How as a society do we create or allow sexual abuse?
There are several factors that are the basis for creating the atmosphere that allows child abuse:• Seeing children as property: As long as they are seen and treated as possessions they are vulnerable to being objectified and used to meet an adults needs.
• Teaching children they are helpless and not to question authority: This is a set up to keep them powerless and consequently to create victims. If they see themselves as powerless children, this self-belief will often carry forward into adulthood.
• Sexual entitlement: Adults who feel that they are entitled to whatever they want or need to satisfy them sexually, regardless of whom or what it hurts. This is a rationalization that leads to abuse, rape, and other many crimes.
• Shroud of secrecy around sex: Probably the major reason that children are used to meet adults’ sexual needs is the shroud around sex and sexuality that we have created in our society. Many believe that if we teach children the truth about the mechanics of sex, we are telling them to have sex. Congress has repeatedly denied funds for a major research study on the sexuality of Americans because it doesn’t want any information published that would contradict its fantasies about sex and sexuality. Information is considered dangerous, and in a sense, it is. It destroys myths, it allows people to make choices, and permits them to grow up and act as adults rather than keep them as shameful children around sex and sensuality....read more
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