Peer Generated Harm - Essay Example

Topic Name Lecturer Date According to Matthews (1993), sexual harassment is defined as any sexual contact varying from fondling to intercourse between a child and a person whose age is at least five years older than him/her. It occurs when an individual get into a sexual act in which they do not understand and which they cannot give informed permission. Such abuse can take many forms for instance fondling voyeurism, pornography, child prostitution, exposure and any tendency to engage in sexual intercourse without ones consent. Acknowledgement of abuse on young people could be used as an excuse for denial of gender bias in sexual abuse (Forbes 1993). There exist risks of discussion of sexual abuse of children and young people by their peers. The National Conference on Sexual Abuse held in London in March 1992 faced many critics with the experts arguing that the discussion would easily turn to the time when professional literature regarding sexual abuse of children only focused at unthreatening and personal theories on sources of the abuse. Kelly (1988:67) reminded that it was up to when issues of male power were forced by feminists on child sexual abuse analysis leading to gradual acknowledgement of the essential important of gender. The arguments to focus attention on patriarchy are seen as unwilling to listen to the truth and change evidence supporting the ideology. Those arguing that sexual abuse on the young should be put on the political agenda are also challenged by the demand to know why small minority of abusers needs to be given attention instead of investing the resources on victims of childhood abuse. These controversies and conflicts are acknowledged and the outcome of such polarizations on the survivors of sexual abuse. Sexual harassment on the young is a reality, and the act of struggling to face the sexual abuse by peers remains unspeakable. The peers normally face a challenge in confronting sexual abuse by their colleagues because they view it as a way of interacting. Liz Kelly (1991) argued that through silence the conspiracy to fail those who had already suffered sexual abuse continues. The issue of sexual abuse on children especially by females was first addressed by women at some conference held in London in the year 1990. The women in the society are the key protectors and carers making it very difficult to accept that there are other women who continue to sexually abuse the minors. The fact that this challenge is believed to be feminism is a great obstacle for young people to confront the issue of sexual abuse by their peers. The use of coercion and force to maintain power has been analyzed in the society and seen as socially reasonable. This structural analysis enables to find out access and use of violence by women on children although it has been ignored in most occasions. Kelly (1991) explained that this argument clearly leaves the children to be more prone to violence especially by their elder sisters and brothers than any other social group. The boys are considered to have the most power in sexual dominance and therefore girls acting against these expectations are linked to be perpetrators of sexual abuse. Analysis of power is only a partial solution to understanding sexual abuse by young girls (Young, 1993; 57). She explained that some girls can be very abusive and violent than boys, a behaviour attached to patriarchal oppression. There is limited information on facts about girls who normally sexually abuse. This is mainly because there is little literature about survivors of the abuse and fewer numbers. Therefore existing statistics reveals the sexual abuse by young girls is not common. Estimation by David and Diana (1984) showed that up to 20% and 5% of abuse of minors respectively are committed by girls. Russell (1984) also did an examination of a report that indicated that up to 27% and 10% of children were sexually abused by women. Crisp (1991: 87) revisited a report by Terry M., Director of Child Protection Services at the Adelaide Children's Hospital that indicated a 10% of children they saw were sexually abused by young girls. However, these numbers vary depending on the source of the data and where the research was carried out. Sources of evidence of sexual harassment on minors includes courageous girls who spoke about their experience on sexual abuse during childhood and adult survivors who openly come forward to share their tangible evidence on sexual abuse. Immediately after the National Conference on Sexual Abuse on children in London, a radio and television program recorded many incidences of sexual abuse on minors. The victims admitted to have never shared their bad experiences with anyone. America and United Kingdom have established national self help groups for the survivors of sexual abuse although exact figures of the victims is not yet established. ChildLine, a national helpline for children operating throughout the United Kingdom has recorded more than three hundred thousand cases barely seven years after its establishment. It receives many calls daily out of which at least 10% of the children reports sexual abuse by by girls. Again, it revealed that more percentage of boys than girls were abused. Christine Lawson has criticized the research about sexual abuse of minors and faults the approach and sources used in the survey. She recommended that prevalence studies were to be designed to fully tackle the range of behaviours revolving around this abuse. Her