There are gender differences with regard to sexual abuse incidents; specifically, girls are at twice the risk than boys for sexual victimization throughout childhood and at eight times the risk during adolescence. Because significant physical, emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral problems are related to childhood trauma, the need to more effectively address the issue has become paramount.
Child sexual abuse occurs when a child is used for sexual purposes by an adult or adolescent. It involves exposing a child to any sexual activity or behaviour. Sexual abuse most often involves fondling and may include inviting a child to touch or be touched sexually. Other forms of sexual abuse include sexual intercourse, juvenile prostitution and sexual exploitation through child pornography. Sexual abuse is inherently emotionally abusive and is often accompanied by other forms of mistreatment. It is a betrayal of trust and an abuse of power over the child.
Child sexual abuse is largely a hidden crime, so it is difficult to estimate the number of people who are sexually abused at some time during their childhood (the prevalence of child sexual abuse). The problem of child sexual abuse is worsened by the reluctance of parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers and other professionals to report it (UNICEF).
Both adults and children may be reluctant to report sexual abuse for many reasons. Their reluctance may be related to the historical norm of keeping such behaviour secret because of the sense of shame associated with it. If the abuser is someone close to them in terms of kinship or other bonds, they may be deterred by the likelihood that criminal charges and penalties may be imposed. Finally, the fact that the victims are young and dependent tends to be a major obstacle to disclosure.
Child sexual abuse is widespread and can be found in every society. Victims of child sexual abuse are found in all classes and ethno cultural communities. Children who have physical or mental disabilities are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse.
Child pornographers and other perpetrators who are strangers now also make contact with children using the Internet.
Research done by Paul E Mullen and Jillian Fleming (1998) states that child sexual abuse is not randomly distributed through the population. It occurs more frequently in children from socially deprived and disorganized family backgrounds. Marital dysfunction, as evidenced by parental separation and domestic violence, is associated with higher risks of child sexual abuse, and involves intra-familial and extra-familial perpetrators. Similarly, there are increased risks of abuse with a stepparent in the family, and when family breakdown results in institutional or foster care. Poor parent child attachment is associated with increased risk of child sexual abuse, though it is not always easy to separate the impact of abuse on intimate family relationships from the influence of poor attachments on vulnerability to abuse. Disrupted family function could, in theory, be related to child sexual abuse because of the disruptive influence of a perpetrator in the family. However, given that the majority of abusers are not immediate family members, it is more likely that the linkage reflects a lack of adequate care, supervision and protection that leaves the child exposed to the approaches of molesters and vulnerable to offers of apparent interest and affection.
It is rare for a child to speak directly about sexual abuse. Evidence of physical trauma to the genitals or mouth, genital or rectal bleeding, sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy, unusual and offensive odors, and complaints of pain or discomfort of the genital area can all be indicators. However, in most cases of sexual abuse, there are no physical indicators of the crime. It is rare to actually have positive medical findings upon medical examination, although such findings can provide powerful corroboration of a child’s account of sexual abuse. Most often, children who are victims of sexual abuse exhibit emotional or behavioral characteristics that may indicate distress. Children and adolescents who have been sexually abused can suffer a range of psychological and behavioral problems, from mild to severe, in both the short and long term. These problems typically include depression, anxiety, guilt, fear, sexual dysfunction, withdrawal, and acting out. Depending on the severity of the incident, victims of sexual abuse may also develop fear and anxiety regarding the opposite sex or sexual issues and may display inappropriate sexual behavior. However, the strongest indication that a child has been sexually abused is inappropriate sexual knowledge, sexual interest, and sexual acting out by that child.
Most disclosures from children are to trusted friends or adults in their life – the teacher, coach, pastor, grandparent or therapist.
The reaction of the adult to whom a child discloses sexual abuse can significantly impact the child’s subsequent adjustment. It is important for the adult to be respectful, caring, and believing. Children often feel badly and blame themselves for the sexual abuse.
HIV/AIDS
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), a health condition in which a person is affected by a series of diseases because of poor immunity. HIV by itself is not an illness and does not instantly lead to AIDS. An HIV infected person can lead a healthy life for several years before s/he develops AIDS.
As the name, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome indicates, AIDS is a health condition that results from the deficiency in the body's immunity following HIV infection. HIV attacks the human body by breaking down its immune system that is meant to fight diseases. Over a period of time, the immune system weakens and the body loses its natural ability to fight diseases. At this stage, various diseases affect the infected person.
HIV/AIDS is predominantly a sexual disease which affects mainly adults between the ages of 15-50 years. HIV/AIDS can be passed on through heterosexual transmission (man to woman/woman to man), homosexual transmission (man to man) and bisexual transmission (man to man and woman/woman to man and woman.)
