Many disturbing things occur that we wish didn’t take place. We worry, we discuss, we wonder why. How can this happen when I just want the world to be a good place? Why does something like this go on when it seems like everyone I know is just as bothered as I am by these problems? What we often fail to realize is that everything happens within an environment that supports it and allows it to occur, grow, or even flourish. A plant without water or sunlight, no matter how much it is a plant, will die because it does not live in an environment that gives it what it needs to live and thrive. Sexual assault is an issue that when discussed is frequently followed by conversations of horrific disgust that we live in such a world. When people respond in horror to the things going on around them, they are directly failing to see the role that they play in creating the norms and structures in place. We each contribute to our social environment through the way that we approach and deal with problems in our society.
We each contribute to our social environment through the way that we approach and deal with problems in our society…the messages we receive about sexuality, the secrecy that is involved in keeping sexual abuse behind closed doors, and the silence or embarrassment of talking about it continue to create an environment that allows child sexual abuse to occur.
Childhood trauma has a lasting effect on those who experience it. In a 1995 study done by the CDC and Kaiser-Permanente, 17,000 people were asked to answer questions about their childhood and about their present state of health (www.cdc.gov). The Adverse Childhood Experience Study shows that there is a link between traumatic experiences in childhood and health issues across the lifespan. The study showed that with a higher rate of adverse childhood experiences, children were facing impairments on social, emotional and cognitive levels leading to the adaptation of risky behaviors such as drug use, unprotected sex, obesity, mental health issues, depression, higher risk for being suicidal, contracting STD’s, and the list goes on.
These risky behaviors lead to higher likelihood of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses that lead to early death. Essentially, as children develop in tandem with unhealthy experiences, they are more likely to adopt unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with what they have experienced. This study makes it clear that what happens to you as a child is a very important factor in determining the outcome of the rest of your life. From this perspective, child sexual abuse can be seen as more critical of an issue than something that we are disgusted with or that we wish didn’t happen. It actually shapes the development of our children into the adults that they become. This is a public health problem. It affects the cost of healthcare, mental healthcare, it increases costs to hospitals, lawyers, court systems, etc. (www.enoughabuse.org). It also shows that many of the societal problems that we are trying to work on such as substance use, mental illness, and physical illness are often symptoms of an earlier problem. This is a real crisis that affects us all, and that is not forgotten and put away on a shelf once you grow up. This problem permeates all aspects of our society and needs to be addressed.
I am employed by an organization whose mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect. We work on many social issues to support families and the community in creating an environment that takes care of children. Part of the work that we do is focused on a campaign to prevent child sexual abuse called the Enough Abuse Campaign. This campaign was started in Massachusetts by MassKids and is now used nationally. It focuses on primary prevention which essentially means looking up stream at where the problems originate from rather than dealing with something once it has occurred. The Enough Abuse Campaign addresses the norms and values that allow sexual abuse to happen. It’s purpose is to engage us in taking a look at and working to change these norms within our schools, our organizations, and our homes. The key focus of this campaign is that the messages we receive about sexuality, the secrecy that is involved in keeping sexual abuse behind closed doors, and the silence or embarrassment of talking about it continue to create an environment that allows child sexual abuse to occur.
If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to molest one.” -Spotlight (film)
The work of solving problems of this magnitude is possible. However, it must be dealt with beyond the scope of expressing anger and frustration that it exists. We have to do more than talk about how mad we are. The real work is to address and challenge the norms that contribute to the problem. We need to address if and how people are talking about sexual abuse. We need to ask ourselves what role we may play in society being the way that it is. The Enough Abuse Campaign teaches parents to talk to their children about body boundaries and healthy sex. We work with organizations to ensure that they have policies for how to deal with this if it does occur, and we train people how to respond to it when it does happen. We address sexual abuse like any other safety issue. Everyone knows that fires occur and what to do if it happens. Sexual abuse needs to be prepared for in the same way. Our kids need to know they can come to us, and they need to know that we will do anything and everything in our power to protect them. Perpetrators need to see that a blind eye will not be turned and that they will not be quietly fired and sent off to do it again in another neighborhood or school. The only way to really have a different world is to join together in putting a stop to this. We need to create a community that actively says we will not tolerate the sexual abuse of our children. If we want change, we have to be willing to look at ourselves and how we shape the world that we live in and then find ways to actively structure it differently.
Resources:
The Enough Abuse Campaign: Resources, and how to bring it to your community
For community resources, projects, and webinars
http://www.preventconnect.org/
For parent resources on how to talk about, recognize symptoms, and advocate around this issue
http://themamabeareffect.org/index.html
