Everyone knows child abuse is a heinous crime. But what happens when the “abuser” is a child themselves?
Over the years, we have heard increasing reports of children or young teens acting out damaging sexual behavior on other children.
Last year an attorney contacted us who is representing an eight-year-old girl raped multiple times by a thirteen-year-old neighbor boy. The young boy, who appears to be addicted to hardcore pornography, actually had his younger siblings and the sibling of the victim “watch” the sexual assault as if it was a play.
What should we expect when a 13-year-old with an immature brain has been exposed and conditioned to the extremes of Internet pornography? It seems to us that he learned his pornography lessons well, and as a result it will take years, maybe decades, to unravel the trauma endured by all of these children.
Another disturbing case recently occurred just a few miles from our office. The Root reported an incident of simulated sexual assault by white boys against black boys at a Henrico County, Virginia, middle school. Black members of the Short Pump middle school football team were pinned down by white students simulating sex on them while making racial slurs in an incident which occurred in the school locker room. While racism is a key factor here, so too is pornography.
Why is this happening? What can we do?
In response to this growing problem, we are launching a new Out of the Shadows initiative – an educational and advocacy project that brings underrepresented issues of sexual exploitation to the national stage. Our 2018 initiative – “Out of the Shadows: Confronting the Rise of Child-on-Child Harmful Sexual Behavior” is one we’ve worked on behind the scenes for a number of years, but realize that it is time for a major public campaign. We are hosting a national symposium in October, are pulling together a taskforce of experts, and are developing and advocating for policy solutions that can create long lasting improvements for schools, families, caregiver services, and more.
But we need your help to do it.
June 30th is the end of our fiscal year, and we need to know you support our work on this cause as we fight these battles and plan for future opportunities to fight exploitation of all forms. Will you donate to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation today?
If you give $100 or more, you will become a Founding Supporter of our Out of the Shadows Campaign Against Child Sexual Abuse! Your name will be recognized on our campaign, and you will receive a special invitation to the national symposium in Washington, DC this October.
Please donate any amount you can this month to fuel this work for solutions and education on the devastations of child-on-child sexual abuse.
