A fine source regarding Sexual Abuse

[intaglio]

Facts, Myths, and Statistics from the US Department of Justice

Some excerpts:

As many as 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually abused at some point in their childhood
In as many as 93% of child sexual abuse cases, the child knows the person that commits the abuse
Teens 16 to 19 years of age were 3 1/2 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault
About 20 million out of 112 million women (18%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime
In 2010, 25% of the female victims of rape/sexual assault were victimized by strangers
Myth: If a child is sexually abused, she or he will immediately come and tell
Fact: Disclosure of sexual abuse is often delayed; children often avoid telling because they are either afraid of a negative reaction from their parents or of being harmed by the abuser. As such, they often delay disclosure until adulthood
Fact: Children might imply something has happened to them without directly stating they were sexually abused—they may be testing the reaction to their “hint”
Fact: It’s easy to miss hints of disclosure of abuse. As a result, a child may not receive the help needed

The last Fact links to a Cybertips Canada PDF which on page 11 gives examples of initial "hints" and from that it is easy to see how they can be missed

“___________ does not pay attention to me anymore.”
“I don’t like ___________ anymore.”
“I don’t like it when you’re gone.”

[malthaussen]

1. Another fine myth: "You can always tell."

The 1/3 figure surprises me. A friend of mine and I used to discuss this quite a bit (she having been abused, and done some homework on the subject), and she cited 1/5. Which is still a sad figure. I think back to my days in high school -- there were some 600-odd girls in that school, and although presumably between 100-200 of them had been sexually abused, you sure couldn't "tell" by looking. Most people, however, would prefer to believe such easy myths, because the alternative is too horrible for them to contemplate.

-- Mal

[BainsBane]

2. kandR