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Sexual Assault In Australia

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This essay investigates whether sexual assault is an increasing problem for the young people of Australia and whether sexual assault is being taught in schools around Australia. This essay will also be explaining how the definition of sexual assault has changed.
“Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behaviour that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape.” (Unknown, 2016)
Sexual assault is seen as a serious criminal act, impacting the lives of many Australians almost every single every day, which most we don’t hear about. Only 25% of sexual assault …show more content…

At a young age, such as ages 3-5, children are being taught about their feelings and how to control them, exploring the concepts of safe and unsafe feelings and finding early warning signs of abusive behaviour. They are briefly taught about their identity, what a fair and unfair relationships is and how trust works. In the abuse segment, they are taught privacy and the privacy of their body parts, where it’s okay to be touched and recognising abuse. By the time these children are in primary school they are being taught about the concept of safely, they are reviewing early warning signs, unsafe situations and understanding rights and responsibilities. One of the main topics being taught is about the internet, mobile phones and media safety as that is turning into a large problem for the young people of Australia. According to the ‘Child Protection Curriculum’ high schools are meant to be teaching students about psychological pressure and manipulation, a matter of rights and responsibilities in relationships and the power of relationships. They are also supposed to be teaching them about identifying abuse and neglect, family violence, electronic media abuse and protecting yourself and others. Which Victor Harbor High School, is yet to do, as explained in my survey.
“A University study found 20.6% of women and 10.5% of men reported non-penetrative childhood sexual abuse by the age of 16 and that 7.9% of women and 7.5% of men reported penetrative childhood sexual abuse by the age 16 years. (Mamun, Lawlor, O’Calloghan, Bor, Williams. & Najman, 2007 Queensland University

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