Cultural Norms: A Cultural Analysis

Sexual abuse can be hard to define because of the many different forms it can take on, the different levels of frequency, the variation of circumstances that can occur. Until a child is fit to function as a self-supporting and informed adult, we have an obligation not to take advantage of their lack of power or protection to inflict damage, or demand submission to acts that are not in their own best interests within. Children are being abused every day in different countries. While commonly accepted wisdom had been that childhood sexual abuse results in long lasting negative outcomes.

I shadowed a social worker who was interviewing a mother coming from a polish background who's child had been referred to the social services by the school ,as being suspected of child abuse. Despite of the child's outstanding academic performance and his good overall appearance ,the boy in question disclosed to his teacher that he sometimes get smacked by his parents. When mother was questioned about the concerns raised, she said that in her culture this act wouldn't be considered as a form of abuse. She attributed her behaviour to her religious beliefs, to a collective understanding of her people about correction and discipline concept which is transmitted from generation to generation. Apart from the communication difficulties that occurred inevitably due to the mother's poor English, the social worker was not very confident in challenging the parents harmful practices which , especially when no visible signs of abuse or distress had not been

Comaz-Diaz (1995), suggests that value that is placed on girl’s virginity, the shame of the victim, and cultural silence against discussing sexual matters are family values that are invoked to prevent disclosure on sexual assault. Incomplete or inappropriate sexuality socialization in childhood may affect one’s ability to identify abuse and as a consequence delay or hinder the disclosure of sexual abuse in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Many believed that there was no reason to report an abuse because the police or authorities would not believe them. However, they did not believe many until proven truthful, anyone can say someone sexually assaulted them, but they did not. This was to take precautions amongst both the victim and the accused perpetrator. In the article, there were many aspects that explained that the woman felt more victimized because of the courts decision to believe the abuser until proved he/she is guilt. Also, many children blamed themselves for the rape, so they would not tell their parents. To add, as we read throughout the article, we can distinguish that many abused individuals are scared and embarrassed about the sexual harassment. Many factors were brought to attention: youth and woman fell under the micro-level individual factors, and the community and police did not want to really intervene. These factors result in many victims maybe later on abusing others because they were abused, which should not happen. So, therefore, there was a lot of valuable information presented throughout this

Being sexually abused is a very traumatizing experience, and this form of victimization at a young age only amplifies the situation. The mortifying nature of child sexual abuse often brings along with it changes in the victim's life. Some of the numerous short term effects (problems that impact them while they are still at a young

Some children are left to be watched by another family member or a friend of the family and get sexually abused by them. Sometimes children are forced to have sexual activities going on with an adult without the parents knowledge. That leaves the child to think that their parents really do not care for them. Children get scared when sexual abuse happens. Some will not tell, because they think they will get in trouble. Sexual abuse can hurt the child's as they get older in life.

Sexual violation of a child is one of the world’s darkest crimes. In most cases the victim’s view of the world and themselves is completely changed. This paper will

Child abuse in American today is amongst the most saddened topics of mankind. Many children are subjected to neglect and abuse on a daily basis. The sex and age of child makes no difference when it comes to child abuse.. Boys and girls are equally likely to suffer maltreatment. The problem is how often child abuse goes unreported. Millions of children across the world are abused in some way, whether it is verbal, emotional, physical or sexual. Child abuse has been happening all over the world to young children, however many children keep this a secret because of fear of what could happen. Child Abuse consists of any act of commission or omission that endangers or impairs a child’s physical or emotional health and development. It can be

The sexual child abuse issue has become of significance within the United States as an alarming focus in the past 30 years. Sexual child abuse (SCA) is such an extensive topic and yet as time progresses this subject is more unrestricted for discussion, various dialogs are provided to make parents and care-takers aware of the signs of potential sexual child abuse. Seminars are provided to and for children to teach methods in identifying any possible perpetrators and report any peculiar behavior they may come across. However, how fortunate are children from other countries in reporting or discussing this same issue when something so violated occurs to them? According to Alpert, J.L., Brown, L.S., & Courtois, C.A., (1998), there have been findings that are constant in supporting that at least 20% of American women and 5% to 10% of American men have experienced some type of sexual abuse in childhood and that such abuse has transpired without regard to origin, race, or socioeconomic status. In an urban study however, which concentrated in Leon, Nicaragua, determined that sexual abuse defined childhood and adolescence as younger than age 19 Olsson, A., Ellsber, E., Berglund, S., Herrera, A., Zelaya, E., Pena, R., Zelaya, F., & Persson, L.A. (2000). Additionally, according to the Nicaraguan study sexual abuse was described as any sexual act by an older individual towards a child who is 12 years of age or younger.

Within the United States, child maltreatment is becoming more and more commonly reported as there is over 3 million reports each year. Due to the constant increase of child maltreatment reports, society has become more aware of the issue, which has led to awareness campaigns. (Payne, 87). Even with societies’ knowledge of such abuse there are still serval child maltreatment cases that are not reported. The children that are victims of maltreatment pertains any sort of harm to the child whether it is by injury, neglect, physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse by someone who holds a major role in the child’s life, a parent or guardian figure (“What is Child Abuse”).

For many victims, who were abused as a child find it nearly impossible to tell their parents due to fear of not being believed. No one should allow their child or siblings or cousin to go through that pain alone and to be at a point where they feel like they can’t speak up or that they just have to live through that alone. Yet some people do and children all over the world are suffering alone. On the rare occasions that these children do speak up, the adults are usually too caught up in the effect speaking up will have on their families. For many adults there is this fear of what it would cost them to speak up especially in the cases where the assaulter, the victim and the person- who knows about the assault- are related. Why do as people value financial or emotional security over a child’s safety? It is a moral duty to put the lives and safety of these helpless children over both emotional and financial security. These adults also fail to act in a way to protect the child being abuse due to fear of the effect that speaking would have on the family especially in the third world countries that prioritize men over women. Still today, there are countries where women are crimilized and judges for being sexualy assaulted and that brings shame to the family which is why rape still goes wildly unreported and

When children or anyone decides to report they have been sexually abused, particularly by a family member, the entire household is affected. This in return gives family members the feeling that they have to choose sides, along with deciding who should take the blame. Allegations of

Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). Childhood sexual abuse is a traumatic experience affecting the lives of not only the victim, but those close to the victim as well. Many think there is only one person truly traumatized, but in fact, everyone involved is affected. The victim has to deal with their experience the rest of their lives. They may be more at risk for other mental issues as well, including depression. The family involved has to deal with its pain, often causing hardship and discord within the family. This is especially true

Sexual abuse to children happens across every socioeconomic status, ethnic, cultural, religion and education. Getting treatment for a victim of child sexual abuse is a difficult process because of the lack of trust by the child. When child sexual abuse occurs the victim’s family has a difficult time talking about the abuse, which leads to the family pretending the abuse never happened. Once the family

Child abuse is just one of the problems in America we face today. Child abuse affects a child’s mind, emotional state of being and this type of abuse or cruelty molds a person to whom they are by the age of eighteen and is a worldwide prevailing occurrence. “Child abuse or ill-treatment creates all forms of physical and /or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.” Child sexual abuse had been extensively known as one of the distress in a child’s life. Previous study have delivered tough indication of child sexual abuse is connected with a quantity of psychological, social, and mental health problems. Depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, and most illnesses among adult child sexual abuse victims. Former analyses have stated that some of the fears include sexual illnesses, victimization, and close acquaintance violence. In recent times, it has been establish that various physical health conditions are connected to child sexual abuse. In accumulation, child sexual abuse fighters have been found to accomplish less in knowledge and revenue.