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	Perpetrators and Victims: What Do People Really Think? By Sharon Womack Doty The Tidings August 31, 2007 http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/083107/survey.htm It is difficult not to make assumptions about the perpetrators and victims of child sexual abuse. We often hope that the people who do these things are easy to recognize and fit into the categories we think should apply to them and we hope that we can recognize when a victim is telling the truth about an allegation. However, as with many things in life, we base our decisions about victims and perpetrators on basic underlying assumptions that may or may not be correct. Operating based on these assumptions can undermine our commitment to keep children safe from sexual predators. A review of the results of a recent study of people's perceptions regarding child sexual and physical abuse tell us something about how the public views disclosures, which gives us some insight into how we react to different kinds of victims and the challenges victims face when they speak up. The study looked at the effects of gender (of victims and perpetrators), type of abuse, and the relationship between these factors and whether the allegation is perceived as credible.[i] The results suggest that the stereotypes of victims and offenders and the perceptions sometimes expressed by participants in Protecting God's Children® sessions are fairly common and consistent with attitudes in the general public. Some of those stereotypes are supported by the available data and some are not but in any case, they color our view of victims and their allegations. Stereotypical attitudes and perceptions can also influence our ability to see and respond to the behavioral activities of child molesters in our midst. Knowing that we are prone to make certain assumptions helps us be more open and attentive to what is happening around us. So, it is important that we know and understand what those stereotypical attitudes or perceptions are and their impact on how we deal with child abuse in our communities. Sexual abuse is more traumatic than physical abuse. According to the study, people generally perceive that sexual abuse is more traumatic than physical abuse and they believe that sexual abuse is significantly more traumatic when the perpetrator is a parent than when it is committed by someone outside the family.[ii] We know that physical abuse can permanently maim or even kill a child, but it is interesting to note that the general public believes that sexual abuse has an even greater impact. Gender matters. Participants in the study also said that they viewed abuse involving a female perpetrator and a male victim as less traumatic. In fact, although the perpetrator's gender was important to all respondents, it was much more significant to the males participating in the study.[iii] This finding can provide insights into the way allegations are dealt with by the community, the civil authorities, and the Church. It explains the prevailing attitude regarding women who molest young boys and how people across the country could send wedding gifts to Mary Kay Latourneau when she married the young boy she molested as a teen. This attitude is also a significant reason why young male victims are reluctant to come forward with complaints about female abusers. They know how it will look to the other men in their lives. Females suffer more and are more likely to be abused. Participants thought that abuse was more severe for female victims than male victims and regardless of the severity of the abuse, sexual abuse was seen as more severe when perpetrated by a male.[iv] It was also assumed that females were more likely to be victimized. This is substantiated by other data also.[v] However, we know that young men rarely speak up about being sexually abused so the numbers are inconclusive. The interesting factor is the community's belief that females suffer more from abuse again leaves male victims on the outside. In part two of this article, we will look at other perceptions about child molesters that color our ability to view all adults objectively and that influence how we listen to and manage allegations against people we know and trust. Awareness about our perceptions and assumptions is a major factor in our ability creating safe environments. Footnotes: [i] Bornstein, B.H., Kaplan, D.L., Perry, A.R., Child abuse in the eyes of the beholder: Lay perceptions of child sexual and physical abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect, 31 (2007)375-391. [ii] Bornstein et al at 382. [iii] Ibid. at 382. [iv] Ibid. at 383. [v] DHHS at Figure 3-8 http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm04/ chapterthree.htm#sex.
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