Moving the Media towards Prevention

By Cordelia Anderson and Joan Tabachnick, co-hosts, Ending Child Sexual Abuse (ECSA) Web Conference Series

The second Ms. Foundation for Women Web Conference featured the Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) and Frameworks Institute discussing their research about working with the media to end child sexual abuse. The messages of the two presentations intertwined eloquently, bringing fresh insights to media work.

First, Pamela Mejia described the BMSG research, pointing to the dramatic change in reporting after the Penn State tragedy. Pamela first offered an excellent summary of their two recent reports commissioned by the Ms. Foundation, Case by Case: News Coverage of Child Sexual Abuse and Breaking News: Early Coverage of Penn State. The research highlighted a shift in media reporting of Penn State towards institutional (rather than individual) responsibility. Pamela also discussed the important opportunity that advocates had in the days immediately following the arrest of Sandusky. BMSG recommendations included:

• monitoring the media,
• piggybacking on breaking news,
• writing opinions,
• developing relationships with journalists, and
• being very intentional about the language used.

Moira O’Neil followed with an overview of the public perception research the Frameworks Institute has done with Prevent Child Abuse America and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Moira discussed findings from both studies and described their process of finding the right frame to change the public’s understanding of the child sexual abuse. Key pre-existing frames to overcome include:

• the idea of the family bubble, which reinforces individual parents and child’s responsibilities to protect themselves from harm, and
• the belief that the harm resulting from adverse childhood experiences is not all that bad and the sense that “what didn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

She noted that people tend to think our media messages are going into an open mind, but offered a helpful reminder that the mind is more like a swamp and it is easy to get stuck and hard to get through. She offered the following example: although most people know CSA is a problem perpetrated by those they know, when they get to solutions they revert to thinking about stranger danger. Finally, Moira echoed BMSG recommendations on the importance of focusing the media on the role of communities in prevention and the social causes of child sexual abuse rather than relegating the response to individual choices.

Our closing message: while the media is powerful, it can also be a powerful tool for solutions. We need to build a bigger choir of voices singing the stories of solutions, including stories of organizational and community change in the face of child sexual abuse.

Recognizing True Nature of Child Sexual Abuse

“Child safety laws” are being passed all over the country, restricting sex offenders from accessing public parks, beaches and even libraries. But those laws are too little, too late, for the one in four girls who experience child sexual abuse. By focusing on a criminal justice response for the offender, communities miss an opportunity to prevent future abuse.

An estimated 10 percent of child sexual abuse is reported to authorities. The other 90 percent of offenders continue to live among us, obscured by the fact that they are our uncles, family friends and basketball coaches. The real danger to children is not the unknown sex offender – who may not even be dangerous, depending on the nature of his crime – but the abusers that we trust and love without suspicion. What’s more effective than banning strangers from the park is creating a Family Safety Plan for loved ones in your home. Make a commitment to protect your children – and your community’s children – through pro-active solutions.

Photo: Elizabeth Rappaport

The Ms. Foundation and PreventConnect Launch Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Web Conference Series

The nine session series will explore themes of how to end child sexual abuse and build the network of those committed to addressing this issue.

The first web conference "Including Efforts to End Child Sexual Abuse within the Sexual Violence Prevention Movement" will focus on ways that local, state and national strategies to integrate child sexual abuse prevention within larger sexual violence prevention efforts.

Thurs. May 3, 2012
2:00pm EST (90 min)
Cost: Free
Register now

Hosts: Joan Tabachnick and Cordelia Anderson

Speakers:
Sally J. Lasky, Director of Special Projects, National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Donna Dunn, Executive Director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Gina Scaramello, Executive Director, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center

Learning Objectives:

1. Increased understanding of how ending child sexual abuse is relevant to sexual violence prevention efforts throughout the lifespan.
2. Expanded knowledge of local, state and national efforts to end child sexual abuse.
3. Ability to identify three actions that organizations can take to integrate prevention across the lifespan.

What is a Web Conference?
A web conference is an opportunity to attend an online workshop by watching a presentation on your computer screen (using your internet connection) and hearing presenters through your telephone. Prevent Connect web conferences feature an opportunity to participate in online question & answer sessions and live text chat between participants. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can download the presentation slides from our website and listen on your phone.

Real-Time Captioning Available: Instructions for accessing captioning during this web conference will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Compatibility: The iLinc web conference software used by Prevent Connect is compatible with both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple® Macintosh® computers. Click here for detailed system requirements.