There are three main ways of contracting this disease:
- Blood and body fluids such as semen, blood and breast milk
- Blood transfusions
- Vertical transmission that is from mother to unborn child
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), estimates that, there are now 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.. In the U.S., approximately one million people have HIV or AIDS, and 40,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV each year. According to the CDC, it is estimated that a quarter of all people with HIV in the U.S. do not know they are carrying
the virus. (amFar AIDS research)
Since the beginning of the epidemic, AIDS has killed more than 25 million people worldwide, including more than 500,000 Americans. AIDS has replaced malaria and tuberculosis as the world's deadliest infectious disease among adults and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Fifteen million children have been orphaned by the epidemic.
The Caribbean has a well-established HIV epidemic, making the region second most affected in the world. At the end of 2005, there were between 240,000 and 420,000 HIV-infected adults and children in the region. The region's HIV prevalence was estimated to be between 1.1% and 2.2%; among young people 15-24 years of age, HIV prevalence is approximately 1.6% for women and 0.7% for men. In 2005 alone, there were between 26,000 and 54,000 new HIV infections and between 19,000 to 36,000 AIDS-related deaths. (UNAIDS)
The Caribbean epidemic is predominantly heterosexual. The primary mode of HIV transmission in the Caribbean is through unprotected sexual intercourse. More than half of the reported case is as a result of unprotected sexual intercourse between men and women. Young girls are particularly susceptible in this region. An important contributing factor to their susceptibility is the common practice of young girls maintaining relationships with older men, who, by virtue of their age, are more likely to have acquired HIV.
In many societies people living with HIV and AIDS are often seen as shameful. In some societies the infection is associated with minority groups or behaviours, for example, homosexuality. In some cases HIV/AIDS may be linked to 'perversion' and those infected will be punished. Also, in some societies HIV/AIDS is seen as the result of personal irresponsibility. Sometimes, HIV and AIDS are believed to bring shame upon the family or community. And whilst negative responses to HIV/AIDS unfortunately widely exist, they often feed upon and reinforce dominant ideas of good and bad with respect to sex and illness, and proper and improper behaviours.
The stigma associated with the disease pose a major problem for the families of children living with HIV/AIDS. Fear of discrimination leads to families keeping secret the knowledge of HIV infection and AIDS within the household rather than seeking help. Others seek help but are rejected or abandoned, even by family members, when they reveal the nature of the illness. Fear, discrimination, ignorance, and social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, in addition to overwhelming demands on caring adults, leave children isolated with their grief and suffering while they watch parents and other loved ones die and their families’ languish.
Racial Discrimination
Racism is a developed set of attitudes that include antagonism based on the supposed superiority of one group or on the supposed inferiority of another group, premised solely on skin color or race.
Racism means attitudes, practices and other factors that disadvantage people because of their race, color or ethnicity. Racism can be directed against any race, color or ethnicity. Some examples of racism are obvious, such as graffiti, intimidation or physical violence. Racial and ethnic slurs and "jokes" are other examples. Unfortunately, they are often ignored because people do not know how to deal with them.
Other forms of racism are not obvious, such as discrimination in hiring and apartment rentals, or policies that disadvantage members of certain races, whether intentionally or not.
Racism exists at three main levels: individual, institutional and cultural.
Individual racism takes the form of individual attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours. Racial , bigotry, belittling and jealousy are examples of racist attitudes. Examples of racist beliefs are racial , the belief that some races are better than others and even the belief that people can be classified according to race in the first place. Violence, name-calling and discrimination in hiring are examples of racist behaviour.
Institutional or systemic racism takes the form of the practices, customs, rules and standards of organizations, including governments that unnecessarily disadvantage people because of their race, color or ethnicity. They do not always involve differences in treatment. Educational requirements that are not related to actual job duties are an example.
Cultural racism is the cultural values and standards that disadvantage people because of their race, color or ethnicity. Examples are cultural expectations as to the race of a company president and the cultural standard for what a beautiful, trustworthy or competent person looks like.
Although in the Caribbean there are few instance of racism yet Caribbean people face racial discrimination when they travel. Research done by McMahon et al. (2003) states that the reason for high levels of academic failure and increasing dropout rates of afro Caribbean students in Canadian school is as a result of racial and cultural differences (ed20x Issues and Perspectives in Education pg 126).
Research indicates that many students who are the victims of racism, prejudice, and discrimination: develop feelings of worthlessness; deny membership within their own group; identify with the dominant group; develop prejudice against other ethnic minorities; achieve less in school and have lower aspirations for the future; and drop out of school in increased numbers (National Research Council, 2002; Parks, 1999; Utsey, et al., 2000).
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is when someone loves someone of the same sex. A homosexual is someone who has a continuing erotic preference for and is sexually attracted to partners of the same sex and (usually) chooses to act on those feelings.
