This study investigates the conception of child-on-child sexual abusers from the perspective of a group of isiZulu educators. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the way in which a group of educators conceptualize the issue of child-to-child sexual offending.
Defining the concepts
How do educators conceptualize the issue of child sexual abuse in ways that differ from the legal and psychological discourses. For the purposes of this study, conceptualization refers to cultural belief systems, based on educators' experiences and assumptions, which reflect their understanding of issues such as child-to-child sexual abuse.
Implications around consent
In traditional African culture, the definition of a child differs from Western definitions in that other factors such as physical development and status rather than age are used as the barometer by which maturity is measured (Bekker, 1997; Letuka, 1998). Since this project focuses on how educators understand child-to-child sexual abuse, it is important to clarify what is meant by their "conceptualization" of the concepts.
Acknowledging the political nature of research
Overview of this study
RESEARCHING CHILD SEXUAL OFFENDERS
The South African literature
Pettigrew's (1998) study was more specific and focused on the discourse of adolescent male sex offenders. The research was thus an attempt to understand how a particular group of individuals constructs and creates their reality.
Social constructionism and a new understanding of child sexual offending
If considered pathological, it would not be recorded as a crime, leading to lower reported crime statistics in this area. In this way, they learn what kind of behavior is considered acceptable or unacceptable by their particular society or culture.
The South African context
- Political change in South Africa
- The effects of the political change on traditional black families
- The South African educational system
All these factors played a significant role in the breakdown of the extended family system, the cornerstone of the black traditional family (Brown, 1984; Ncube, 1998). It is Rohner's (2000) opinion that young people's stress is directly related to the extent to which young people experience the discontinuity in the enculturation process.
Society's changing attitudes towards sexuality
In the 19th century, the dominant medical discourse on mental illness did not focus on the effects of sexual abuse, although the effects of other forms of trauma were noted, such as male hysterics who survived railroad accidents (Olafson, Corwin & Summit, 1993). . Children are directly exposed to this type of behavior through television programs such as "soaps", which are usually shown in the early evening.
Dilemmas in acknowledging child-on-child sexual abuse
However, there are still professionals, both in the field of mental health and in the judiciary, who prefer to define sexually abusive behaviors of children and adolescents as. To date, little research has been done in the area of sexually abusive children and adolescents, while in contrast much research has been conducted regarding the sexually abusive behavior of adults (Awad & Saunders, 1991; Bourke & Donohue, 1996).
Dilemmas in definitional issues surrounding child/adolescent sexual offenders
- The issue of under-reporting
- An attempt to define child-on-child sexual aggression
- Normal versus pathological behaviour
Thirdly, information about the nature of the relationship between victim and perpetrator is important. Furthermore, Williams and New (1996) emphasize the fact that any definition must be gender neutral, given that some sex offenders are women, even though they are a small minority.
Prevalence of child sexual offending
- Prevalence in South Africa
The South African Police Service (SAPS) reports that there has been a significant increase in the number of children arrested for sexual offenses (HRW, 2001). The recent South African study conducted by the Human Rights Watch (HRW, 2001) seems to indicate that sexual crimes by children are evident nationwide.
Very young child sexual offenders
Although statistics are available, HRW (2001) has raised concerns about the quality of these statistics and, as noted above, many factors such as definitional problems and under-reporting can contribute to the quality of statistics.
Prior sexual experience of child sexual offenders
Female child sexual offenders
The use of coercion and force
Others use less coercive styles such as threats, bribes or "special games" to carry out the offending behavior (Kahn & Lafond, 1988). Bearing in mind that although the prevalence of sexual abuse in the general population remains unknown, the above statistics seem to indicate that the extent and severity of the abuse of young offenders is cause for concern and can no longer be denied.
Victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by child/adolescent perpetrators
The fact that victims are generally not seriously harmed may contribute to the problem of underreporting of the abuse. Research indicates that most victims of male juvenile offenders are female, and studies have shown that up to 80% of victims of incarcerated offenders were female (Davis & . Leitenberg, 1987).
A developmental perspective of child sexual offenders
Empirical studies have reported that many sexually abused children exhibit increased sexualized behavior compared to children who have not been sexually abused, and that there is an association between sexual abuse and increased sexual behavior after the abuse (Friedrich et al., 1992; Friedrich, 1993). During adolescence, sexual behavior becomes part of interpersonal interactions and is a feature of intimate relationships with peers.
The "storm and stress" of adolescence
In addition, biological processes associated with sexual maturation are influenced by social factors, such as cultural norms regarding what type of sexual behavior (ie, kissing, caressing, touching) is appropriate. The process of normative sexual behavior develops from childhood and begins with curiosity and exploration, whereby children express interest in their peers' genitalia and mutual genital touching occurs (Barbaree, Marshall & McCormick, 1999).
Arousal patterns
Psychosocial development
Moreover, other family members have been victimized by someone other than the perpetrator, such as a father who victimized the author's mother in front of the children, modeling abusive and violent behavior.
Interpersoaal relationships and dynamics
- The family
- Peer influence
According to attachment theory, lack of communication between parents and children is identified as an important facet in the parent-child relationship. Communication is seen as a protective factor in the development of deviant behavior in children (Ryan, 1998).
