Report reveals troubling attitudes towards child sexual abuse

The study by the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse (National Centre) surveyed more than 4,000 people on issues relating to child sexual abuse.

Questions covered people’s attitudes towards, knowledge of, and responses to child sexual abuse, harmful sexual behaviours, and the needs of victims and survivors.

It is estimated that one in three girls and one in five boys in Australia have experienced some form of child sexual abuse before the age of 18.

Dr Leanne Beagley, CEO of the National Centre, said the first-of-its-kind Australian Child Sexual Abuse Attitudes, Knowledge and Response Study provided new, nationally representative data and insights to inform Australia’s efforts to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse, and to support victims.

Despite community awareness that child sexual abuse is a significant and prevalent social issue that must be addressed, the report uncovered troubling misconceptions, victim-blaming attitudes, and gaps in adults’ ability to identify risks to children’s safety.

Some adults also had limited understanding of the widespread and long-term impacts of child sexual abuse, had low confidence and low willingness to intervene, and didn’t know how to appropriately respond to child and adult victims and survivors.

Key findings of the report included:

• that some Australians hold harmful victim-blaming attitudes, especially towards adolescents, which can limit disclosing or reporting of child sexual abuse and cause further harm to victims and survivors
  
• uncertainty among many adults about whether they would believe a child who disclosed abuse
  
• a lack of understanding about the lifelong impacts of child sexual abuse on survivors, resulting in some Australians struggling to provide appropriate support or respond with compassion
  
• identified blind spots in recognising child sexual abuse risks and grooming tactics, including online risks, with many people lacking confidence that they knew how to keep children safe from sexual abuse.

The report found there was widespread support for prevention initiatives such as more education for parents and carers and community awareness campaigns.

The study’s findings prompted calls for greater investment in programs that enable Australians to take meaningful action to protect children from sexual abuse and create an environment where children and adult survivors are believed, supported and understood.

“We must not lose momentum in addressing this complex social problem, and this data assists us in those efforts,” said the National Centre’s Dr Beagley.

The National Centre’s director of knowledge generation, research and evaluation, Professor Andrea de Silva, said the research data would provide a baseline against which to measure the effectiveness of any future initiatives to identify and respond to child sexual abuse.

“This new data shows us that while many Australians want to protect children from sexual abuse, some hold very problematic attitudes towards victims and survivors, and there are significant barriers in terms of understanding the issue, recognising risky behaviours, and knowing how to respond,” she said.

“These harmful attitudes and barriers must be addressed if we are to ensure a safer and more supportive environment for all children and child sexual abuse victims and survivors.”