DEFINING ABUSE & ITS USEFULNESS
As people became civilised they developed formal rules
of behaviour in order to live successfully in a group.
In part, these rules involved efforts to curb, limit
and define appropriate channels for sexual activity and standards for family
behaviour.
So
how is child sex abuse defined? Answer – quite simply their
appears to be no universally accepted definition of what constitutes child sex
abuse, but what we do have are many adhoc formulations and guidelines.
It is important to understand that the many variations
of definitions that exist are significant because they may explain some of the
differences in reported statistics on child abuse.
So let us look at some of the many definitions used in
studying and measuring child abuse :
FINKELHOR (1984)
Sees sexual victimisation as ‘sexual encounters of children under the age of 13 with persons at
least 5 years older than themselves, and encounters of a child 13-16 years old
with persons at least 10 years older. Sexual encounter could be intercourse,
anal/genital contact, fondling or an encounter with an exhibitionist.’
BAKER & DUNCAN (1985)
‘A child (under 16) is sexually abused when another person who is sexually mature, involves the child in any activity which the other person expects to lead to their sexual arousal.’
THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON SEXUALLY ABUSED CHILDREN
(SCOSAC) (1984)
This definition ties together most stances from other
definitions in an aim to cover all angles; ‘Any
children below the age of consent may be deemed to have been sexually abused
when a sexually mature person has, by design or by neglect of their usual
societal or specific responsibilities in relation to the child, engaged or
permitted the engagement of that child in any activity of a sexual nature which
is intended to lead to the sexual gratification of the sexually mature person.’
What the last definition pertains is whether or not this activity involves explicit coercion by any means, whether or not it involves genital or physical contact, whether or not it was initiated by the child and whether or not there is discernible, harmful outcomes.
These are only 3 definitions that I have chosen from a
much broader and numerous spectrum, but which demonstrate the great diversity
when attempting to define child sex abuse.
Upon closer scrutiny of the different versions that
aim to identify the key characteristics of child sex abuse, 2 fundamental
points have to be addressed.
1.What is to be called sexual? It
is not clear that every child will identify some acts as sexual, nor that all
children will relate to them as exploitative or harmful. Obviously the
intention of the abuser is a useful criterion for what is to be labeled sexual
abuse, indeed a central element is ‘something carried out by the adult for
their own sexual purposes, taking the child as an object in the action.
2. What is the age and developmental level of both
the child and the abuser? Most definitions select a chronological age to
define the limits of abuse, usually legally rather than psychologically
designated. With reference to the definition put forward by FINKELHOR, both he
and many others choose 5 years or more for sexual contact to be regarded as
abusive – such guidelines can be viewed to be very imprecise. We must also take
note that ALL cases of sex abuse involve the use of coercion in either an
implicit or explicit way, and this is central in designating it as abusive.
We must we not lose sight of the fact that a child not
resisting the advances of an adult are still regarded as abused because of the
child’s lack of knowledge of social meanings and psychological effects of the
sexual encounters. After all trusting in adults means that there would be no
informed consent.
What this indicates is that there is some form of
power relationship that exists between the child and the adult. . .
The issue of the power relationship that pertains
between the abuser and victim is significant for the consideration of the
nature of child sex abuse.
ALL forms of abuse have at their centre, the
exploitation of a power differential, it may be explicit and obvious (through
direct physical force) or subtle (playing on the dependency of the victim).
The existence of abuse therefore, is partially defined
by the use of a position of power to manipulate another for ones own
self-gratification and against the dictates of the well being of the other.
This direction has lead us to an important question
that needs to be addressed, when in the context of examining definitions of
child sex abuse:
Is there something distinct about child sex abuse that differentiates it from other instances in which power is exploited for sexual ends?
The answer is of course yes. In the case of sexual contact between a child and an adult there is no need to explore the relationship surrounding the two protagonists-children are structurally dependant on adults, afterall that is one factor that defines them as children in the first place.
It is a key element that sexual activity between a
child and an adult always designates an exploitation of power, it can never be
anything but abuse, and it is for this reason that it differs from other forms
of sexual encounters.
In the past decade there has also been a dramatic rise
in the number of children engaging other children in unwanted, uncomfortable or
developmentally inappropriate sexual activity. This leads to a big problem. . .
