Nnaemeka Oruh
Statistics detailing the extent
of perpetration of child sexual abuse is hugely alarming. Projections show that
the number will increase if something is not urgently done. Therefore, the
urgency of the situation demands that I do not waste time on preambles. So I
will just get on with it.
(pix: redwoodsgroup)
Cases of child sexual abuse are
not receiving adequate attention. In fact, while the cases skyrocket, less and
less people clearly and completely understand what it means to sexually abuse a
child. So this work is an urgent attempt to educate(and perhaps re-educate some
others).Urgent because it is very important that we start this discussion now
in order to teach as many people as possible while our children can still be
saved.
Child sexual abuse simply refers
to the engagement in sexual acts with a person under eighteen. Note that the
word "consent" is absent in my definition. The absence was not
fortuitous. This is because, a person under eighteen cannot really give
consent. So even if the person accepted your sexual overtures, it is still
deemed sexual abuse as persons under eighteen cannot legally give consent (in some states in the US , it
is 16). I believe that a lot of people do not know this. Thus if we try to
explore cases of child sexual abuse using this particular criterion, we will
find out that so many people would be found guilty of having sexually abused a
child one way or the other. That is why it is important that this piece of
information is shared.