Monday, 25 November 2013 - 16:24
Crying helps against child abuse
The risk of sexual abuse decreases when parents teach their children to say 'no' or to cry at inappropriate intimate contact. Potential child abusers more easily interpret responses that are not clearly dismissive, as consent, according to research in which psychologist Inge Hempel will get her PhD Wednesday at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.Child abuse is never the fault of the child, which can not be said often enough, emphasizes Hempel. But a clear rejection of a child during unwanted intimate contact reduces the risk of sexual abuse. The lack of response, and unclear responses such as giggling, are seen as a form of consent to sexual contact by (potential) abusers.
playground
Ildar Sagdejev
Wikimedia commons It is really helpful when parents tell their children about this kind of men, and teach them to firmly set boundaries, to be clear about what they don't want. Offenders are usually family members or acquaintances, which often makes it very difficult for children to say no. Hempel encourages parents to have this conversation with their children, because offenders told her if the child had clearly rejected them they would not have gone through with it. Crying or saying 'no' makes it clear to the offender they are going against the child's will. Hempel 's investigation involved 47 convicted child abuse offenders who had physical sexual contact with children. She also studied twenty men who had downloaded or distributed child pornography or who had committed exhibitionism to children under 16 years. A group of forty men without similar history functioned as a control group. Child Abusers (unknowingly) link children more to sex than they do with adults. In men who have no past as a child abuser this is reversed. This causes abusers to interpret children's behavior differently. For example, if a child were to ask if the adult wants to see their room, the abuser would take that as an invitation to have sex. A child crawling on an adult's lap is also seen as an invitation to sex. Almost half of convicted child abusers, were themselves sexually abused in their childhood. Abusers also tend to justify their actions more often than men who download child pornography, but have never abused a child. Hempel cited an example of a man who, in his youth, had sex with a man, and enjoyed it. That led him to the conclusion that his victim must also enjoy it. Given the large number of offenders that had initially been victimized, Hempel thinks it is essential to break the cycle of victim-offender. She calls to increase awareness about (signs of) child abuse in teachers, doctors, and mental healthcare, so signals are picked up earlier.
Ildar Sagdejev
Wikimedia commons It is really helpful when parents tell their children about this kind of men, and teach them to firmly set boundaries, to be clear about what they don't want. Offenders are usually family members or acquaintances, which often makes it very difficult for children to say no. Hempel encourages parents to have this conversation with their children, because offenders told her if the child had clearly rejected them they would not have gone through with it. Crying or saying 'no' makes it clear to the offender they are going against the child's will. Hempel 's investigation involved 47 convicted child abuse offenders who had physical sexual contact with children. She also studied twenty men who had downloaded or distributed child pornography or who had committed exhibitionism to children under 16 years. A group of forty men without similar history functioned as a control group. Child Abusers (unknowingly) link children more to sex than they do with adults. In men who have no past as a child abuser this is reversed. This causes abusers to interpret children's behavior differently. For example, if a child were to ask if the adult wants to see their room, the abuser would take that as an invitation to have sex. A child crawling on an adult's lap is also seen as an invitation to sex. Almost half of convicted child abusers, were themselves sexually abused in their childhood. Abusers also tend to justify their actions more often than men who download child pornography, but have never abused a child. Hempel cited an example of a man who, in his youth, had sex with a man, and enjoyed it. That led him to the conclusion that his victim must also enjoy it. Given the large number of offenders that had initially been victimized, Hempel thinks it is essential to break the cycle of victim-offender. She calls to increase awareness about (signs of) child abuse in teachers, doctors, and mental healthcare, so signals are picked up earlier.
