, while fomenting a spirit of mistrust, anger and hatred which impacts each of our lives, international research indicates that the potential for maltreatment exists in all social strata and very many families at some point in a child development as David Finkelhor reports in the 1996 report of the international society for prevention of child abuse and neglect (ISPCAN)” (UNESCO, 2001). It is fondly said, that children are the leaders of tomorrow. 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