Register today!

New Report Offers Alternative Approaches to Ending Child Sexual Abuse; Federal Policy Deadline Reignites Debate

Decades into naming child sexual abuse as a widespread, serious issue that affects nearly every community and family, public discourse continue to miss the mark on how best to address it. Across the country, fear-based strategies, rooted in the myth that strangers are the most likely offenders, continue to characterize the predominant response.

The spotlight on this week's deadline for states to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Act (AWA), however, may reveal growing skepticism about the efficacy of current mainstream approaches to ending sexual abuse. The AWA creates a national sex offender registry and establishes uniform standards for registering sex offenders and notifying communities. By the July 27 deadline, only 14 states had “substantially implemented” key AWA provisions. Many argue its benefits do not exceed its costs—particularly amidst such a plethora of state budget crises.

Meantime, as lawmakers across the country contemplate how to best ensure safety in their communities, a new report [pdf], commissioned by the Ms. Foundation for Women and produced by the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) offers alternatives.

The report, A Reasoned Approach: Reshaping Sex Offender Policy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, broadens the discussion of what works to keep children safe. “Ending child sexual abuse requires a reasoned approach to sex offender management,” says Patricia Eng, Ms. Foundation Vice President of Program. “This report offers a basis for centering policies around children and communities as a way forward.”

Read more »

New Study Shows Media Underreport and Misrepresent Child Sexual Abuse

Tens of thousands of children are sexually abused each year in the United States, yet news coverage of the subject is out of sync with both the magnitude of the issue and the context in which it occurs. This finding comes from a study commissioned by the Ms. Foundation for Women as part of our groundbreaking partnership with the NoVo Foundation and individual donors to end child sexual abuse.

The report, Case by Case: News coverage of child sexual abuse, was announced last week by Berkeley Media Studies Group, a project of the Public Health Institute.

The study examined national news stories on child sexual abuse published between 2007 and 2009. Fewer than one story a week focused on the topic and even fewer covered the issue in detail. Several troubling patterns emerged, such as:

Read more »

Bringing Child Sexual Abuse Out of the Shadows

April is both National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Prevention Month, a time when advocates for both causes work to raise awareness about the prevalence of child abuse and sexual violence in our culture. Throughout the month, hundreds of events are taking place nationwide in an effort to train communities to stop these destructive acts before they start—and to put an end to the culture of violence that leaves millions of women and girls, men and boys, subject to abuse each year.

There’s no question that recognizing both of these issues as the epidemics they are is of vital importance to the future of our society. But it’s also worth noting that there’s another type of abuse similarly plaguing our nation that we don’t talk about nearly enough. It’s an issue that sits right at the intersection of where child abuse and sexual assault meet—but that has no such awareness month of its own. That issue is child sexual abuse.

Historically, child sexual abuse (CSA) has existed in a veritable no man’s land on the abuse spectrum. Where sexual violence advocates have predominantly focused on adult experiences, child abuse advocates have tended to focus on physical abuse and neglect. Centered in neither arena but touching both, CSA advocates have largely found themselves exiled to the peripheries of these bigger movements—rendering the issue of CSA nearly invisible, and overshadowed by these other, more prominent causes.

Read more »

Survivors Like Senator Brown Are Key to Prevention

No matter your political stripe, we can all agree that it is tremendously brave and commendable for Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) to come forward as a survivor of child sexual abuse, as he does in his soon-to-be published autobiography. For most, "outing" oneself as a survivor to one's family and community is an incredibly huge and almost surely frightening step; few have the opportunity to take advantage of the national platform afforded to elected officials. As such, we are especially moved that Senator Brown has chosen to use the privilege of his position to challenge the silence that permeates child sexual abuse on a national scale.

Child sexual abuse is, we know, a staggeringly silent epidemic. Conservative estimates suggest one in three girls and one in six boys in the US experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. Yet less than 10 percent of all cases are reported to legal authorities and very few survivors ever share their stories publicly. For a variety of complex reasons -- including that the issue remains very taboo, myths about who is most likely to perpetrate abound, and policymakers have privileged a punitive criminal justice approach over community-based prevention -- child sexual abuse remains incredibly difficult to combat.