Can
we name the initiating child as the abuser?
Okay so far a number of definitions have been
identified, and the diversity and problems that have arisen have been
highlighted. However, designating abuse in theory is far easier than applying
it in practice. Child sex abuse is no only a very controversial, delicate
issue, it poses many grey areas and open-ended questions that cannot be
answered.
1.The
boundaries between appropriate affectionate and inappropriate sexual physical
contact between adults and children may be difficult to draw.
2.It
may not be clear whether an adult is deriving sexual gratification from an
action with a child.
3.It
may be even less clear whether a child is aware that anything untoward has
taken place at all.
4.A
widespread problem occurs in attaining clear information concerning the precise
nature of the contact between a child and an adult. What good is the vast array
of definitions if the cases cannot all be discovered.
What these grey areas lead us to ask is whether intervention is appropriate in all
suspected circumstances, and if so to what degree?
The general answer to this question is ALWAYS. Child sex abuse that is experienced usually has serious consequences for a child, both in the long and short term.
So
how useful are such definitions in practice?
What must first be acknowledged is that many instances of the child/adult encounter do fall within the definitions offered earlier.
In these instances such definitions are useful for
naming the encounter as abusive, and in clarifying issues such as the severity
of the incident.
However, the degree of coercion, genital contact,
child activity or immediate outcome (all mentioned in the three definitions
mentioned) are all irrelevant to the naming of an adult/child sexual encounter
as abusive. The encounters have already been labeled as ‘abusive’ because
children cannot give informed consent.
The definitions are not very useful in differentiating
borderline cases, as mentioned earlier there exists a grey area between
affectionate physical contact and sexual interference. Of course the
perceptions of the child, relating to say feeling uncomfortable, may prove to
be the deciphering line, but are children a reliable source of information –
remember they lack social knowledge and experiences.
According to HAUGARD and REPPUCI (1988) the use of a
general category of children who have been sexually abused might obscure
important variations amongst children who have been abused in different ways,
at different ages, by different people and under different circumstances. In
other words labeling someone as being simply ‘sexually abused’ may hide other
important features of the individual cases. All cases are different, but
labeling them all the same hides the varying severity of the cases.
The label ‘child sex abuse’ should instead be used
sparingly and only in that general sense, with detailed descriptions used whenever
possible. Phrases more specific (i.e.: molested, intercourse) provide much more
meaningful information than does ‘sexually abused’ victim.
So
what are we left with? There are many definitions of child sex abuse
that aim to identify the varying degrees of each case in terms of both its
seriousness, severity and the potential harm that can be caused. There is an
argument that we do not need to know these factors, any adult/child sexual
encounter is abuse due to the child being able to give informed consent.
However there is also a counter-argument which is based on the presumption that
it is better to know the type of abuse (i.e. molesting, intercourse) rather
than the vague, yet broad term of simply ‘child sex abuse.’ This is because
each case varies in severity and thus possible long-term effects on the child.
One would conclude by saying that it is important to
have a wide variety of definitions of child sex abuse because every case is
different and what may relate to one definition in one case, may be missed by
another definition. This in turn would result in a case of child sex abuse
being overlooked. Having one universal definition would lead to many cases
being overlooked in this way.
Not only do public and professional groups have
differing definitions, but mental health, legal and social service
professionals frequently differ among themselves. Differences also exist within
these professional groups.
This lack of a shared definition has profound
implications for our knowledge and understanding for the entire field of child
sex abuse.
Definitional issues are critical in all areas of child
maltreatment because operational definitions are used to determine when
intervention into privacy of the family is permissible. At the core of this
ethical and legal dilemma are the competing interests of protecting the
constitutionally guaranteed right of family privacy while at the same time
using the parents patriae power of the
state to protect the child.
On one end of the continuum those favouring protection
of family privacy argue for limiting state intervention to only the most
extreme cases. They recommend definitions of abuse that are purposefully
specific and narrow. They argue that current definitions of abuse are
unconstitutionally vague, thereby permitting interventions based on subjective
opinion.
At the other end of the continuum are those favouring
protection of the child at all costs. These individuals recommend interventions
based on suspicion of abuse, defined quite broadly, in order to prevent an
escalation of the abuse to extreme forms.
