Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

• Author: Loree Armstrong Beniuk, Jo-Anne Hughes, and Jack Reynolds
• Pages: 183-193

183

Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

Charlene and Celeste have been friends for nearly two decades. eir husbands were

business associates, so they saw each other oen at parties and dinners. Celeste is

a music teacher, and Charlene has come to her recitals for years. ey have visited

the Art Institute on a regular basis together and attended downtown concerts and

chatted the aernoons away. Each is y-ve years old, but it was only a year ago

that Celeste had the courage to say to Charlene, “You know, my father molested

me when I was a child.” To which Carlene replied, “So did mine,” and they hugged.

— Carol Poston and Karen Lison, Reclaiming Our Lives:

Hope for Adult Survivors of Incest

Preventing child sexual abuse is a challenging, complex, and elusive sub-

ject. There is no easy way to accomplish it, and in fact there are more

questions than answers.

Can we accomplish it through educational initiatives with children and

caregivers and the community at large? Would this help make sure that

children are less oen in harm’s way, that children are taught how to report

sexual abuse, and that we are all more aware of the signs that an adult or

youth has a sexual behaviour problem? Is it unfair to put the burden of pre-

venting sexual abuse on children? Are such educational initiatives helpful

in identifying children who have already been sexually abused, because

they could inspire some such children to come forward?

Would tougher sentencing of abusers serve as a deterrent? Should a

f‌irst-time non-violent of‌fender convicted of using child sexual images get

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