Politics of Sexual Assault - Facing the Challenge (From Justice for Young Women - Close-Up on Critical Issues, P 99-109, Sue Davidson, ed. - See NCJ-87870)

• NCJ Number: 87893
• Author(s): S Butler
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; New Directions for Young Women, Inc; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-87890

Annotation

The large numbers of myths surrounding the nature and extent of the sexual abuse of children have led to inappropriate interventions which tend to blame the victim and support the continued oppression of women and children.

Abstract

The common belief until recently was that incestuous assault was rare and usually occurred within lower class rural families or fragmented inner-city families. The silence and denial of Freud and Kinsey has affected theory, clinical training, and public response to the problem. The large array of contradictory myths regarding incest are refuted by recent research showing that adult males are usually the perpetrators of incestuous assault and that young female children are usually the victims. Sexual assault of children occurs in families of all socioeconomic brackets. However, most interventions ignore the issue of male dominance in the family, in society, and in the economic marketplace. Thus, the victim is generally removed from the home and offenders' wives and mothers are often implicated as contributors to the problem. However, to be effective, programs on sexual assault must consciously focus on the issues of male power and sexual privilege and be directed toward increasing the empowerment of women and children. Among existing programs of this kind are those operated by the Sexual Abuse Center in Harborview Hospital in Seattle and the Child Assault Prevention Project sponsored by Women Against Rape in Columbus, Ohio. The Seattle program supports the child and removes the father from the home if possible. In the Ohio program, schoolchildren learn how to be safe, strong, and free. To expand on these approaches, women should return to the earliest techniques of the contemporary feminist movement by applying the insights and skills of consciousness-raising to programs dealing with sexual assault. They should use this approach to reach a broad variety of institutions and individuals and to serve as community educators and organizers in the effort to break the historic patterns of sexual violence. Seven notes which contain references are provided.