NCJ Number
199401
Journal
SIECUS Report Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: October/November 2000 Pages: 35-39
Date Published
October 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the unresolved issue of how to make sense of the sexual behavior of children in order to avoid both extremes of overpathologizing their sexual behavior to ignoring problem behaviors.
Abstract
There are still many questions when it comes to how to best understand and treat sexually abusive children. One of the important questions that has emerged is how to understand the sexual behavior of children. A certain degree and type of sexual behavior in children is a natural and necessary part of maturation. However, distinguishing between natural sexual behaviors and pathological sexual behavior becomes difficult, especially because this is such a crucial issue. Educators and therapists must be careful to prevent children from sexually abusing other children, but not at the expense of overpathologizing natural behaviors. The author describes a continuum of sexual behaviors that helps therapists and educators distinguish and correctly respond to the sexual behavior in children. The author explains that this is a crucial issue because to misdiagnose the problem carries heavy consequences for both the suspected child offender and the potential child victim. Also contained in this article is a textbox with questions that will help determine whether the reader was a victim of child sexual abuse. 15 References