Fighting the “Stranger Danger” Myth
Stranger danger is the belief that someone unknown to the child and family (aka “an adult male stranger”) will be the one to perpetrate the abuse. However, this belief is misguided and can in fact be harmful as the large majority of those of individuals who abuse children are known to them. In fact, it is estimated that only 7% of all child abuse is perpetrated by a stranger. One report found that of children who were sexually abused:
34% were sexually abused by a family member
59% were sexually abused by someone known to them
7% were sexually abused by a stranger
Furthermore, focusing on stranger danger neglects to include the fact that one third of all sex crimes against minors are perpetrated by another minor and that up to 12% of individuals report that they were sexually abused by a woman.
By basing our prevention strategies upon antiquated stereotypes of who a perpetrator is (i.e. the adult male stranger in the white van) – we put our children at risk.
Note that Twitter lets you reply directly to the author and re-tweet the article.
Thank you, Dr Jeglic!
Example: https://www.foxnews.com/us/georgia-deputy-police-chief-arrested-florida-soliciting-prostitution. Of course, this was one of Sheriff Grady Judd’s stings in Polk County. Just a few months ago more than 100 other people were arrested on human trafficking” charges in another Polk County sting. So, why wasn’t this deputy police chief from Georgia (another harsh state for sex offenses) charged with human trafficking? Isn’t this a form of Stanger Danger?
Well I’m glad Psychology Today is now verifying research before posting articles, unlike the 1986 article they ran which brought us to this crap show.
Ironically and unworthy is this article from http://www.psychologytoday.com.
Are we to forgive those who forced us to a life of never capable of being redeemed as the Psychology Today of March 1986 did?
When Elizabeth Jeglic, Ph.D., an internationally renowned sexual violence prevention expert and posting on the very magazine which drove the silver spike into the hearts of over 1 million posts a similar article in all of these :
NBC.com
CBS.com
CNN.com
NYTimes.com
NBCNews.com
ESPN.com
FoxNews.com
CNBC
Forbes.com
Reuters
MSN.com
Buzzfeed
will I forgive.
Strangers who are dangerous to children can also be those with celebrity status, but likey will never serve any jail time.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/tiffany-haddish-breaks-silence-being-sued-child-sex-abuse-wasnt-funny-at-all
This article still wants to use the 1980’s data to run an article https://churchleaders.com/wellness/433474-shattered-innocence-childhood-sexual-abuse-and-how-the-church-can-help.html
Crappy Journalism as usual from these rubbish companies.
Unfortunately the lesson the crazies will take from this, even if they are capable of reading and absorbing it, is that we need to further empower Child Piracy Services in its fifty-year pogrom against families.
There is only one way out of our cultural morass and it’s to challenge the myth that everything the law may choose to call sexual abuse automatically creates a traumatized victim. As long as people truly believe that false premise, anything else we do is just like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
I try to point this out in the comment section every time there is an article in the local paper/website. I can only remember one article in 5 years where the victim did not know the person charged. The rest of them have been everything from babysitters to youth pastors.
I didn’t know where to send this video but I thought this is the perfect post to place it. Here’s a youtube video where two missing teens where found in a submerged car not far from their home.
https://youtu.be/Htw1FdHy6zo
I’m not sure what this video has to do with this website or stranger danger. The incompetence of LE? That 17 and 18 year olds date?
I was just basically saying that people/teens go missing due to accidents not from stragers. And that the incompetence of LE contributed to fear mongering that the teens was abducted or something. That they focused their efforts on sex offenders in the area instead of doing a proper search for then. The fear mongering of Mr. Walsh’s efforts has everyone jumping directly to a sex offender/predator jad something to do with it.
Another person who knew the victim, yet was able to walk free https://www.firstcoastnews.com/amp/article/news/crime/christopher-ambrosio-jacksonville-beach-city-attorney/77-c5bc4244-d83c-43a4-acce-61177b7d393b
Wonder how many of us would of been given this deal? Unreal that you get far less time with a victim than being in possession with an image of a victim.