We live in a homophobic world where this type of life style is linked to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Homophobia, is “the fear and hatred that heterosexuals experience when around homosexuals and the discomfort and self hatred homosexuals have about their own homosexuality” (Weinberg, 1972)
Homosexuals are the most hated group of people in the United States (Gerald Unks). Most homosexuals live a lie because of fear. They are the victims of ridicule, name calling and violence. Hence homosexuals are afraid to reveal their true self, living a life of denial which prevents them from realizing their true potential.
Homosexuality is such a controversial issue. These are problems that educators do not want to talk about or have to deal with. It is not an easy topic to talk about since the majority of people in the world are against this kind of lifestyle.
Methodology
This research paper adopts a qualitative research design. It attempts to discuss the information collected by interview of persons such as administrators, educators, parents and children. It will be a standardized, open-ended interview where the same open-ended questions are asked to all interviewees. This approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analyzed and compared.
For this research paper a standardized open ended interview was used. Interviewed were a welfare officer, director of CCF, 2 primary school and 2 high school students, AIDS project team worker, and 2 parents. The participants were selected through referrals given by a principal. The sample was used because of their expertise in some of these issues and the parents and students were selected because of their firsthand experiences with some of these socially sensitive issues.
Findings and Discussion
Various laws enumerate children's rights, but their enforcement is hampered by lack of staffing in government agencies. Upon interview with Mr., Anthony Martin, assistant Chief Welfare Officer of over 20 years, I have noted that child abuse is a fact of life in Dominica. According to the Welfare Department, cases of child abuse, including sexual abuse, have increased in the past few years, despite fluctuations in statistics of actual reports. In 2005 there were 152 reported cases of child abuse, compared with 294 cases in 2003. The 152 cases affected 25 boys and 127 girls. Of these cases, 101 involved sexual abuse. At year's end, there were nine staff members in the social welfare office that handles all welfare problems, including complaints of child abuse. This poses a problem for the welfare department in being able to provide adequate services for abuse cases across the island. Mr. Anthony stated that the staff member most often do counseling of the victims and have little or no contact with the perpetrators. He also stated and was backed by a telephone call to the chief Welfare Officer, Mrs. Ava Roach that contrary to Le Franc (2002) report that families most at risk were both parents household in Dominica that was not so. Most cases were from single parent families. The director of CCF Mr. Bernard Joseph shared similar sentiments with Mr. Anthony. He stated that his organization upon encountering child abuse cases liaise with the welfare department who is the legal organization to report such cases to the police. “CCF does all that they can do to help the abused child by providing basic necessities to the child and also doing some counseling.” He stated.
Upon interview with the National Aids Coordinator who stated that Dominica saw it first case of HIV/AIDS in 1987. 279 reported cases at the end of 2004. Of the reported cases, 143 developed AIDS and 100 persons are known to have died. In 2003 there were 14 children living with HIV/AIDS. She states that there is lack of availability information on infants and vulnerable children. The most vulnerable age group of HIV infection is the 15-49 age group since this is the age of highest sexual activity.
Because of the issues being of a sensitive nature parents and students interviewed were reluctant to talk. However the parents and students stated that there should be a better response from authorities when abuse cases are reported. Both parents and students stated that they would not want to be in the same school system with people who are HIV/AIDS positive and that homosexuality should not be tolerated in any organization much less the school system.
The interviewees stated that they are not aware of racism in schools although they alluded to the fact that some people are ‘looked down’ upon because of socio-economic status.
Some Implications can be
- Mechanism within the school system must be put in place to guide teachers as to the strategies that can be used to help students facing these dilemmas
- Schools need to develop Action research plans to help teachers know their students and be better able to reach them.
- Policy makers need to involve students, teacher, counselors and teacher when developing policies which may affect the education system
Recommendations
The findings of this research paper lend themselves to certain recommendations
- Students should be taught about their rights and responsibilities.
- Public education on the Rights of the child
- Educators get versed on the UNCRC and Education Act of their country.
- Counseling should be made a part of the Teacher Training Programmes. This will enable the teacher to better deal with the sensitive issues which they are confronted with daily.
- Sex Education should be made a part of the curriculum at an early stage. If children get the proper education on sex they will be able to detect appropriate and inappropriate behaviours towards them
- Morals and values should be made a part of the Social Studies Curriculum
- A well structured Family Life Education programme should be ongoing at all schools.
- Students should be taught to accept people regardless of who they are, what they believe and the life they live.
- There is need for a Family Court which will help deal with legal issues faced by children.
Bibliography
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GERALD UNKS, Thinking About the Gay Teen
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National Research Council. (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education (M. S. Donovan & C. T. Cross, Eds.). Washington DC
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