James joined Stop It Now in early 2005 and is responsible for institutional development and marketing, as well as being responsible for the institution's online communications, planning and evaluation.
1) Tell us a little more about the work of Stop It Now!
The organization Stop It Now! ® aims to prevent child sexual abuse by mobilizing adults, families and communities and taking actions to protect children, especially before the abuse happens. We provide support, information and resources so individuals and families can keep children safe and create healthier communities. Since 1992, we have identified, improved, and shared effective individual and community-level ways to prevent child sexual abuse (ASI).Stop It Now! was founded by a survivor of child sexual abuse, Fran Henry, who learned firsthand that common approaches to keeping children safe did not address the complex relationships that surround most abuse situations. At that time, child sexual abuse was not seen as a preventable health problem and prevention initiatives placed the onus of protecting children on themselves (the children). Fran Henry wanted child sexual abuse to be recognized as a preventable health problem and that the responsibility for preventing and combating ASI as well as creating effective programs based on these principles was attributed to adults.
This vision of Henry's led her to create a forum in which survivors of childhood sexual abuse, recovering sexual offenders, and families of victims and offenders could come forward, talk about their experience, and work together to break cycles of abuse. This innovative strategy inspired a large, community-based pilot program that was launched in Vermont and was successful in getting potential perpetrators to seek help and deal with their responsibilities.
This prevention model based on multiple dimensions and social marketing has been successfully replicated by several affiliated initiatives in Minnesota, Georgia, the United Kingdom and Ireland, among others. Now! assisted local programs with adapting educational materials, training, helplines, social marketing, and media advocacy.
Through programs and direct work with the US public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fran's vision was realized. The CDC has recognized child sexual abuse as a preventable public health issue and placed it at the top of the three priority issues regarding child maltreatment. The shares of Stop It Now! demonstrated that:
1. Adults mobilize to prevent child sexual abuse when they have access to useful and accurate information, practical tools, support and guidance.
2. Communities mobilize to prevent child sexual abuse – including efforts that seek to address the complexities of abuse in the home. As a result, the concept of “adult responsibility” in preventing child sexual abuse is now recognized and accepted in this area, and adult- and community-focused prevention approaches are currently recognized as promising practices. Now! created the first national, confidential and free helpline specialized in preventing child sexual abuse. Trained professionals provide information and guidance to adults who have questions and concerns about child sexual abuse, including questions about their own behaviors.
Stop It Now! maintains a unique and firm commitment to engaging all adults affected by child sexual abuse. The organization's programs and messages are based on interviews and focus groups with survivors of child sexual abuse, recovering adult abusers, family members, and professionals who investigate and work with victims and perpetrators, as well as daily conversations held via the helpline.
Stop It Now! does not believe in simplistic solutions to child sexual abuse, which remains, despite being a widespread problem, a taboo subject in many places. Instead, the organization's approach – its strategies, messages, materials and services – seeks to balance the rights of victims and their families with accountability and support for those who commit abuse – more than 30% of whom are also minors.
The efforts of Stop It Now! are guided by this premise: to truly prevent child victimization, all adults must accept responsibility for recognizing and confronting behaviors that lead to abuse. Most importantly, any long-term prevention strategy must change social norms so that child sexual abuse is no longer tolerated and support, help and accountability mechanisms are available and accessible to victims and survivors, attackers and their families.
Learn more about Stop It Now! at StopItNow.orgFor more information about the programs, including reviews, visit: www.stopitnow.org/community-based-program-archives
2) What are the risk factors for perpetrating sexual abuse?
There is a varied set of risk factors that can lead to the perpetration of sexual abuse. These mainly include poor parenting, the use of cruel forms of discipline or having suffered child sexual abuse.
These are the results of the academic article “Risk Factors for the Perpetration of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review and Meta-Analysis”, from 2008, which brought together and analyzed the results of several studies. Article started Stop It Now! and completed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC- Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in Portuguese) and published in 2008, in the May edition of the journal Child Abuse and Neglect. (D. Whitaker et al. Risk Factors for the Perpetration of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review and Meta-Analysis. Child Abuse and Neglecti: The International Journal, 32 (5). May 2008, pp 529-548.)
The study also reveals that child abusers are no different from other adult sexual offenders, except for the lesser presence of externalizing behaviors. This suggests the presence of general risk factors that can lead to negative behaviors of various types, including the perpetration of child sexual abuse. Personal experience of sexual abuse and family factors are strongly related to the perpetration of child sexual abuse when compared with situations of non-sexual abuse and non-abuse.
Therefore, interventions with parents and support for children who have been subjected to sexual abuse are essential to stop the development of this and other types of negative behaviors.
Other research highlighted the following risk factors: witnessing marital violence, the presence of conceptions that support sexual abuse, norms of masculinity (since the majority of aggressors are male), interest in depersonalized sex or sexual interest in children and biological predisposition. (European Commission, Factors at play in the perpetration of violence against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence, 2010, ec.europa.eu/justice/funding/daphne3/multi-level_interactive_model/understanding_perpetration_start_uinix.html )
3) Why is there silence around this issue?
