How children are tricked
Home: Survivors: Preventing Child Abuse: How children are tricked
Children are subject to a number of fears that offenders can and do play on eg, monsters, being 'sent away' and not being loved.
Children may be enticed and bribed with "goodies' which they enjoy and feel guilty about especially if the goodies themselves are forbidden eg, alcohol, pornography.
Children may have been drawn in to the offenders web with extra attention, love and affection which makes them feel special. They may feel 'understood' by the offender and believe they are listened to. This is common for adolescents and lonely, isolated children. They may feel the assaults are the price they pay for the attention that they crave.
Some children may not tell because they do not know that sexual assault is wrong. They assume it happens to everyone and may not realise until adolescence that their experiences are abnormal.
We tend to believe that if we were attacked we would scream and fight - in fact often our survival instincts are so strong we do not fight at all but in fact 'lie doggo', frozen, in an attempt to escape further harm. When a smaller dog is attacked by a much bigger one it will roll over and be submissive to avoid injury. Humans are the same and children when they are so clearly less powerful than an adult or bigger person, will do as they are told to protect themselves.
It is not sufficient to tell children to say no because in some circumstances that will be useless. It is difficult for any child to say 'no' to an adult under any circumstances. It is VERY difficult for children to say 'no' to adults who they depend on, love and trust. In any event the act of saying 'no' will not prevent an offender doing what he has planned. Saying 'no' to drugs or stealing which involves personal responsibility is totally different to saying 'no' to someone who intends to sexually assault.
It is adults' responsibility to protect children and to take steps to prevent sexual assault.
In the next few pages are some ideas for activities and exercises that are designed to help parents and caregivers achieve these objectives.
Sponsor
Disclaimer
Copyright Updated: 15 Feb 2010
The South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault acknowledges the traditional Aboriginal owners of country throughout Victoria. We pay our respects to them, their culture and their Elders past, present and future.