
Child sexual abuse is a very prevalent issue in the world. 1 in 10 children will be abused before they are 18 and only around 4-8% of these cases are reported ("Darkness to light). The predator is typically someone the victim is close to and trusts which leads to children not feeling comfortable reporting their abuse. Child sexual abuse (CSA) has long term effects and is an issue that needs to be prevented as much as possible. To help prevent child sexual abuse, there should be educational-based programs in every school that teaches children how to defend themselves from predators, as well as creating an environment that allows the children to safely report and talk about their abuse. 

Educational-based programs should be implemented into every school to allow children to learn about child sexual abuse. The main goal of these child sexual abuse prevention (CSAP) programs would be to impart skills to help children identify dangerous situations and prevent abuse- identifying boundary violations, unwanted forms of touching and contact, and other ways in which offenders groom or desensitize victims- as well as to teach them how to refuse approaches and invitations, how to break off interactions, and how to summon help (Finkelhor). Professionals would be hired and it would become a core subject for children of all ages. Starting at a kindergarten level, children could learn to escape the dreaded abuse and be able to come forward in a safe environment. Research indicates that education based programs will help prevent child sexual abuse (Finkelhor).

 Other than helping prevent child sexual abuse, these programs can be designed as a place for victims to report their abuse, or to simply talk about their abuse. Many children are too scared of their predator to come forward about it, but having someone to just listen to any problems can have a psychological benefit. Talking about the abuse can allow for the victim to psychologically organize and integrate the experience (Sinclair). When a victim discloses their abuse again and again, they can fully understand and process the different components of the event. By coming forward they can finally reveal their true feelings behind the attack and can now understand how to deal with their feelings. Another aim of the programs would be to mitigate the negative consequences of abuse among children who may have been exposed by helping them not to feel guilty or at fault. Guilt and shame are the two most common afterthoughts after being child sexually abused (Rahm, Renck, Ringsberg). These children think it is their fault that they are abused, which often leads to many cases being unreported. CSAP programs would teach children that it is never their fault, and also be there for them if they were to have these feelings of guilt and shame. 

               Another benefit from implementing child sexual abuse prevention programs into every school is that these programs can actually help with other violent issues such as bullying, domestic violence, and suicide prevention (Finkelhor). This is because the programs will be teaching basic self-defense mechanisms, both verbally and physically. Verbal self-defense includes defending oneself from attempted assault by the use of ones words ("Verbal Self Defense"). Words is a method of maintaining mental and emotional safety by using posture, body language, tone of voice, and the choice of words before a volatile situation before it can manifest into physical violence. If verbal self-defense is non-effective, then the usefulness of teaching physical self-defense becomes relevant. Physical self-defense is the use of physical force to counter an immediate threat of violence. Learning self-defense can prevent a child of all forms of violence. This is a reason that these programs will be effective not only for child sexual abuse prevention but also impact other areas of violence. To understand the importance of self-defense and other aspects of this program being implemented, is it essential to understand the effects of child sexual abuse. 

                The physical effect of CSA is a very serious issue that leads to many complications in men and women. Children who undergo sexual abuse usually experienced this starting at age 4 or 5 years old. Starting at such a young age, there are detrimental health issues that ultimately influences psychological disorders during their adulthood. The effect of childhood sexual abuse ranges from physical to mental health issues. Women have uterine problems and severe unexplained pain, most have been hospitalized and given many strong painkillers. Pain is usually located in the abdominal and pelvic area of their bodies. Gynecologic problems, including chronic pelvic pain, dyspareunia, vaginismus, nonspecific vaginitis, and gastrointestinal disorders are common diagnoses among survivors (American College). Men are increasingly exposed to HIV and often have gender identity issues later down the road (Liska). Survivors are more likely to neglect their bodies and develop eating disorders because they believe it will fix them and what has happened to them. 74 percent of the CSA survivors reported having had some type of eating disorder (Rahm, Renek, Ringsberg). These eating disorders incur rapid weight loss, rapid weight gain, dizziness, and confusion. Long-term effects of eating disorders include: heart disease, damage and decay to the esophagus, chronic vitamin deficiency, along with mental health issues associated with the disorder (Psychguides.com). A common surgery women undergo after years of childhood sexual abuse is a hysterectomy. Many of these women had the hysterectomy around the age of 30 and felt great relief to get rid of what they thought was causing them pain. Some have miscarriages and other related issues to pregnancy. In adulthood, there are tendencies in physical problems in relation to puberty, sex life, and for women, childbirth. Because it was such a traumatic time of their lives', many have been plagued with sleep issues since childhood. The sexual abuse was haunting for them, and they felt like they could never get away, even when sleeping. Most would have nightmares which would leave the man or woman to extreme exhaustion (Sigurdardottir and Haldorsdottir). Childhood sexual abuse leads around half of the survivors to develop alcohol or drug abuse (Rahm, Renck, Ringsberg). They often feel that they can numb their pain and suffering with the alcohol or drugs, which later causes health issues. Alcohol and drug abuse is especially high in male survivors. Physical health issues resulting from childhood abuse are apparent and often result to mental health issues as well. 

