I quickly found a lot of great resources but the majority of the articles mentioned the same short-coming; child sexual abuse is highly under reported and therefore, it is difficult to get an accurate perception of how large this problem is. It is important to address this problem because of the lasting effects that these victims face through their adult lives. Children have been victims of abuse since the beginning of time (findlaw.com) because of their vulnerability and ability to be easily manipulated. The rate of child abuse is not expected to go down any time soon but if this issue is addressed, we can help children feel more comfortable reporting abuse and hopefully stop it from continuing for a long duration. Child abuse has been associated with adverse mental and physical health problems (childwelfare.gov) so by addressing this issue and providing a safety net for the victims of this abuse, there is a possibility to find help for these children and they have a better chance of leading a productive and successful …show more content…
The level of impact on the child also varies by the age they were when the abuse happened, how long the abuse persisted, and how close they were with the perpetrator (Alaggia, 2010). The family of the child may also feel the repercussions of this abuse by feeling depression, blame, aggression, falling victim to substance abuse, and having high levels on conflict. When looking at the macro-system level, it is more difficult to distinguish the impact of sexual abuse against children. Some data suggests that how gender roles are socialized may be affected by this trauma. Men reported feeling they would be perceived as inadequate after being victimized by other males and feared being labeled as homosexual if they disclosed information about their abuse (Alaggia & Millington, 2008). Women, on the other hand, feared being blamed for their sexual abuse and were more worried about the repercussions from their abuser if they told. They would assume no one would believe them and being blamed for putting themselves in a position to be abused. This is thought to be manifested by gender roles, but also by abusers who tell their victims they will be blamed and get in big trouble if they tell someone (Alaggia & Turton,