Abusiveness should be determined by using such facts
as:
1.
The intention of the actor (discriminates between acts performed for the sexual
stimulation of the offender and acts
performed simply to convey feelings of affection.
2.
The acts effects upon the recipient.
3.
An observers value Judgement about the act.
4.
The source of the standard for that Judgement.
Acknowledging the difficulties in defining child sex
abuse, FINKELHOR (1979) describes three standards that influence the
development of his research definition. . .
1.
The consent standard : an act is abusive if a child does not consent to it.
2.
The report of the victim : this leads to problems. Children could later say
that they felt victimised by the act, that they could not say no to an adult.
There is also the issue of informed consent.
3.
The community standard : He sees this one as the most critical because it is
based on the age of both the victim and perpetrator as well as the relationship
between the two and because legal definitions are based on this criteria.
However, which community should supply the standard is
often the question.
A final difficulty in the definition of abusive acts
is the use of varying terminology to convey a certain attitude about them.
Adams and Fay (1981) prefer the term sexual assault to
convey its seriousness and harmfulness. Constantine recommends using sexual
misuse or sexual exploitation to separate abusive from non-abusive sexual
encounters between children and adults.
2 types of definitions :
RESEARCH DEFINITIONS & LEGAL DEFINITIONS
Research
definitions :
In general the term is used by researchers to cover a
multitude of vaguely defined acts. Issue of contact abuse (all behaviours that
involve intercourse, oral and anal sex, and fondling of breasts and genitals)
with non-contact abuse (encounters with exhibitionists and solicitation) Many
studies contain sexual abuse, which combines the two - leads to argument that
non-contact abuse is less serious than contact abuse.
In theory prevalence rates increased when non-contact
abuse numbers were added.
FINKELHOR 1979 & 1984
Used male and female college students and in his 1984
study used male and female parents of children aged 6-14. In both studies both
contact and non-contact acts were included, from intercourse and genital
fondling to hugging, kissing or fondling in a sexual way to sexual overtures.
WYATT 1985
Urban community samples composed entirely of women,
the upper age limit was 17 and contact and non-contact abuse were separated for
analysis. Wyatts definition of abuse used the consent standard. For incidents
that took place when the victim was 12 or younger and that involved an older
partner, experiences were considered abusive regardless of consent. For youth
from 13-17 voluntary experiences with older partners were not considered sexual
abuse.
In these two studies the prevalence rate differences
that occurred appeared to be the result of definition alone. FINKELHOR used
somewhat more restrictive definitions than did WYATT. Imposition of this more
restrictive criteria on WYATT'S sample resulted in a 14% decrease in the number
of women identified as abused.
Legal
definitions :
Definitions of child sex abuse are, according to
BULKLEY (1985), found in child sex offence, incest, and child protection
statutes. A 4th type of statute dealing with domestic violence may be invoked to protect children from
intra-familial sexual abuse.
FINKELHOR - laws concerning sexual abuse can be
considered reflections of community standards and therefore can provide useful
guidelines for child sex abuse - seems to have some validity.
The criteria that most legal definitions depend on
tend to be the ages of the child and the perpetrator, and the type of the act.
By examining the various definitions that have been
used by researchers to determine estimates of prevalence, by the legal system
to determine when to intervene either to protect the child or to prosecute the
perpetrator, and by professional helpers and the public to decide whether and
what kind of intervention is necessary, I have tried to demonstrate just how
important shared definitions are.
The task of communicating about an issue is infinitely
more difficult when the same term does not convey identical meaning because the
implications can be so different.
Child sex abuse is just a term. If different
professional groups do not have consensual definitions, they should become
aware of their differences in order to co-ordinate their efforts and increase the
probability of outcomes that are in the
public interest.
The use of a broad an encompassing definition of child
sexual abuse dramatically increases the number of children who can be
characterised as having been abused.
However, now that we have been alerted and want to
study the phenomenon closely, too broad a definition may be an impediment. The
broad definition yields such a heterogeneous group that an investigation of it
is often meaningless
Keeping in mind how both our cultural values and our
mores affect our definitions of child sex abuse, we can understand why clear
definitions are critical to developing a reasonable research, clinical, legal
and social agenda for the future.
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