              While there are many physical effects from childhood sexual abuse, mental health issues are more common among survivors. Survivors of CSA have been found to develop depression, anxiety, and PTSD which have led to a strain on their relationships with other people. People who experience CSA are 3.1 more likely to experience poor general and mental health, and suffer from depression and anxiety (Coles, Jan, et al).  Depression is defined as a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. It affects how one feels, thinks and behaves and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems (Mayo Clinic). Survivors suffer through depression because they feel as if they cannot get rid of the shame, guilt, humility, and pain that they experience every day since the start of their childhood sexual abuse. Male victims often express anger, fear, homosexuality issues, helplessness, and masculinity issues (Liska). Along with depression and anxiety, a large portion, 61 percent, show signs of PTSD. This was especially true in victims of whose abuse started at a very early age. Studies show that shame and guilt are concepts that are often mentioned in relation to CSA. Participants say they feel different and feel alone. Their shame is so overwhelming that it leads to psychological distress and PTSD symptoms (Rahm, Renck, Ringsberg). Women speak either of postnatal depression or a tendency to isolate themselves and their children. They find it hard to trust anyone with their children and want to protect them as much as they can. Resulting from depression, anxiety, and PTSD, almost all men and women with the history of childhood sexual abuse have had some self-destructive tendencies, self-harming or having suicidal thoughts. Some even attempting to take their own life (Crete). The mental issues that correlate with a history of child sexual abuse are apparent and often impact the lives of not only the victim but also their partners/families. 

                Victims of child sexual abuse often have tainted relationships with their partners of family members. With a partner, sex is something that is very hard for a victim to enjoy. They often only participate to please their spouse or partner, as it brings back flashbacks of their trauma to make it unenjoyable for them. They are disturbed in desire, arousal, and orgasm due to the association between sexual activity, violation, and pain (American College). Men are often finding themselves very confused about masculinity and their sexuality, which can often lead to a strain on their relationships with their partners. A long series of self-hatred can really impact a partner of spouse's life, as they may never feel like enough for the victim (Crete).The pain not only effects them physically, but mentally as well. Another relationship that is strained is one with the victim's children. For women, it is never because of a lack of love, but they tend to be overbearing and over protective of their children. They never want their child to experience what they experienced and never really trust anyone else with their child. While some can be overprotective to their children, some have the opposite effect. These mothers cannot connect with their children. Of course, they love them but they often can find themselves not being able to touch them or know how to be affectionate towards them. A mother child relationship is a really important bond that a lot of CSA survivors miss out on.  Women and men who have experienced childhood sexual abuse may never be able to get past the traumatic events that haunt their every part of their lives. 

             After analyzing the effects of child sexual abuse, it is obvious that there needs to be prevention methods implemented as much as possible. Today, there are little to no prevention methods currently taking place. When looking up prevention methods of child sexual abuse on the internet, there is one word that stands out the most  --  education. Education is the key to preventing anything, and this is completely acceptable, except that there are no funded programs that help prevent. Recently, CSA prevention has focused on a systemic prevention and holds adults responsible for the child sexual abuse that occurs their communities. The Stop It Now campaign has flooded radios all over the place with a public service announcement about CSA (Kopp). This campaign is useful to educate citizens about the facts and data about child sexual abuse, but in reality does little to help prevent the abuse. Relying on parents to report CSA is a problematic system because about half of the time is a parent, step-parent, or very close relative that does the abuse. In these sensitive situations it is very uncommon for the child to come forward because they do not know that what is being done to them is sexual abuse. Online sources such as "How Can I Protect My Child from Sexual Abuse" provides examples and methods of how a person could try to reduce the risk of their child being sexually abused. The methods included: be involved in the child's life, encourage children to speak up, and be available for a child to talk to you about abuse. All of these methods are obvious but they will not exactly solve or actually prevent anything from happening to the children.

              Since child sexual abuse usually starts at the age of 4-5, it is really important to reach children early, so they know that they are indeed being sexually abused. Implementing education based programs would be beneficial in teaching children what child sexual abuse is and how to defend themselves from it, but there is an argument against it.  Opposition to the implementation of child sexual abuse prevention programs is to not implement them for a variety of reasons. These reasons include: children are not mature enough to handle the graphic concepts of child sexual abuse, an increase in false allegations, there may be more effective ways of prevention, and lack of government funding. There is an increased correlation of false allegations and child sexual abuse prevention programs (Grady). This could be because of a variety of reasons. For example, there have been instances where a child has told on their parents because they thought hugging was inappropriate contact. Since schools would start teaching children at such a young age, they might not be able to understand fully what it is, but if taught right, false allegations can be avoided. 

               Lack of government funding is another argument against child sexual abuse prevention programs. Some people argue that there is no money to pay professionals to teach these classes, and that it would take even more money away from the already underpaid teacher (Finkelhor). This is true. There is a huge lack in government funding for these kind of programs, so it is very difficult to get them implemented into schools. But, with such a high rate of 1 in 10 children being sexually abused, something needs to be done. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway there are some main programs that are offered that are supported from federal funds: Title IV-B, Subpart 2, Promoting Safe and Stable Families, Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act Research and Demonstration Projects, and Community-Based Grants for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (known as Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) grants program). All of these programs are great and try to help out as much as possible, but none are strictly focused on child sexual abuse. This could be a problem because physical abuse and sexual abuse are two different things and some children will not understand that CSA is bad if they do not hear it. Most local programs that try to help victims of child abuse rely solely on donations and fundraisers to help them succeed. The problem with this is that most fundraisers do not raise a substantial amount of money, leaving the programs with a very small budget to do anything. It might be hard to find federal funds, but the education-based programs of child sexual abuse are beneficial in the end and can help thousands and thousands of kids in the future.

            It is important to help prevent child sexual abuse for many reasons. A child should never have to experience this traumatic event and any solution possible should be implemented. The educational based programs will allow for professionals to tech verbal and physical self-defense, as well as imparting the skills to recognize when they are being abused. Along with trying to prevent the abuse, the programs will be a safe and comfortable environment for survivors to report or simply talk about their abuse. Child sexual abuse hurts the victims, as well as the people surrounding them. It effects everyone in different ways, and government funded programs would be beneficial to everyone in society.

