child sexual abuse from acquaintances

child sexual abuse from acquaintances Sexual abuse by acquaintances is the single largest category of child sexual abuse,
accounting for 16% to 50% of all abuse, depending on how this category is defined. Although acquaintance rape is now the subject of intensive investigation,
the same cannot be said of acquaintance child sexual abuse. Indeed, although this is
the most prevalent type of child sexual abuse, not a single study focuses on it. This is
a distressing oversight. Of necessity, therefore, the information on acquaintance
abuse must again derive from the author’s reanalysis of Russell’s (1983) community
prevalence study.
In this study, abuse by acquaintances was in some ways different from that by strangers, as more than half of all abuse occurred outside the neighborhood, a figure
matched only by abuse by authority figures. The mean age of the victim at the time
of abuse was 12, although only 9% of this abuse occurred to children younger than
10 years of age. Distribution of age of the perpetrator was bimodal, with one large segment under the age of 15 and another large group between the ages of 41 and 50.
This group had the second highest number of multiple perpetrators and one of the higher rates of penetration (61%). Nine percent of perpetrators in this category used
a weapon, 13% physically assaulted the victim, and 75% used force or threat. The
following categories give more complete descriptions of the types of approaches of
acquaintances, again in order by prevalence.
Neighbor: Neighbors marginally represented the largest group of acquaintance
abuse. Most of these instances of abuse occurred at the perpetrator’s house, more
than one-third of which occurred multiple times. Children were enticed with candy, with money, or with activities. Some children were advised not to go, but went
anyway out of curiosity. A smaller number of children were abused at a location
other than the neighbor’s house. In most of these incidents, children were molested
by someone in the apartment complex in which the victims lived, and in one-third of
these instances, perpetrators simply grabbed the victims in the hall. Most victims were between the ages of five and 10.
House of known person: Another large group of abuse occurred when the victims went to the houses of those they knew. Most of this abuse involved penetration or its
attempt. Younger girls were at greatest risk when visiting a girlfriend, where they were abused by one of the girlfriend’s relatives (e.g., brother, stepfather, uncle).
Adolescent victims, who were at greater risk, typically went with someone else to the
house of a male acquaintance. How did these older adolescent girls find themselves
in these situations? First, most of the victims were considerably younger than the perpetrators, most of whom were in their twenties or thirties. Another pattern that
frequently emerged in the interviews was victims in this, and other, categories
describing how young and naive they were. As one victim said, “It was my first awareness that some men are like that, and I shouldn’t be so naive—trusting.”
Minor role: Another large group of victims was abused by someone in a minor
role. Perpetrators included coworkers, customers, shoemakers, recreation center aides, a maid, photographer, person collecting for newspaper money, barber, janitor, delivery
man, jeweler, boarder, and ice-cream man. These men used their casual relationships
with the victims to gain access.
Safe place: Victims abused in what could be considered a safe place also
comprised a large group within acquaintance abuse. Only one of the perpetrators was
older than 18 years of age and the average difference between the victims’ and
perpetrators’ ages was three years. Among victims abused in safe places, most were
abused while playing in the neighborhood, including at school or at a park. This type
of abuse was typically by an older adolescent who either abused the girl “for the
sport of it” (see discussion in Chapter 9, “Offenders”) or as a deliberate attempt.
Walking: Similar to stranger abuse, several children were abused while walking
around or coming home from school. Most often these children were approached by
perpetrators who were not in cars. Unlike stranger abuse, however, most assaults did
not occur at night, and most of these perpetrators were adolescents. Most incidents
occurred during innocuous situations, such as walking on a beach, to church, or to
work. This category was particularly severe, as most of the incidents resulted in
penetration or its attempt. In a minority of cases, there were multiple abusers, guns
were involved, or the victims were physically assaulted.
Parties: A smaller group of abuse occurred when victims went to parties. This
abuse was particularly severe, as all involved rape or its attempt. Almost half of the
victims were abused by multiple perpetrators, and half of all incidents involved alcohol
or drugs. Most perpetrators were in their twenties.
Farm worker: A smaller number of victims were abused by a worker on a farm
where the child lived, visited, or was working. Workers on a farm were most likely to fondle their victims on repeated occasions and were usually considerably older.
Other: In the miscellaneous situations, most of which resulted in rape or
attempted rape, victims were abused in a car by someone at least 10 years their senior,
went for rides with groups of young adult men, were “picked up” at a club or dance,
or were so drunk or high that they were incapable of resisting.