Relationship Between Concealment of Child Sexual Abuse And Sexual Stigma

Abstract

Child sexual abuse is an issue that has significant consequences for both individual and social health but it is not wanted to be revealed and is often repressed. The cases reported to the judicial authorities are just the tip of the iceberg. This study aims to analyze the effect of “stigmatizing the victim”, which has an important role in keeping child sexual abuse concealed. To find the social risk factors of child sexual abuse and to determine the effect of sexual stigma on the victim, the forensic case files of children who were subject to sexual abuse and referred to the Child Monitoring Center in Malatya between 2015 and 2019, were investigated. All of the files of 678 children who were victims of sexual abuse registered between these years were analyzed with a content analysis technique. As a result of the research, it was observed that the confrontation of the victim children with sexual stigma caused the sexual abuse cases to remain concealed. Along with stigmatization, factors such as dishonor and shame, fear of staying out of gender values, pressure from social environment and patriarchal family, being threatened, incest relationships, worrying about the reputation of the victim and her/his family are effective in concealing sexual abuse.