BY JACOB WAISWA
A
SITUATION HEALTH ANALYST
Children especially girls have are prone to sexual abuse. They are easily tricked into the act or coerced –by adults who could be acquaintances or strangers. Hardly would they negotiate for sex when in such instances that needs to decide and act away from possible sex-abuse scenario. But, reports say that majority of the cases are never brought to the attention of authorities nor do the guardians care.
There are usually signs of a possible sex-abuser such as; being rude, period of making confusing touches and sometimes pitching or painfully twisting hands and attempting to lift and throw down the victim, generally aggressive person, manipulative, sending out verbal insults and tough-looking, impatience, deviant, substance abuser, presence of certain religious and culture believes in an area –that okays child abuse, poor communication and negotiation problems of a person, violent environment and high cases of sexual abuse, itself as propelling factor, abusive parents (of the abuser) etcetera.
Changing social and economic structures have dictated much of the scenes regarding events in child development. Unlike the period before a fully-fledged industrial age, parents spend whole days busy farming, trading or in offices.
Even when they come back, no or limited time is put a side to see how family members, as children are fairing. There is basically no time for togetherness, telling educative stories, educating children about morals and certain skills of life.
Civil liberties (child rights), moral and religious breakdown in the name of democracy and modernization, has been a big force behind sexual abuse as for certain other child conduct problems.
Under such atmosphere, children experience unlimited freedom –since no more stroking by a stick and any other sort of consequences in place, they could do anything that would amount to the event of sex abuse.
Other parents, even if they had sometime for their children, they would be much so mindless about lives of their children. Visiting schools alone is only placed as a rule to forced out lazy parents, so that they could come and share with teachers issues about their children development
Besides, environmental influences, such as peer pressure –amidst loss of control by adults or parents, pornographic literature that children freely access, permissiveness coupled with negative model-ship by parent. Such could have a compelling influence on the part of the children –to at times consent and consciously take part in an act of sexual abuse take place.
The high incidence of cross generation sex -where a man or woman good enough be either grand parent or just parent to a child and over ten (10) years older shameless opts to marry or have sex with a child –in question. The vulnerability element would be the fact that child needs care –“more advanced” than current one offered by biological parents. The parents may be loving, but too poor to provide for the child.
Widespread poverty in communities that has “killed” shyness on the faces of people today –thereby encouraging child prostitution, child trafficking and trading groomed by immorality –and where something that used to be horrendous, then, become more acceptable and tolerable.
As a result sex abuse emerges right from such given conditions, moreover being enhanced by mushrooming lodges –both in rural and urban areas. In the language of President Museveni, the “mushrooms,” then, turnout to be toxic, this time round for the vulnerable children chased by foxy and much older men and women.
The cultural and religious aspect of encouraging child sex abuse, for example, the Tabliq Muslim sect in Uganda is widely believed to have promoted the dangerous act of sexual abuse –by claiming that “a girl child must never menstruate from home …instead her place is marriage.” Henceforth, she is handed an adult man (Hajji) as husband –yet capable of grand-fathering her.
Most “primitive” cultures, still, encourage early child-marriage -for quick dowry to enrich family, and help brothers (to the girl child) too –pay dowry. And of coarse, when gone for the forced marriage, she would be subjected to sex abuse unconsciously, and at times, consciously.
Nevertheless, biological factors could independently dictate incidence of child sexual abuse. At exactly that time, the biological clock could with a much stronger emphasis “ask” child to have sex. The clock could be valid as early as eight (8) years. Here, the command would not discriminate whether to have sex with fellow child or adult. Instead, the actual sexual intercourse as per the clock time would be what matters.
Sex education, which would otherwise have guided adolescents through that volatile period –which G.S. Hall (1904)l referred to as a period of heightened “tress and storm” is lacking or just less. Most parents think child would naturally learn, find it embarrassing to talk about sex with child or just on-the roof and inaccessible by the child.
The child would not end at that, but go ahead to find out just as the adolescent stage could have indicated to him or her –both by seeking at times “misleading” information from peers or actually experimenting to see how it feels.
Weak laws that show no consequence for unacceptable actions by offenders as well as police corruption that would hold all matters at the level of officer-in charge. In fact, it has been widely revealed that parents too motivationally do business with police and other law enforcement agencies, but first; by staging the event of sexual abuse.
Family and marital discord are other predictors of sexual abuse. Under such circumstances, an abusive individual could in most cases involve him or herself in sexual violence.
And in a similar situation, the child or children are most affected and confused. They would usually want to project themselves early into marriage for “love”, care and independence –away from confused and mentally toxic family life.
Subsequently, all round and hard-hitting trauma would take toll on children –leading to loss of ambition, school drop out, substance abuse, criminal tendencies –“a balanced diet” that strongly predict early sex play and sexual abuse.
But then several authors have indicated a positive relationship between school drop out and early marriage and/or teenage pregnancy of which sexual abuse could be part and parcel. .
But in all, brings such issues to authorities, ensuring concerned efforts to fight corruption in the judiciary, discussing them with help of the media and creating community awareness of the evil of child sex abuse as much as promoting the efforts of non-government organizations working in that area (of child health or sexual reproductive health), could be of much help.
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