Child sexual abuse statistics (I am confused)

That's what this site says, and I've seen similar statistics elsewhere. The question is, who are these abusers? I can't just say that some crazy homeless guy abused kids, since

and I can't just say it's a problem in certain social groups, since

(One book I read lists as one of the "myths of child abuse" that it only happens in some social group other than yours.)

Granted,

but if I take these statistics seriously, and even if I discount the occasional baseball coach or teacher who abuses twenty kids, this still implies that a substantial minority of adults have sexually abused children. So what the hell is going on? Who are these abusers, and how come I don't know about any of them? How can I suspect those around me of doing something so horrible?

Shit... those are really high. I've heard the 1 in 4 stat before but I thought that was woman generally, not women under 18...

Child abuse doesn't just happen with "obviously horrible people." Most child abusers' families look completely normal (the children would be afraid to make any complaints).

I can't speak for sexually abused children, but I know for a fact that not even my best friend since first grade could even comprehend the fact that my parents were capable of so much, and he knew my family the best out of all my childhood friends. In most cases, you can't instantly pick out which parent hurts his or her kids.

1 in 6 and 1 in 4?

I'm sorry, but I can't beleive those numbers. I just can't buy that.

I think maybe the source had different standards for what constitutes as "abuse" than the norm. But then again, even by my own standards, I don't have much trouble believing one in every six people under the age of eighteen will have been abused in some way. Sexually, though? That's too specific. My point is, abuse is a very broad term, and most cases aren't serious enough to warrant much beyond investigation. That doesn't make them any less cruel, of course. But over the course of eighteen years, especially when a good several of those are spent with raging hormones and emotions, it's easily possible.

It would probably be best to look up the cited paper. I'm not sure what "Pediatric Annual" refers to, however, since there doesn't seem to be a journal of that name upon cursory examination.

What you need to find out is what the definition of "an episode of sexual abuse" is, first off.

Going by what that same site lists in the "Overview" section ("This crime encompasses different types of sexual activity, including voyeurism, sexual dialogue, fondling, touching of the genitals, vaginal, anal, or oral rape and forcing children to participate in pornography or prostitution." they're counting everything that's vaguely sexual, including a couple of four year-olds comparing crotches to see what the difference is.

Wait...is this just 18+ abuse towards children or abuse in general?

No, it clearly states that "juvenile perpetrators comprise as many as one-third of the offenders". Between that and the list of what qualifies, two little kids playing doctor have both been sexually abused and perpetrated sexual abuse.

Was just about to bring Playing Doctor up.

A thing to keep in mind is that in many ways, laws presiding over sexual molestation and abuse for the underaged do little to qualify how terrified or traumatized the victim is. Which means that basically anything that happens outside of a doctor's office could probably be counted. Considering there have been instances of parents being arrested on charges of possessing and creating child pornography for taking pictures of their kids in the bath, this is almost certainly the case.

I'm sure there's plenty of people on this forum who remember doing things with other people when they were very young that would have grownups blushing like mad and running to stop them.

Oh. Well that explains the absurdly high rate of abuse. Still it's a very bizarre definition of abuse.

Should it really even count if the children are too young to realize though? Like with the playing doctor example many kids would not see anything wrong with that and wouldn't even realize they were abused.

edited 29th Jul '11 8:05:39 PM by Kostya

Anytime a statistic looks really high/worrying, try to find out the qualifications for meeting their goals. Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics exists for a reason.