‘A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer’ – Unknown
The other day, my friend/fellow blogger messaged me and asked me to contribute an article on ‘Child sex abuse’. When I read ‘child sex abuse’ in his message, my brain froze, I did not know what to write. Had he asked me to write something about women’s safety or about rape maybe I could have written like 10 pages on it. I know and understand that there are sexually frustrated and mentally disturbed people in this world who can force themselves on women to satisfy their lust, with scant regard for a woman’s consent and no fear of the law. But when I think about the sexual abuse of kids, my brain stops thinking, I can’t fathom what exactly goes on inside the brain of a pedophile. All of 3 or 4 feet, large inquisitive eyes, innocent hearts and a mind devoid of all negative emotions. What do children have to offer to a perpetrator?
When you and I look at kids, we notice their smiles, their ruffled hair, their adorable mannerisms and their innocence. When the pedophile looks at the kids, he/she probably sees an opportunity, maybe even a fantasy. They see ‘soft targets’ in those poor, vulnerable souls. A target which cannot fight back, a target which cannot scream, a target which doesn’t even know the meaning of whatever is happening to them. There is a high chance that you, me and every single person you know has gone through some form of sexual abuse or the other (regardless of gender) as a kid and may not even have been old enough to have known what it was.
According to a UNICEF report, every 3rd rape victim in India is a child. According to the same report, on an average 7200 child rapes are reported every year. The sad part is that these are just the reported numbers; numerous cases go unreported because of the social stigma attached to this crime. These statistics don’t worry me as much as the fact that children being silent and vulnerable victims, how long do they continue being abused sexually till the time they either realize what is going on, speak out or fight their perpetrators. Probably years!!
It is a stated fact, and logically quite apparent that almost all the times, the perpetrator is known to the child victim. A relative, a school teacher, a cousin, a neighbor or in some cases even a parent or sibling. Once a child has been marked by the perpetrator at a tender age, he/she will continue to be exploited till the time he/she can be exploited, sometimes stretching onto a decade. Just imagine being violated by a known face for years on end and not knowing what to do or who to tell.
Considering how fertile children’s minds are, I am sure the memories of abuse stay with them forever. Often times leading to low self-esteem throughout life, violent behavior, mental imbalance, depression and even suicide in some cases. While lucky kids get to enjoy their childhood, the victims of abuse have to figure out ways to escape or avoid being alone with their perpetrators. Hoping every day, that it would stop one day, but it doesn’t, it never stops on its own.
Fortunately, the Indian law doesn’t define Sexual abuse as necessarily being penetration of a child’s private parts. Touching a child inappropriately or making him/her touch inappropriate parts of one’s body, making a child watch pornography or making a child exhibit his/her body with a sexual intent, all of these constitute child sexual abuse. India being a developing nation, with a vast majority of the population uneducated, a lesser number educated yet immoral and quite a few of them downright sexually frustrated, just imagine how rampant the evil of child molestation/rape must be in our country. It’s no wonder that India ranks 2nd in the world when it comes to child rapes. Not that developed nations don’t have the pedophile population, but they have stricter laws and more importantly greater awareness to deal with this evil.
The law will take its own sweet time to deliver justice, which might cleanse society of its garbage population by throwing them in jail, but it cannot bring back a child’s childhood back, once it’s gone it’s never coming back. So, awareness, I believe, is as important as strict laws. If you are a parent or an elder brother/sister or a guardian, please for God’s sake, make your child aware about sexual abuse and stay alert yourself, of any person known to your child who could cause them harm. Never leave your child alone with another person (known or unknown) and look for any strange changes in your kid’s behavior. It’s much better to spend a few embarrassing moments trying to explain abuse to your kid than to see them silently suffering as victims. Your child looks up to you for safety, please make sure you go out of your way to provide them that.
This post is a part of our #SaveTheKids Campaign. To check out more posts from this campaign, click here.
