Film Recognizing Child Sexual Abuse

There are approximately eighty thousand reported cases of child sexual abuse every year; leaving alone the cases that go unreported. Child sexual abuse is a crime that can lead the child to have physical, social and psychological dysfunctions for the trauma it causes. (Recognizing Child Abuse: Sexual Abuse) Therefore essential actions must be taken in order to minimize and solve the problem; for instance, understanding the types of sexual abuse, recognition of the signs, acknowledgement of how a pedophile acts, and having an action plan to address the problem and deal with the consequences. Once the case is reported usually it is taken care by local or state authorities and judged by State laws. Understanding how the legal system works to solve …show more content…
The film "Recognizing Child Abuse: Sexual Abuse" presents these signs as: sexual seductive behavior, sexual play, unusual knowledge about sex, withdrawn behavior, loss of appetite, avoidance of other people, reports of several nightmares, new anxiety, fear of being alone, unusual aggressive behavior, pain, itching, redness, or bleeding in the genital areas; in older kids, signs can be drug abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, and others. In addition, the same film provides important statistics about child sexual abuse, to illustrate, girls are four times more likely to be abused than boys and it happens in all areas of society, and boys are less likely to report. Furthermore the abuser is usually a male, and stepfathers are more likely to commit this act than biological fathers. It is a sad reality that many children will leave with this trauma for life because of the many unreported cases. For this reason it is essential to pay attention to the signs and understand that children usually feel ashamed or even guilt for the abuse and the parent or caretaker will need to take …show more content…
Also it brings up the surprising fact of sexual abusers who work constantly with children with no rigorous criminal background check. Jason Michael Handy, a known pedophile, for example worked for the reputable Nickelodeon as a production assistant, which allowed him to exchange e-mails and phone numbers with the children. He sexually exploited girls who dreamed about having a career in the TV. In addition, he volunteered at the church working with six year-old children and snapped over one thousand pictures of children in the school across his house. He was sentenced a few years later for sexual exploitation and for distributing sexually explicit material. Handy is just one example of a Hollywood staffer that uses a job title to commit this type of