Spotlight (2015) Movie Analysis
LLL03
childsexualabusePPT.pdf
Child Sexual Abuse
Child sexual abuse is any interaction between a child and an adult (or another child) in which the child is used to sexually stimulate the perpetrator or observer.
Sexual abuse can include both touching and non-touching behaviors.
Child Sexual Abuse
Statutory Rape (California Penal Code 261.5 PC): When any person engages in sexual intercourse with a person under the age of eighteen
Physical force may or may not be used, but other forms of coercion may be used to engage the children and to keep the secret. Persuasive, manipulative tactics are used to “groom” the children.
Myth or Fact?
Child sexual abuse is a rare experience.
Myth or Fact?
A child is most likely to be sexually abused by a stranger.
Myth or Fact?
Preschoolers do not need to know about child sexual abuse
and would be frightened if educated about it.
Myth or Fact?
Child sexual abuse is always perpetrated by adults.
Myth or Fact?
Talking about sexual abuse with a child who has suffered such an experience will only
make it worse.
Myth or Fact?
Children who are sexually abused will never recover.
Out of Darkness, Into Light: Child Sexual Abuse
http://www.pbs.org/vide o/wlrn-documentaries- out-darkness-light-child- sexual-abuse/
Characteristics of Victims
• Age of CSA victims – varies from infancy to 18 with most cases between 12-14 years of age
• Gender of CSA victims-females are more likely to be victims
• Race of CSA victims are heterogeneous
• Socioeconomic status (SES) – varies but children in lower SES are more vulnerable
• Potential for self-blame among victims of CSA
Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition
© 2011SAGE Publications
Characteristics of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrators
• Age of perpetrators is often between 30 and 40 years – a significant number are under 18 years of age
• Gender of perpetrators are likely to be males (93%) than females (about 7%)
• Race of perpetrators are heterogeneous
• About 30% have been victimized by sexual abuse as a child
Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition
© 2011SAGE Publications
Signs of Sexual Abuse
• Increase in nightmares, sleeping difficulties, withdrawn behaviors, angry outbursts, anxiety
• Pain while urinating or having bowel movements, indicating infection
• Symptoms of genital infections (e.g., offensive genital odors)
• Physical trauma (abrasions or lesions) to the genital area
• Begins wetting the bed and having accidents
• Masturbates excessively or engages in persistent sexual play with friends, toys, or pets
• Initiating sophisticated sexual behaviors (not developmentally appropriate for child’s age)
▪ Trauma symptoms
Dynamics and Consequences Associated With Child Sexual Abuse
• Dynamics of Child Sexual Abuse
• Usual Progression
• Grooming
• Child Pornography
Factors That Increase Trauma Experienced by CSA Victims
• Long duration of abuse
• Poly-victimization
• The severity of the abuse
• Abuse by someone who is a parental figure or trusted acquaintance
• Abuse that involves invasive forms of sexual activity
• Negative reactions by significant others to the disclosure of abuse
Family Violence Across the Lifespan, 3rd Edition
© 2011SAGE Publications
National Child Traumatic Stress Network Child Sexual Abuse Committee. (2009). Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse. Los Angeles, CA & Durham, NC: National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.
Los Angeles Clergy Abuse
Use of Anatomically Detailed Dolls in the
Interview
Arguments in favor of the use of anatomically
detailed dolls
Arguments against the use of anatomically
detailed dolls
Child Behavior with Dolls Normal Questionable Abnormal
Undressing the Dolls
Looking at Dolls’ Genitals
Touching Dolls’ Genitals
Touching Dolls’ Anal Area
Touching Dolls’ Breasts
Avoiding Dolls
Placing Dolls on Top of Each Other Lying Down
Showing Dolls Kissing
Showing Vaginal Penetration
Showing Anal Penetration
Showing Oral-genital Contact
Showing Genital-Genital Contact
Showing Fondling/Digital Penetration
Ratings of Behaviors with Anatomical Dolls for Children Ages 2 – 6 years
CSEC stands for commercial sexual exploitation of children which is defined as the sexual abuse of children for monetary gain. Sexual exploitation includes pornography, physical abuse, prostitution, and child trafficking (Albanese, 2007).
What Is CSEC?
Sex Trafficking: The New American Slavery
https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/sex-trafficking/index.html
Who buys a trafficked child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation- now/2018/01/30/sex-trafficking-column/1073459001/
• Approximately 300,000 children are at danger of getting involved in sexual exploitation in the United States every year (Adams, Owens, & Small, 2010).
• Average age of entering into the prostitution is between 12 to 14 years old (Reid & Jones, 2011).
• Recent studies show that pimps/traffickers control the majority of CSEC victims in the United States (Reid, 2014).
Statement Of Problem
• Brannigan and Van Brunschot (1997) found that, in comparison to their peers, youth who were engaged in prostitution reported more negative characteristics in their parental home lives, more physical and sexual abuse, parental alcohol or drug abuse, and unstructured families.
Abusive history and CSEC
• Lloyd (2011) revealed that 70–90% of young women who are engaged in prostitution have experienced sexual abuse in their past.
