Heather Little-White, Ph. D., ContributorTHE LONG summer holidays are here and children will spend hours surfing the Internet. Children do not play ring games anymore nor do they attend libraries and read avidly. Instead, they resort to technology through the cellphone or computer to ease the boredom during the long summer holidays.
The Internet is a technological wonder which has revolutionised the field of communications like never before. The Internet has surpassed the capabilities of the telegraph, telephone, radio and the computer. It had worldwide reach, disseminating information to individuals in any geographic location. Designed to advance technological inputs in academia, industry and government, the Net has been a source of sexual molestation perverting children of all ages.
Who would believe that the computer, a common household fixture could cause so much damage to our children? There are horrifying accounts of how the Internet has been used by perverts and pedophiles to lure kids to engage in promiscuous and risqué adult-type sexual activities. Pedophiles are persons who are sexually attracted to children of the same or opposite sex. Simply put, they are child molesters.
Pedophiles use the Internet to contact their colleagues locally and worldwide, sharing ideas about how to lure the next child victim. The Internet provides instant access to teen chat rooms to find out where and how to target potential victims. Pedophiles even set up long-term Internet 'relationships' with a potential victim, prior to making physical contact with the child. The Internet is also very useful to a pedophile in tracking down home contact information about a potential victim.
THE CHURCH
Internet technology allows pedophiles to exchange information about children in an organised forum. When they meet in "online chat rooms" they educate each other about how to meet, attract and exploit children. They also lure the parents of their victims into a false sense of security about their presence within institutions like the family, school and church.
Pedophiles can be part of any grouping including school and church groups. This is frightening because they have easy access to children and data about them. Besides, children place confidence and trust in these adults. Pedophiles can be found at every social and economic level and can be established members of the community. Sadly, we all know of cases concerning members of clergy, respected businessmen and schoolteachers who were exposed as pedophiles or child molesters.
REMAIN HIDDEN
Pedophiles have sharpened their craft. Child predators are a formidable force, unparalleled in history. They support each other and they are convinced that their attraction to children is natural and is an acceptable way of life. They are given "safety tips" about how to allow the abuse to remain hidden. They knowingly fight against legal authorities and have developed an alliance to influence public thinking on child exploitation.
Some websites have information telling children that it is acceptable to be sexual with adults. This is contradictory to the messages of parents, caregivers, teachers and Sunday school teachers about what type of behaviour is acceptable.
It is becoming more difficult to keep track of pedophile websites, web rings, forums and chat rooms which return as soon as they are removed from Internet servers in countries around the world. Pedophiles continue to hide behind anonymous email addresses and anonymous surfing. They use nicknames that protect them and allow them to continue bragging about their exploitation of children.
PARENTS' ALERT
Parents and caregivers have to be alert to adults who may be paying excessive amounts of attention to their children. Talk over your suspicions with your spouse or someone you trust. Above all, make inquiries to your child. You may notice some behavioural changes in a child who is being actively abused. There may be sudden and unexpected changes in a child's traditional behaviour with complaints of frequent nightmares. There may be a new fear of a place where the child has visited before or a new fear of a person that he knows and has been in contact with. Parents ought to be very suspicious if their children demonstrate a new awareness of sex related words, genitals or drawings of sexual themes.
Aside from psychological changes, parents should look for physical signs of abuse such as anal or genital redness, bleeding or any type of suspicious injury to or near a child's genitals. However, the overwhelming majority of child sex abuse cases do not include a visible physical injury. There may be no force involved, the abuse may not include the child's genitals or penetration may never have been accomplished. The abuse may be oral or consist of only touching. This is why molesters, when caught, will frequently encourage police to have the victim medically examined. They know there is no visible injury to substantiate the charge. This is child sexual abuse via the Net.
