Child Abusse

Imagine for one moment that you are not yourself any longer. Visualize

instead that you are a young girl; old enough to know right from wrong yet still

young enough to be terrified by the dark shadows in your room. It is a cool

autumn night and your parents have opted to attend a party which you are not

allowed at. “It will be fine,” they say. Although you already know what is to

come. Your uncle comes over to watch you for the evening, and your parents are

so pleased by the fact that they do not have to find a sitter. As soon as he

arrives, your mother kisses you on the cheek and scurries out the door to join

your father already waiting in the car outside. The nightmare begins. His

slimy hands casually slide an ebony cartridge into the VCR as he smiles at you

seductively. You can feel his eyes worming their gaze through your clothes

every time that he looks at you. You feel dirty and violated every time you

think about what he does to you when you are alone. He walks over to the couch

and sits down next to you. His hand slithers it way onto your knee and you

cringe in revulsion. “Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you,” he chides. Your mind

feels panicky as you feel his touch in more intimate places and you scream

involuntarily. His grip tightens as he places his hand over your mouth. “We'll

have to do this the hard way!” comes his intense whisper. You flail your arms

at him, but it doesn't help. His writhing massive body is on top of yours, and

you feel so powerless. Eventually, you sink into a sobbing heap and simply wait

for his passions to stop. You wait for the nightmare to end. When he is done,

you limp to the laundry room and try fruitlessly to get the blood stains out of

your clothes. It is all your fault... Abuse: The violation or defilement of;

What you have just experienced is one type of abuse that occurs millions

of times every year across America. Estimates of abuse range wildly depending

on the source of ones information. From one to two million children per year

are victims of child abuse. (Dolan p.3) All sources agree on the simple truth

that not nearly all cases of child abuse are reported or even estimated. Man

cases go unreported, less than 50% by current estimates. (Dolan p.3) The

amount of child abuse is staggering to think about, let alone deal with. By the

age of eighteen one in three girls will have been sexually molested and one in

six boys will have been molested in that same time frame. (WWW site). Although,

throughout this paper we shall discuss not only the effects of sexual abuse but

abuse in all its forms. These include Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Mental

Abuse and Neglect. We will also Touch upon the basic question of this report,

and that is, "How has child abuse changed over the last 100 years and what

effects has this had on the family?" This brings us to our first research area,

change.

It is clear that families are undergoing a number of important

structural changes: families are smaller than in the past, with fewer children

and sometimes with only one parent; parents have children at a later age; more

couples live together without the bonds of matrimony which was accepted as a

sacred bond so few years in human history. The source of this degradation of

such a basic unit of society is unknown throughout