Most children are abused by someone they know. It is very disturbing to imagine that someone you know could be sexually violent towards a child. For this reason, when there is no evidence of abuse, it is easier to ignore these thoughts or think that you are exaggerating your concern. Adults are generally also concerned about the consequences of any type of action, especially if the reason for concern is someone or involves someone on whom they or their family depend in financial, emotional or social terms. One of the most common thoughts parents have is: “My child would have told me if he had been abused. Since she didn’t say anything, it can’t be happening.” However, there are several plausible reasons why an abused child may decide not to tell anyone.
For this reason, people often only decide to act after the abuse has taken place. Many people have experienced the discovery that someone close to them had abused a child. Looking back, they wonder if they ignored the signs. However, when something is as difficult to conceive as situations of abuse, it is human to try to find ways to deny what happened.
Common misunderstandings about sexual abuse can also contribute to denial. And there are also social norms and cultural practices that contribute to condoning or even institutionalizing child sexual abuse in a specific context. However, when adults follow their instincts and intervene, they can prevent sexual abuse.
4) What did the interviews with child victims of sexual abuse and their family members reveal about how best to deal with these situations?
Our research conducted in Vermont between 1995-2000 with family members of victims resulted in the following recommendations:
• Need to break the silence
• Need for support to end shame and isolation
• Need for specific information
• Transmitting messages of hopeSexual abuse takes place in secret and interventions such as the Stop It Now! helpline. which provides confidential support to relatives who take their concerns seriously and decide to act to protect their children. Research with family members of victims has shown that they need support, credible information and guidance to be able to make the decision to intervene to protect children. These results are similar to our research with people who abused children and their families: it is important to show hope that everyone involved can find help and that children will be able to recover from the trauma.
5) What are the ways to prevent child sexual exploitation and abuse?
There are many prevention strategies and depend on scale, context and audience. No strategy can be successful on its own. On our website, you can find strategies and tools for preventing child sexual abuse that are aimed at different individuals, as well as families and organizations. At the societal level, other types of strategies are needed, which aim to change norms, encourage debate and reflection, and facilitate a means that enables and supports individuals, families, state bodies and communities to take action.
The ecological model of prevention, available on the CDC website and the similar model developed by the Prevention Institute, called the Prevention Spectrum , provide clues in this regard. Both emphasize that the problem must be looked at through various levels and dimensions, and that prevention strategies must reflect this multiplicity.
6) How do you relate the work with men and boys and the transformation of masculinities with the work to prevent child sexual abuse?
Effective strategies for involving boys, adolescents and men in non-stereotypical masculinities, gender equality, care and fatherhood are crucial for preventing child sexual abuse. As with situations of sexual violence, there is a clear gender asymmetry in the incidence, prevalence and causes of child sexual abuse. We know that the majority of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are male, while the victims are predominantly female. However, it is important to remember that sexual abuse of boys and adolescent men is under-recognized and that there is growing evidence that it is more common than previously thought. Furthermore, at least in the USA, between 30 and 50% of abuses are committed by other minors with sexual behavior problems.
We view this issue from a feminist and human rights perspective: child sexual abuse is a clear example of abuse of power and denial of children's rights. It is an abuse of power on the part of adults, which has a component of clear gender ideology (stereotypical masculinity) and which is perpetuated by social norms about gender, sexuality and childhood. Challenging and changing stereotypical gender norms is crucial in the long term – and working with men and boys is an important part of this path.
However, Stop It Now! never framed his messages through gender filters. We purposely chose to focus on the public health approach and began campaigns to raise awareness among adults concerned about their own sexual thoughts and behaviors towards children. Reaching a mostly male audience led us to place an emphasis on changing behaviors and accountability, as well as providing treatment and support to end abuse. Our research with these individuals and their families confirmed that they have some specific needs in common with those directly affected by sexual abuse – knowing that support is available and that sexually abusive behavior is preventable and can be treated. We are committed to the belief that everyone has a role to play in prevention and we act according to the principle that any and all types of labels and stereotypes represent a significant barrier to the prevention of this type of violence. Thus, we recognize and seek to provide answers to men and women, victims and perpetrators, protectors and protected.
We hope that our work with Promundo and discussions with other groups working to engage men and boys in preventing gender-based violence will promote working relationships that bring together the best theories, tools and strategies to prevent child sexual abuse. This applies both to the benefits of primary prevention in terms of increasing men's involvement in fatherhood and socializing boys into non-stereotypical masculinities, and to secondary prevention, which targets men at risk of sexual violence and exploitation. of children. This work is consistent with – and an extension of – our emphasis on primary prevention with adults as a way of reducing risks and vulnerability to perpetrating this type of violence as well as including perpetrators in prevention mechanisms.
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