Talking about sex
Thus, the peer group has a strong influence on the behavior of a group member. These findings confirmed an earlier report by HRW (1995) in which the Cape Town-based Rape Crisis noted that the majority of adolescent females they counsel have been gang-raped. Other major South African centers such as Johannesburg and Durban reflect the same findings in terms of gang rape (ibid).
The role of the media
A six-year-old girl with a ponytail told how she and a seven-year-old boy undressed in an empty classroom and "had sex" under a desk because they "wanted to try out" what she saw on her favorite program (Govender, 2001, p. 5). The above quotes indicate that young children are exposed to sexually explicit behavior on television, and that children who watch these programs without guidance from adults or parents can result in sexual abuse of their peers.
Schools as spaces for sexual violence
In South Africa, in addition to the reluctance to acknowledge sexual abuse within the confines of the school, there is confusion over guidelines from the Department of Education on how to deal with the issue of sexual abuse, whether committed among students, teachers or other individuals. associated with the school (Charlene Smith. The Mail and Guardian, October 15, 1999). According to Davis & Leitenberg (1987), not much research has been done on the location of adolescent sexual offenses, but it appears that most occur indoors, with approximately 75% occurring at home (55% in the victim's home). 22% in the perpetrator's home and 15% in a shared home of the victim and perpetrator). In addition to abuse at home, a significant number of children are sexually abused on the way to school, in schools in empty classrooms or corridors and in hostels (HRW, 2001).
Challenging existing conceptual frameworks
Instead, different degrees of violence must be recognized, none of which is acceptable. Recognizing and accepting the pervasive effects of violence on students should become a normal part of the teaching/learning process. This can be done through educators understanding the complexity of the concept of violence, becoming aware of school violence and the impact it has on the classroom.
METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
- Summary of the aims of the study
- Research design
- The research participants
- Setting up the interviews
- The focus of the interviews
- Ethical considerations
- The interview process
- Recording the focus group discussions
- Data analysis
- Transcribing the interviews
- Content analysis as methodology
- Analysing "talk"
In this study, this type of environment would allow the discovery of different discourses in terms of participants. These included explicit concepts, previously identified in the literature, as well as implicit concepts that emerged during the text analysis. In this study, all text resulting from the three focus group interviews was included in the sample.
Reliability and validity
- Assessing reliability
- Assessing validity
In this regard, it was important to assess the reliability and validity of the data. Two types of validity related to the nature of the data are: sample validity and face validity. Sampling validity refers to the extent to which the sample from which the data is obtained is statistically representative of the population.
Summary
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
- Introduction
- Child-on-child sexual offending conceptualised as criminal behaviour
- Child-on-child sexual offending conceptualised as a unacceptable
- Victimization
- Summary
- Child-on-child sexual behaviour conceptualised as experimental and developmental behaviour
- Child-on-child sexual behaviour viewed as interactional
- The role of acculturation in child-on-child sexual offending
- The role of educators in child-on-child sexual offending
- Summary
These included strategies that educators used to normalize, relativize, rationalize and justify the issue of child-to-child sexual abuse. The issue of child-to-child sexual abuse was further normalized by the educators seeing the behavior as unacceptable rather than criminal. In this way, the educators conceptualized some child-to-child sexual behavior in terms of criminal or unacceptable behavior without actually engaging with the issue of sexual abuse.
In both of the passages above, educators view child-to-child sexual behavior as. During this phase of the analysis, a number of strategies were identified that educators used in conceptualizing child-on-child sexual offending.
REFLECTIONS ON THE STUDY
- Implications for further study
Another important aspect in terms of the definition and conceptualization of concepts is the fact that I am of a different race than the educators with whom we worked in this study. In this study, it was evident that all educators had experience in dealing with child sexual abuse, but only one school (a school for mentally retarded children) had a formal code of practice. According to the findings of this study, it was evident that many educators lack sufficient knowledge, especially regarding the legal aspect of sexual abuse.
CONCLUSION
During this phase of the analysis, it became clear that educators used a number of rhetorical strategies to help them understand the concept of child-to-child sexual abuse. These strategies included normalizing, relativizing, and justifying the behavior of child-to-child sex offenders. Sexual abuse histories of adolescent sex offenders: Differences by age and gender of their victims.
APPENDIX: A
When she got to the toilets, two boys aged 10 and 11 attacked her and had sex with her. She was physically injured and too scared to go back to the classroom, so she went straight home. She did not tell anyone about the incident because she is afraid that no one will believe her, because a few months earlier the same thing happened to another girl at school and no one believed that girl.
APPENDIX: B
Have you had an incidence of sexual abuse perpetrated by a learner against another learner? E.g.: a boy in the school raped another girl/boy in the school
I'd like to hear about your experiences as an educator - with child sexual offenders
Do you think this type of behaviour is crime or is it experimentation?
In your opinion, does this kind of behaviour happen often?
At what age does this kind of behaviour happen?
What kind of treatment/punishment, if any, should the perpetrator receive?
How do schools deal with this kind of behaviour? What did the school officials (e.g
What school policies do you have in place to deal with incidents like this? If none, then what policies do you think the school should have?
Have you received any training on how to deal with child sexual offenders?
APPENDIX: C
I have received a clear and complete explanation of the general nature and purpose(s) of the discussion and the specific reason(s) for the discussion.
APPENDIX D
Child-on-child sexual offending
Child-on-child sexual offending
The role of acculturation
The role of educators
