Media

Small controlled trial revealed encouraging results, including increased knowledge about child sexual abuse and related norms and laws, and increased intention to avoid or prevent child sexual abuse with younger children.

A university researcher rarely writes a content analysis of the hate mail they’ve received in response to their work. But it isn’t very often that academics have to contend with a torrent of response.

In this country, somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of cases of sexual abuse against kids are committed by other kids. This type of child sexual abuse is preventable, not inevitable. Waiting until harm has happened, and waiting until somebody has caused harm to intervene, is waiting too long.

Prevention, healing, and justice are all essential in tackling child sexual abuse. Right now, the lion’s share of resources go to important work for justice, with not nearly enough to support survivors and pursue strategies to prevent future abuse. We don’t need to redistribute existing resources, we need more resources.