Sometimes things don’t go according to plan.
Unfortunately, due to disruptions at the university where the event was to be held, we decided to postpone our national symposium on the topic of child-on-child harmful sexual behavior. It will be rescheduled, most likely for March.
This was a difficult and unexpected problem to navigate. But thankfully, sometimes plans that change can lead to an even better result.
When the symposium plans changed, NCOSE worked to instead host two seminars in our offices to educate and equip key leaders that we knew needed immediate help.
We hosted one seminar on child-on-child sexual abuse, pornography, and solutions for a group of school administrators and teachers from several different states. People who work in education are currently overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with these problems.
After our events, one educator told us, “This was a powerful fire hose of information!”
These workshops not only helped inform and equip these teachers, but they also functioned as mini-focus groups for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation to get valuable feedback and ideas for solutions from those working with children and teens every day.
We also hosted a seminar at our office for more than 40 military personnel on the topic of child-on-child sexual abuse. As you can see from this AP Investigation earlier this year, the U.S. Military is working on trying to understand and provide more solutions to these complex problems. We made several incredible connections with leaders working within the military for sexual violence prevention and family protection—and we’ll continue to build on these connections! As some of the military officials left, they shared with me that the event at our office was incredibly helpful, especially in helping to bypass some of the bureaucracy that comes with any large institution and by breaking down communication barriers across different agencies within the military.
We also were able to host top experts from different fields in movement task force meetings—one to address the public health harms of pornography, and one addressing the rise of child-on-child harmful sexual behaviors. It is so important to meet regularly with diverse experts to brainstorm and strategize, share research and perspectives.
The movement is stronger this week because of events last week!
While it was not ideal to postpone our symposium, which had 700 registrants, doing so allowed these more targeted events to take place, which will actually inform and improve our campaign even more. They revealed to us just HOW MUCH people need guidance and solutions for these complex issues. From teachers to military leaders, to academics and therapists, everyone has been struggling with these problems in isolation for years.
There is no national strategy for addressing child-on-child harmful sexual behavior and the role of pornography without the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE).
In the meantime, we hope that this research summary we have compiled on child-on-child harmful sexual behaviors is helpful to you and those you know who are working with youth and on these issues.
Thank you for your dedication to care about, and support, this movement! Our campaign is gaining even more momentum than we imagined!