sentiments were seconded by Finkelhor (1979: 28) who argued that in deed surveys asking specific questions about abuse could result to a higher prevalence rate compared to general questions. These research and practices were conducted such that potential sources of information were not closed. The Social Context of sexual abusers frequently contradicts making it very difficult make a conclusion. A report by Kathleen Faller conducted between 1978 and 1987 on forty girls showed inconsistent pattern compared to that of boys. More emotional distress were recorded in children when recounting cases when they were abused but because most of the abusers were their elder brothers and sisters, it was impossible to accept that the key caretakers of these children could abuse them. Single young mothers abused the children more because they could relate to them as surrogate partners. In her study, Faller included adolescent abusers that according to Kelly required a separate analysis. The number of categories and characteristics of abusers could be young people who abuse either as peers, abuse those with disabilities, and those who participate in ritual. According to Matthews and Speltz (1989: 25), they found three categories of abusers in their research. First, there are those who associate with adolescents to teach them sex. Secondly, there are girls who want to abuse in conjunction with boys but later start to abuse solely. Finally, there are girls who initiate the abuse themselves and later extend the act to the children. The implications of sexual harassment are focused on working with adult survivors, intervention with the children, and primary prevention. The feminists for a long time have been leading in championing of education campaigns and extend other prevention strategies. It is believed that the boys predominantly sexually abuse, but the fact remains that sexual abuse by girls continues to occur silently. The abusers should be informed to stop the vice and the entire community alerted on the dangerous effects of the abuse. An intense campaign on resources allocation should be launched and everybody in the community to be aware of existence of sexual abuse amongst the youth. The young girls should come out openly to discuss the challenges they experience with children because it has been noted that some girls experience difficulties with boundaries and experience sexual responses with children while taking care of them but never share such information with anybody. The safety of the children should be taken into consideration and those children and youth survivors worked with closely so that they can break the silence and regain trust. The children who report cases of abuse should urgently be believed and practitioners should try to explore if the client can recall their childhood sexual contacts. Another research reveals that most of the children facing abuse from girls also experience the same with the boys. The study carried out by Sgroi and Sargent (1993) indicated that sexual abuse of minors was more damaging to the female clients than abuse by men. Those working closely with the survivors of sexual abuse should resolve their anxieties about these abusers and consider them as human beings with both strengths and weaknesses. If a group is working with a girl who was sexually abused by a colleague, the girl may have a feeling of isolation and may even fear to talk about her ordeal. It is recommended that a group should have more than one girl sexually abuse so that they don’t feel isolated and threatened. It is very clear that social position is a majorly predicts criminal involvement of young boys and girls. The differences in sex mostly explain the variations on cultures and nations than all the other factors. Hierarchies and cultures of masculine identities seriously contribute to male distress, delinquency and criminality. Boys are considered to have more power than girls and therefore a notion that they are considered to get involved in sexual offences more often than girls remains. Again, the moral panic or fear of groups of young males a result of media representations is on the rise and the moral standards continue to decline. The sexual revolution that started in 1960s has been an issue and the societies have seriously suffered the repercussions. BIBLIOGRAPHY Finkelhor and Russell 1984.. Women as Perpetrators. New York: Free Press. Kellner, Douglas 2008.Part One, Part Two. ‘Constructing male identities and the spectacle of terror’ in Guys and guns amok: Domestic terrorism and school shootings from the Oklahoma City bombings to the Virginia Tech massacre. Boulder, Colo.; London, Paradigm. HN90.V5 K45, Lattas, Judy 2009 ‘“Stop!”: the undirected scripts of sexual morality’. Beyond the ‘hijab debates’: New conversations on Gender, Race and Religion, edited by Dr Tanja Dreher and Dr Christina Ho (UTS) Cambridge Scholars Publishing,. Matthews, J. 1993 . Working With Female Sexual Abusers. In Elliott M. (edition), Female Sexual Abuse of Children, Essex: Longman, Miller, Jody 2008. Part One, Part Two. ‘Playin' too much: sexual harassment in school’ Getting played: African American girls, urban inequality, and gendered violence. New York, New York University Press. HV6250.4.W65 M522, Screening of Elephant; a film by Gus Van Sant. New York, N.Y.: Distributed by HBO Video, [2004] (DVD) (81 min.) Kimmel, Michael S. & Matthew Mahler. ‘Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence: Random School Shootings, 1982-2001.’ Read More