• Children who have a history of neglect and physical abuse often demonstrate insecure attachment style (Egeland & Sroufe, 1981).
• Chronic consequences of childhood sexual abuse in victims is linked to behaviors and symptoms of adults who have insecure attachment styles (Alexander, 1992).
Abusive history and attachment style
• Damaged view of self and others leads to losing the sense of control and action in relationships. Victims of maltreatment believe that other people are not trustworthy and the whole world is a hazardous place (Herman, 1992).
• Shame-based beliefs make victims feel unloveable, so they think people cannot care about them (Carnes, 1997).
• Insecure attachment styles are related to experiencing negative relationships and emotions (Beech & Mitchell, 2005; Shaver & Clark, 1994; Shaver & Hazan, 1993).
Consequences Of Damaged Attachment
Saba Borjianboroujeni examined the pimping relationship through the lens of attachment theory for her master’s study.
To examine the nature of the pimping relationship between sex traffickers and victims, this study implemented semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants.
CSEC Research Study: Dr. Ulibarri and Dr. Ulloa
Participants were stakeholders who work with CSEC victims including law enforcement officers, service advocates, and educational specialists that include CSEC survivors.
Each interview last between 45 to 60 minutes and were conducted by Dr. Ulloa and Dr. Ulibarri.
Template analysis (TA) is a process in which we can organize and analyze textual data based on the themes (King 1998; King et al. 2002).
The transcriptions of semi-structured interviews with 15 CSEC stakeholders revealed six themes that continued to resurface during the analysis of the data.
Data Analysis
• 14 out of 15 participants referred to having a history of abuse as a significant risk factor
• Broken families, participant #13 stated “if you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty umm what really makes them at risk in that trauma is going back to childhood and doing more prevention more on developing safe healthy families and reducing childhood trauma.”
• Participant #14 also said “sexual abuse is obviously also one of the risk factors, so when people are sexually abused they get a lot of attention, and they think that’s love and attention.”
Theme 1: Abusive History
• 12 participants referred to negative self-image as a characteristic found in victims.
• Participant #6: “I already had that mentality of prostitution, yeah um, it stayed with me, I had no worth, I had no direction, I had no purpose other than to serve others for there were nothing for me. And that grow into my adult life and there I was.”
Theme 2: Self-image
• Participant #4: participant #8 referred to low self-worth as a consequence of early sexual abuse, “I think the girls who have victimized early on, they take on all kinds of other issues that come around them like drug abuse is one big one, then the emotional health, they have a very low sense of self-esteem and they don’t, they feel they deserve everything wrong. They really truly believe they deserve just junk, they are not worth anything.”
• Participant #1: “Because they’ve been hurt I guess for lack of a better word so many times and deceived umm so many times that you can’t do anything to me that somebody else hasn’t already done so shut the “f” up, you know? So that takes time to break that.”
• Participant #6: “As far as my relationships go with friends, I had them I wanted them I didn’t know how to interact with them, I didn’t know how, I didn’t know how I can actually be that open to anybody about what my inner trouble was, what my hidden trauma was, what I was going through at home, what my secrets are, how do you trust anyone with that and carry out with me through my adult life.”
Theme 3: Other image
• 14 out of 15 participants talked about how victims did not have someone to bond with.
• Participant # 12 said, “That is a manipulation and she’s seeking that, an unhealthy attachment because she just doesn’t have a healthy attachment from her home life. Because these children seek for a sense of belonging and attachment to love.”
Theme 4: Unhealthy attachment
• Trauma bonding theory states that in an abusive relationship, power imbalance and extreme intermittent maltreatment lead to the development of a strong emotional attachment in the victim (Dutton & Painter, 1993).
Theme 5: Trauma bonding
• Participant #10 described pimps’ behavior as, “you and I don’t understand that but they do they know that they have a place to stay at night. They have someone that maybe beats them up during the day and loves them at night but they would have been removed from that, they don’t have anything.”
• Participant #10 stated, “They [pimps] want to disorient that female. They want to get her to another area. They take her here and move her to Orange County. She doesn’t know Orange County. They’re gonna get her out of the city that they don’t have any way to contact anybody. They don’t feel safe. There is no running away.”
• 7 participants mentioned that pimps know that girls are at risk for developing trauma bonding toward them and that they know how to play their roles to form this bonding.
• Participant #10 said, “You pick that right victim who doesn’t have any self- esteem that has had issues in her life and you give them this opportunity the pimp give her this opportunity, within two days they are able to get that little girl to go out and sell herself.
Theme 6: Trafficker’s strategies
• Responses from stakeholders in the present study support the existence of trauma bonding between CSEC victims and pimps.
• Participant #14 said, “I think some of the protective factor would be some adult connection be it a teacher, a sports coach, the lady down the street, a young adult, maybe somebody that they trust.” (prevention tool)
• Ten participants mentioned that having an attachment to a special someone could be a protective factor. For example, participant #14 said, “I think some of the protective factor would be some adult connection be it a teacher, a sports coach, the lady down the street, a young adult, maybe somebody that they trust.” (intervention tool)
Some Discussion Points
