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Myths Surrounding Child Sexual Abuse
| Myth: | Child sexual abuse is a rare occurrence. |
| Fact: | Child sexual abuse is, unfortunately, not a rare occurrence. It is estimated that approximately 1 of every 4 females and 1 of every 6 males experience some form of sexual exploitation as children. |
| Myth: | Children are usually molested by strangers. |
| Fact: | 85% of children are molested by someone they know, i.e. family members, relatives, neighbors and/or family friends. Offenders look for opportunity and access to children. |
| Myth: | The child will always feel negatively toward the offender. |
| Fact: |
The role the offender plays in the child's life may be vital, that is, they may be a close family member or someone in a position of trust. The abuse occurring will be very confusing to the child because of secrecy, shame, lies and isolation that follows. The child wants the abusive behaviour to stop; they do not want to lose the hope for protection and caring that is their right. It is important to be aware of the many different feelings that the victim may be experiencing and to recognize the loss the child faced because of the offender's exploitation of trust. The secrecy, shame, lies, isolation and breach of trust of sexual abuse creates feelings of confusion for the child. |
| Myth: | Sexual abuse is non-violent, and therefore non-damaging. |
| Fact: | Sexual abuse of children is an act of violence, even if there are no physical injuries. Children who are child sexual abuse victims are: denied a childhood, denied a loving, nurturing relationship of trust, and exploited and betrayed by a person who is in a position of authority and trust |
| Myth: | Children lie about child sexual abuse. |
| Fact: | Children do not have the explicit sexual knowledge necessary to describe phenomena they have not experienced. Children do not have the cognitive capacities to make up stories of sexual abuse. If children lie about sexual abuse it is most often to say that it did not occur, in order to protect the offender and/or the family unit. |
| Myth: | Children are seductive. |
| Fact: | No. Humans are born sexual beings and children have a natural curiosity about their bodies. They need and seek safe, appropriate and healthy physical affection. Sexual offenders exploit children's curiosity and their need for affection. Children who are sexually abused learn, usually at a very young age, that the price they have to pay for attention and affection is sexual activity. This learned sexually reactive behavior is interpreted by adults as seductive. |
| Myth: | Child sexual abuse is a one or two time occurrence, involving a single child. |
| Fact: | Child sexual abuse typically goes on for quite some time before discovery. It is not confined to one child, but usually involves several children. In incestuous families the abuse often effects more than one child, but may effect each in different ways. |
| Myth: | It is better not to talk about child sexual abuse - the child will forget. |
| Fact: | Child sexual abuse victims may temporarily block memories of what has happened but the effects will surface as they grow. Not talking about what happened will not make it go away but encourages it to fester. Adults often do not talk about child sexual abuse because of their own discomfort with the topic. If adults are not willing to talk about the abuse, the child will probably feel there is something to be ashamed of, that it is dirty and just too awful to talk about. This attitude will only serve to increase the child's feelings of guilt, shame and feelings of being abnormal and will compound their problems. |