The issue of sexual abuse on children especially by females was first addressed by women at some conference held in London in the year 1990. The women in the society are the key protectors and carers making it very difficult to accept that there are other women who continue to sexually abuse the minors. The fact that this challenge is believed to be feminism is a great obstacle for young people to confront the issue of sexual abuse by their peers. The use of coercion and force to maintain power has been analyzed in the society and seen as socially reasonable.

This structural analysis enables to find out access and use of violence by women on children although it has been ignored in most occasions. Kelly (1991) explained that this argument clearly leaves the children to be more prone to violence especially by their elder sisters and brothers than any other social group. The boys are considered to have the most power in sexual dominance and therefore girls acting against these expectations are linked to be perpetrators of sexual abuse. Analysis of power is only a partial solution to understanding sexual abuse by young girls (Young, 1993; 57).

She explained that some girls can be very abusive and violent than boys, a behaviour attached to patriarchal oppression. There is limited information on facts about girls who normally sexually abuse. This is mainly because there is little literature about survivors of the abuse and fewer numbers. Therefore existing statistics reveals the sexual abuse by young girls is not common. Estimation by David and Diana (1984) showed that up to 20% and 5% of abuse of minors respectively are committed by girls.

Russell (1984) also did an examination of a report that indicated that up to 27% and 10% of children were sexually abused by women. Crisp (1991: 87) revisited a report by Terry M., Director of Child Protection Services at the Adelaide Children's Hospital that indicated a 10% of children they saw were sexually abused by young girls. However, these numbers vary depending on the source of the data and where the research was carried out. Sources of evidence of sexual harassment on minors includes courageous girls who spoke about their experience on sexual abuse during childhood and adult survivors who openly come forward to share their tangible evidence on sexual abuse.

Immediately after the National Conference on Sexual Abuse on children in London, a radio and television program recorded many incidences of sexual abuse on minors. The victims admitted to have never shared their bad experiences with anyone. America and United Kingdom have established national self help groups for the survivors of sexual abuse although exact figures of the victims is not yet established. ChildLine, a national helpline for children operating throughout the United Kingdom has recorded more than three hundred thousand cases barely seven years after its establishment.

It receives many calls daily out of which at least 10% of the children reports sexual abuse by by girls. Again, it revealed that more percentage of boys than girls were abused. Christine Lawson has criticized the research about sexual abuse of minors and faults the approach and sources used in the survey. She recommended that prevalence studies were to be designed to fully tackle the range of behaviours revolving around this abuse. Her sentiments were seconded by Finkelhor (1979: 28) who argued that in deed surveys asking specific questions about abuse could result to a higher prevalence rate compared to general questions.

These research and practices were conducted such that potential sources of information were not closed. The Social Context of sexual abusers frequently contradicts making it very difficult make a conclusion. A report by Kathleen Faller conducted between 1978 and 1987 on forty girls showed inconsistent pattern compared to that of boys. More emotional distress were recorded in children when recounting cases when they were abused but because most of the abusers were their elder brothers and sisters, it was impossible to accept that the key caretakers of these children could abuse them.

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