Child Sexual Abuse

The recently publicised survey on child abuse has firmly focussed the media microscope on the Indian family. No longer the safe nest to which the child returns from the Big Bad World the home is instead revealed as the space where 68.87 children are beaten or burnt, where 53.22 of them face severe sexual abuse and those who are fortunate enough to escape these, 48.37 are subjected to emotional abuse. With sufficient data indicating that abuse victims grow into abuser adults concern centres on tackling the issue in a manner that builds a socially and psychologically healthy Gen-Next.

Current attention focuses on sex education in schools. Should it be mandatory, what should be taught at what age, how should it be taught, who should teach the children and how should teachers be taught to teach the children. Each question crucial to shaping the attitudes of young minds. But how will sex education trickle back into the home where so much of the abuse is perpetrated? Can a child of five, eight, ten, twelve take on family authority figures - fathers, uncles, grandfathers?

No doubt sex education needs to go beyond the dry physiological aspects of sex and sexuality, even beyond its emotional and psychological potentialities to equip children with protective mechanisms that work while taking into account the immaturity and vulnerability of the child. Gerda Mehta, a clinical psychologist at Vienna's Sigmund Freud University, puts it succinctly "children should not get in touch with what they do not understand and what harms them but if they do - we must prepare them."

Mehta, who has been working with abused children for several years, takes a holistic approach maintaining that in cases of family abuse working with the perpetrator is as vital as working with the victim. "Initially women's groups focussed entirely on the victim. However sexual abuse involves prosecution of the offender and we found victims changed their stand when they had to testify in court. Most children want to be protected from abuse without losing the relationship with their father, uncle, step-father. They didn't want their innermost experiences becoming public.

"Today child protective services in Vienna are aimed at the whole family. If the perpetrator admits to a one-time misdemeanor and is willing to enter into counseling family members are urged to cooperate to avoid a relapse. Counseling the abuser involves creating an awareness of the detrimental effects of child sexuality, underscoring the need for self control and chanellising adult sexuality into desirable goals."

Mehta also points to the importance of recognising that hormonal changes of adolescence make teenagers curious, even obsessive about sex. "Sex can become an addiction even when the partner is an older adult. A lot depends on whether force is used, whether the experience is pleasurable, what the child's emotional balance was before the act. If it's an isolated act the child may be able to deal with it and get on with her life but if the abuse persists it can leave scars on the personality."
Whether or not the proposed curriculum equips children to confront life as well as its unsavoury, unforeseen aberrations an equally serious lacuna remains unnoticed. Speaking at a workshop organised by Forum Against Child Sexual Exploitation (FACSE) Vidya Apte, Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences referred to child sexual abuse (CSA) as a 'secular' crime cutting across all religions, castes and classes with even educational levels guaranteeing no protection.

Regretting that CSA is not part of the social work curriculum she pointed to the paucity of trained personnel to handle such sensitive cases. "We too started by wanting to treat both the abuser and abused but since we don't have enough trained people we can only concentrate on the victim," she said. "Often social workers approach the problem with traditional attitudes imbibed from families and are not comfortable with sexuality related questions. Its unfortunate that there are efforts to ban sex education even before awareness has been created."

At the same workshop Kumar Ketkar, editor of Loksatta categorised four stages of sexual abuse within the family - aberration, repeated aberration, perversion and crime. "If it's a one-time aberration ninety percent of Indian families will not prosecute the offender while making special efforts to protect the child. The problem becomes serious when abuse is repeated indicating perversion of the abuser's mind. Then it becomes imperative to consider it a cognisable offence."

In cases of habitual abuse removing the child from the environment of the abuser is top priority. But however dastardly the act of sexual abuse the emotional matrix within families is so complex and dynamically charged that initiating legal proceedings runs the risk of further complicating life for the victim and should be resorted to only after running out of options. Years ago a social worker narrated the case of a twelve year old girl attempting suicide when her sexually abusive father was prosecuted.

Ketkar made a strong case for creating attitudinal change through strengthening community life. "The incidence of child sexual abuse is low in slum areas partly because of lack of privacy but also because there is greater interconnectedness among people. Creating awareness and enacting laws can only go so far. Real change can only come from influencing minds philosophically, psychologically, re-socialising people to live life at a better level."

Meher Pestonji
Bombay, India
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A freelance journalist, Meher Pestonji (* 1946 Mumbay) has participated in the campaign to change rape law in the '70s, the struggle of slum dwellers' housing rights, children's rights, anti-communalism campaigns and detailed reporting on the SriKrishan Commission instituted to investigate the Bombay riots of 1992-93. When her marriage broke up, she chose freelance journalism in spite of its inherent financial insecurity, because of its ability to expand her horizons and enrich her life. She revels in the opportunities to talk to street children and film stars, to interview scientists and businesspeople and social workers.
Biographical note quoted from: SAWNET Bookshelf

Read from Meher Pestonji her reflection on Vienna here at the ZITIG.