Kaylin Fung
English 1 Acc
Period 1
March 7, 2018
Outline Format for “Children and Sexual Harassment”
Introduction
“A global meta-analysis found that 12.7% of youth reported experiencing sexual abuse before age 18 (18.0% girls and 7.6% boys),” (Stoltenborgh et al as cited by Daigneault et al). Throughout the years, the number of child rape and assault cases have increased at an alarming rate, the crime becoming such a regular occurrence that people merely bat an eye whenever the issue is brought up. It has caused extreme uneasiness among today’s youth, so much that knowing the difference between friendly and predatory touches are a must.
Sexual misconduct has been around for a long time; there is no way to pinpoint the exact date as to when it all began. In most cases, women young and old find themselves victim to sexual assault, factors like race and social status occasionally coming into play. Despite this, people often overlook the children who deal with the same trauma.
Some may doubt that kids go through such a horrible experience during adolescence, while others automatically assume that they’re too young to know what being assaulted is like. Perhaps it's a universal sign telling society that it’s about time children are educated about consent and safety in schools, to make an effort to prevent the problem from snowballing as they grow older.
Sexual harassment can result in the discrimination and permanent trauma of young victims as they step into adulthood, but the problem can be reduced through the education of children in middle school to high school, proper communication and campaigns about spreading awareness, and sexual assault hotlines.
Sexual harassment has numerous negative outcomes that follow after the event, and victims can develop serious health problems such as trauma and emotional instability.
“Of all victims under 18, 2 out of 3 are ages 12-17,” (RAINN Organization).
This is a shockingly high number considering the victims’ ages, the ratio being well over the halfway mark. At this age, the brain and body are still developing; sexual harassment halts this growing and creates thick layers of self-consciousness and wariness for those around them.
During this time, adolescents are more vulnerable and are going through the rather confusing stages in their lives. It is very likely that predators use this to their advantage and manipulate young victims into giving into unwanted touches and/or comments.
“In the short-term (up to two years), victims may exhibit regressive behaviors (e.g., thumb-sucking and bed-wetting in younger children), sleep disturbances, eating problems, behavior and/or performance problems at school, and unwillingness to participate in school or social activities (p.4),” (American Psychological Association as cited by The National Center for Victims of Crime).
Often, youth are attacked by those closest to them, the predators ranging from their own parents to close relatives or family friends. Because of this, victims are prone to developing serious communication and trust issues, causing them to close themselves off and refuse to open up to others.
They will become wary of adults, not wanting to confide in anybody in fear of being taken advantage of again. Keeping to themselves is their way of avoiding a repeat of the incident.
“Longer-term effects may be wide-ranging, to include anxiety-related, self-destructive behaviors such as alcoholism or drug abuse, anxiety attacks, and insomnia (p.4),” (American Psychological Association as cited by The National Center for Victims of Crime).
Traumatic events like child sexual abuse never truly leave a victim; the experience is engraved into their long-term memories and follow them for the rest of their life. Without professional help, things can spiral out of control very quickly.
Survivors may turn to drugs or alcohol as a way of coping and/or forgetting about their pain. This, of course, has no real effect and will only worsen their mental health and stability.
The negative outcomes are endless, and every eight minutes more evidence for child rape cases are discovered (RAINN Organization). This cycle will continue until society starts to take action against the sexual harassment against youth.
As mentioned previously, the aftermath of-of child sexual assault can spiral out of control and negatively impact the way a victim may view the world and themselves, even years after the event.
“Children who had an experience of rape or attempted rape in their adolescent years were 13.7 times more likely to experience rape or attempted rape in their first year of college (page 9),” (Lalor and McElvaney as cited by The National Center for Victims of Crime).
Not only will a sexually abused child have to live with the trauma as they grow older, but they are also extremely likely to experience the very same thing as an adult. Say a college freshman has 1 out of 14 chances of being sexually assaulted, whereas another student, who has been targeted as a kid, has 13.7 out of 14 of those same chances.
During an assault, the victim will normally freeze up in fear, not knowing how to handle the situation properly, especially if they are a child. Receiving unconsented touches as an adult can result in a relapse of the same reactions they had as a kid, which makes it easier for the molester to carry on with their task.
“A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults and can become suicidal (page 1),” (American Psychological Association as cited by The National Center for Victims of Crime).
If the sexual abuse happens to continue, the child is prone to develop serious mental health and self-esteem issues. Often enough they will blame themselves for the events that happened, their insecurities piling higher and higher the longer they remain silent.
Disconnection from the world, especially adults, force them to keep their emotions bottled up, which can become extremely dangerous regarding their mental state. Without confiding in someone else, these problems can easily take a turn for the worse and result in the victim having suicidal tendencies.
“Victims may experience traumatic sexualization, or the shaping of their sexuality in “developmentally inappropriate” and “interpersonally dysfunctional” ways (page 2),” (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as cited by The National Center for Victims of Crime).
The abuser knowingly manipulates a child into giving them the “consent” needed to continue with their misdeeds. Such a process involves the bribery of a victim, who will be promised gifts or affection in exchange for inappropriate touches.
Experiences like these can cause them to have traumatic memories associated with the exposed body parts. These memories have the ability to shape the young victim’s views on sex and can eventually develop into PTSD as they grow older.
These events never truly go away, the anxiety and mistrust formed difficult to get rid of. Time is clearly not a healing factor, and unless immediate action is taken, youth will continue to be negatively impacted and emotionally scarred.