When I first wrote my principles of activism, I did not have a clear picture of what to do with it, but eventually we made a forum, based on them. The first project we picked up is analyzing studies that Newgon cites on their research page in defense of youth age gap romantic/sexual involvement. Analysis is supposed to compare the context in which this or that quote is put by Newgon and the actual full text, sometimes with referencing additional materials.
There is a delay in this project, caused by my executive dysfunction and other participants own complications, so I decided I will post a few snippets of what I already wrote and invite new people to participate.
Madu, S. N., & Peltzer, K. (2001). Prevalence and Patterns of Child Sexual Abuse and Victim–Perpetrator Relationship Among Secondary School Students in the Northern Province (South Africa). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 30(3), 311–321.
Newgon says:
“Among those who answered the first question, 21 (9.3%) indicated that they perceived themselves as sexually abused as a child while 195 (90.7%) did not. Among those who perceived themselves as sexually abused as a child, 7 were males (i.e., 6.5% of the male victims) and 13 were females (i.e., 11.3% of the female victims). Among those who did not perceive themselves as sexually abused as a child, 99 were males (i.e., 91.7% of the male victims) and 97 were females (i.e., 84.4% of the female victims).”
This study was based on responses to a survey, passed by 414 students from 3 different schools in the Northern province of South Africa. The average age of respondents was 18, most (81.1%) were black, fewer identified themselves as white, colored (presumably mixed race and nonblack poc), other. The survey included questions about the respondents’ demographics and their varying childhood experiences. The section of the survey that lies at the core of this particular study is related to physical sexual contact while under 17 with someone more than 5 years older and later evaluation of this event.
225 (54.2%) of the respondents indicated having such experiences. In addition to that, only 21 (9.3%) perceived themselves as sexually abused. The authors discuss it in context of insufficient awareness of abuse.
The authors used the data they obtained from these respondents for multiple other studies.
The Prevalence of Child Psychological, Physical, Emotional, and Ritualistic Abuse among High School Students In The Northern Province, South Africa goes into detail on other types of abuse:
Among the respondents who were psychologically abused during childhood 13.5% (N=45) perceived themselves as ever abused (in any form) during childhood, while 84.l%(N=281) did not (2.4%, N=8 did not answer the question). 16.8%(N=56) rated their overall childhood as “very unhappy”, 26.6%(N=89) rated it as “average”, and 54.2%(N=181) rated it as “very happy”, (2.4%, N=8 did not answer the question).
Among those who were physically abused during childhood, 24.4%(N=20) perceived themselves as ever abused (in any form) during childhood, while 70.7%(N=58) did not. (4.9% N=4 did not answer the question). 18.3%(N=15) rated their overall childhood as “very unhappy”, 30.5o/o(N=25) rated it as “average”, and 43.9%(N=36) rated it as “very happy” (7.3%, N=6 did not answer the question).
Among those who were emotionally abused during childhood, 21.1%(N=23) perceived themselves as ever abused (in any form) during childhood, while 76.1%(N=83) did not. (2.8% N=3 did not answer the question). 19.3%(N=21) rated their overall childhood as “very unhappy”, 36.7%(N=40) rated it as “average”, and 40.4%(N=44) rated it as “very happy” (3.7%, N=4 did not answer the question).
Among those who were ritualistically abused during childhood, 24.2%(N=8) perceived themselves as ever abused (in any form) during childhood, while 75.8%(N=25) did not. 15.2%(N=5) rated heir overall childhood as “very unhappy”, 45.5%(N=15) rated it as “average”, and 39.4%(N=13) rated it as “very happy”.
Next to these numbers, the 9.3% figure does not seem out of place, especially given that the second study used “ever abused in any form” and not “abused in this particular way”, like the one that focused on CSA. And similarly, the authors discuss it in context of insufficient awareness of abuse.
Childhood Forcible Sexual Abuse and Victim-perpetrator Relationship Among A Sample of Secondary School Students in the Northern Province (South Africa) is another study that uses the same survey’s data.
From there we can find out that 68 study participants indicated they were sexually forced. Which is around 30% of the whole number of respondents who disclosed any kind of sexual experiences (225). Which means that, even if we assume that everyone out of the 21 that described their experience as sexual abuse was forced, this still gives us at least 47 people who were forced and did not consider it abuse – which is 23% of the total number of those who did not say they were abused – more than 1 in 5.
Other things worth a note:
- Higher rates of sexual experiences with older people were reported among those of nonnative ethnicities (white and mixed/nonblack poc) and urban citizens.
- Correlations were found between these sexual experiences and 1) having a foreign ethnicity, 2) having a stepfather, 3) having a working mother, 4) having in-family violence. This information is from two additional studies on the same survey data, Risk factors and child sexual abuse among secondary school students in the Northern Province (South Africa) and The relationship between perceived parental physical availability and child sexual, physical and emotional abuse among high school students in the Northern Province, South Africa.
- The survey’s definition of CSA included experiences of those aged 16 with those aged 21 as well.
TL;DR:
This study was a part of a chain of studies that explored the data from the same survey, and they found that people who were harmed nonsexually also were highly unlikely to describe it as abuse. In addition to that, almost a third of all who had any kind of a sexual contact with an older person reported being forced.
A similar analysis was conducted for some other studies Newgon uses as foundation for their pro contact propaganda. I want to know what your opinions are and whether you would like to participate in the forum and the analysis.
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