The Ms. Foundation for Women is committed to changing this reality. We believe one of the most effective ways to put an end to child sexual abuse is to elevate the voices of survivors -- like those of Senator Brown and so many others -- who are uniquely positioned to understand the root causes of abuse and can help guide practitioners and policymakers to adopt a more holistic, community-based approach to prevention. We know that survivor-activists play a critical role in building a new movement to end child sexual abuse. Survivors' stories encourage a much more open and honest dialogue about child sexual abuse -- both at kitchen tables and at policymaking tables. And their voices are often the most effective antidote to myths and misunderstandings that perpetuate abuse and lead to well-intentioned, but frequently insufficient or misguided, policies and programs.

The more our society creates safe spaces for open and honest dialogue about child sexual abuse, the better able we'll be to shift public understanding about abuse and build the power of individuals, families and communities to advance more comprehensive, effective and just approaches to prevention. That is why it is so important that survivors like Senator Scott Brown -- and our wonderful grantees and their constituencies -- encourage others to step out of the shadows and demand that the conversation continue. 

Join the movement and hear the voices of other survivors by attending a special NYC performance of the play Secret Survivors with the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Join Us! Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Share Stories on Stage

We are very pleased to announce a special NYC performance of Secret Survivors, a play in a series by the arts organization Ping Chong and Company that draws on interviews, writings, and conversations with survivors of child sexual abuse. The performers -- themselves survivors -- tell their powerful stories of abuse, touching on issues of societal taboo, fear, and silence. Both personally cathartic and socially aware, the play "seeks to use direct personal narrative to show that this violence is epidemic, to represent the diverse ways it occurs, and grapple with the many reasons that most survivors remain silent," says Chong.

Silence -- as evidenced by the fact that only 10 percent of cases are reported -- is one of the key barriers to child sexual abuse prevention. That is why the Ms. Foundation for Women is committed to elevating the voices of survivors whose stories break through the silence that perpetuates abuse and challenge the myths that inform public understanding, policies and programs. Community-based approaches that encourage healing and honest dialogue -- like Ping Chong's innovative play -- are the first step towards building a new movement to end child sexual abuse.  

This performance is sold out, but the Ms. Foundation has a limited block of seats. Admission is free. RSVP by March 1 (please email AKorangy@ms.foundation.org).


One Performance Only!
March 12, 2011 at 7:30pm

Secret Survivors
A work in Ping Chong’s Undesirable Elements series
Written and directed by Sara Zatz
Based on interviews, writings and conversations with the performers: Gabriella Callender, Lucia Leandro Gimeno, RJ Maccani, Diana Sands, and Amita Swadhin

El Museo del Barrio
1230 5th Ave @ 104th, NYC

Photo by Annie Escobar

A Movement to End Child Sexual Abuse, Community by Community

Bringing an end to child sexual abuse (CSA) is a cause all of us should be able to get behind. Since 2009, the Ms. Foundation and NoVo Foundation have been working to build a new movement to end CSA that looks beyond the criminalization of offenders (which experts agree will never fully solve the problem), and seeks instead to advance a comprehensive, community-based prevention model that encourages individuals and organizations to collaborate in unique ways to protect children from CSA before it occurs.

One exciting example of how groups are working to craft new solutions to the problem of CSA comes courtesy of a campaign and website recently launched by Ms. Foundation grantee partner Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MCC). Developed as part of the MA Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Partnership (of which MCC is the lead agency), the Enough Abuse Campaign and website are designed to provide clear, usable information that can help protect children from child sexual abuse -- and according to Monique Hoeflinger, Senior Program Officer at the Ms. Foundation for Women, theirs is an advocacy effort that breaks the mold on CSA in many ways.

Read more »

Historic Meeting of Survivor-Activists on Child Sexual Abuse Prevention

In March the Ms. Foundation for Women had the honor of convening an inspiring meeting on survivor-led activism on child sexual abuse prevention. In what was one of the first times survivors have been brought together to discuss child sexual abuse prevention in a social justice context, twelve activists discussed successes, challenges, and historic moments in their field. They established exciting shared visions and first steps for realizing them in this growing social justice movement.

The Ms. Foundation has long addressed the issue of child sexual abuse prevention, and recently we have had the opportunity to deepen our focus in partnership with Novo Foundation from whom we received a generous three-year grant in 2009. This meeting of activists is one example of the work this partnership has allowed us to pursue. Watch the video for some first-hand participant responses and look forward as we keep you posted on our continued work addressing this vital issue.