Fighting the “Stranger Danger” Myth
Stranger danger is the belief that someone unknown to the child and family (aka “an adult male stranger”) will be the one to perpetrate the abuse. However, this belief is misguided and can in fact be harmful as the large majority of those of individuals who abuse children are known to them. In fact, it is estimated that only 7% of all child abuse is perpetrated by a stranger. One report found that of children who were sexually abused:
34% were sexually abused by a family member
59% were sexually abused by someone known to them
7% were sexually abused by a stranger
Furthermore, focusing on stranger danger neglects to include the fact that one third of all sex crimes against minors are perpetrated by another minor and that up to 12% of individuals report that they were sexually abused by a woman.
By basing our prevention strategies upon antiquated stereotypes of who a perpetrator is (i.e. the adult male stranger in the white van) – we put our children at risk.
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This article still wants to use the 1980’s data to run an article https://churchleaders.com/wellness/433474-shattered-innocence-childhood-sexual-abuse-and-how-the-church-can-help.html
Crappy Journalism as usual from these rubbish companies.
Strangers who are dangerous to children can also be those with celebrity status, but likey will never serve any jail time.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/tiffany-haddish-breaks-silence-being-sued-child-sex-abuse-wasnt-funny-at-all
Ironically and unworthy is this article from http://www.psychologytoday.com.
Are we to forgive those who forced us to a life of never capable of being redeemed as the Psychology Today of March 1986 did?
When Elizabeth Jeglic, Ph.D., an internationally renowned sexual violence prevention expert and posting on the very magazine which drove the silver spike into the hearts of over 1 million posts a similar article in all of these :
NBC.com
CBS.com
CNN.com
NYTimes.com
NBCNews.com
ESPN.com
FoxNews.com
CNBC
Forbes.com
Reuters
MSN.com
Buzzfeed
will I forgive.
Well I’m glad Psychology Today is now verifying research before posting articles, unlike the 1986 article they ran which brought us to this crap show.
Example: https://www.foxnews.com/us/georgia-deputy-police-chief-arrested-florida-soliciting-prostitution. Of course, this was one of Sheriff Grady Judd’s stings in Polk County. Just a few months ago more than 100 other people were arrested on human trafficking” charges in another Polk County sting. So, why wasn’t this deputy police chief from Georgia (another harsh state for sex offenses) charged with human trafficking? Isn’t this a form of Stanger Danger?
Note that Twitter lets you reply directly to the author and re-tweet the article.
Thank you, Dr Jeglic!