I am angry!
And I need you to be angry with me. I need — we need — societal outrage to stop the sexual abuse of children. We need caring adults to say, ‘Enough!’
Our fear of this topic is nothing compared to the fear of the 1 in 3 girls and the 1 in 6 boys who are sexually abused before their 18th birthday (Aust. Institute of Criminology, 1993). If this topic makes you feel uncomfortable… well imagine how a sexually abused child feels. I challenge you to look this crime directly in the eye and help me, and others like me, to stop this hideous violation of our children. If the general public continue to do nothing, the predators win. They win because of our fear. And they will continue to rape children.
And let’s get this straight; child sexual abuse is rape — over days, weeks and years. Small children endure this — terrified with pain and fear. A fear I can’t even imagine — every night… waiting to be violated. Their innocence and trust stolen, and none of it their doing. They are children. Their future lives can be taken literally through suicide, and figuratively through anxiety, depression, ongoing health issues, and simply not living the life they were meant to live. And one of the saddest parts of all of this, is that a child is most often violated by someone they loved and trusted. 85% of children know their abuser (NSW Commission of Children & Young people, 2009). It is rarely a stranger.
John Grisham was wrong when he said recently,
“We have prisons now filled with guys my age, 60-year-old white men, in prison, who've never harmed anybody (and) would never touch a child, but they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons and went too far and got into child porn. ... They deserve some type of punishment, but 10 years in prison?”
There is no such thing as ‘child porn’ — it is child exploitation material; where every scene is a crime scene. Those viewing it are viewing crimes against children and are therefore partaking in it. And one does not ‘chance’ upon such material. Children will continue to be raped to fuel this industry. Those who view child exploitation material are not blameless.
I need you to get angry! Children need adults like you to stop this hideous crime. Ask for Body Safety Education in your local childcare centres, kindergartens and schools, and don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Be like that annoying mosquito in a dark room — small but causing havoc. Children worldwide are relying on you and me to speak up for them and to protect them. They need us to get angry! Tomorrow may be too late. :(
Jayneen Sanders is a teacher, author, mother of three and an active advocate for sexual abuse prevention education both in the home and in schools.
For more information on this topic and Jayneen’s children’s book on safe and unsafe touch: 'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept' go to www.e2epublishing.info
For a detailed blog on Body Safety Education go to: http://somesecrets.info/blog/2014/5/9/protect-your-child-from-sexual-abuse
'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept' is available on Amazon in 7 seven languages. http://www.amazon.com/Jayneen-Sanders/e/B00BDCGZ1W/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
