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Interviews with authors |
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Dr. Freda Briggs - interviewed by P.M. © Copyright[Continued from previous file ]
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Reviews |
... 'Neil showed that boys are vulnerable to paedophile abuse disguised as love when they lack physically affectionate fathers', Briggs said. 'One of Neil's concerns was that the current genre of Protective Behaviours Program are inadequate for the protection of boys. They rely on children identifying sexual touching as unwanted, uncomfortable or unsafe. Neil said that he had never felt safer than when he was first molested; the touch was gentle and exciting, preceded by loving attention that boosted his ego. Neil did not protest until the abuse became violent and, by that time, he was trapped.' Neil was concerned that boys don't get a 'fair deal' in child protection. Child protection programs were written by women with information from female victims. Relying on report statistics, society in general has denied that boys are at risk. As a result, they are given freedom at an earlier age than girls. Boys are highly curious and sexual curiosity is dangerous when they lack information about male sexuality. As a young child, Neil knew that sex with girls was wrong but 'sex was about men and women and making babies... it had nothing to do with what was happening to me in the company of men'. Briggs shows that young boys become vulnerable to abuse when they join highly sexualised peer groups. She shows the dangers when older youths, victims (who are eager to demonstrate their knowledge) and adults gain access to these seemingly innocent peer groups. 'All of the male subjects made it clear that boys need information about their own bodies at an early age', she said. 'At best, parents give their sons a book on reproduction when they reach puberty and say: "Read this". Apart from the fact that the teen years are much too late, this isn't the kind of information they most need. 'It was a very worrying book to write in that the contributions had to be open and honest but also readable. Furthermore, we had to beware of producing a book that would stimulate more sadism and sexual abuse. We walked a very fine line and the publisher was very courageous in accepting it. We kept asking ourselves, "Who will buy it?" As it happened, all the copies were sold out before the book launch.' Among the contributors was a man who had spent 16 years in the care of NSW child welfare services and suffered systematic abuse and torture by older boys and staff throughout that time. This is probably the most harrowing chapter of the book. The writer concludes his grim account, entitled "Children in the care and protection of the state' with this toll estimate: 'There are at least four ex-Mittagong [Children's Home] residents in this small prison community, three of whom committed murders. Our combined experiences of that boys' home span more than thirty years. During that time, we all suffered the same kinds of abuse at the hands of the same amd different people. A Brisbane organisation, 'Formerly in Children's Homes'(FICH) claims that more than 250,000 living Australians were sexually, physically and emotionally abused while in the care of the state, churches and the Salvation Army.' Briggs added: 'All of the contributors found writing their stories both painful and therapeutic. Some said that it was the most painful exercise they had ever undertaken because it forced them to address issues they had spent most of their lives trying to forget. Those who were in therapy were, at long last, able to accept that what happened to them in childhood was not their fault. They had all blamed themselves for their own victimisation, accepting that they were innately bad and wicked and that they were responsible for seducing innocent men... messages that were well taught by their numerous offenders. They blamed themselves if they enjoyed any part of the relationship, the attention, the touching or the attractive inducements that were sometimes offered. Most of these men could accept responsiblity for the damage that they had inflicted on children but even those who were abused as young as three years old, carried the guilt for their offenders.' Briggs pointed out that early sexualisation damages boys in many ways. Some male survivors recalled that victimisation made them over-interested and even obsessed with sexual matters and that interest was identified and abused by other predators. As a consequence, once a boy became a victim, he was victimised again and again. Most offenders began offending at puberty or earlier. Some were required to abuse younger boys for the sexual stimulation of paedophiles. 'Now that teachers and child care personnel are better trained for their role in child protection, increasing numbers of juvenile victims/offenders are being identified in pre-schools and primary schools. Juvenile offenders indicate that something is wrong by their sexual behaviour and drawings. It is vital that these children are assessed for victimisation and that therapy is made available to them. In the past, professionals and parents have mistaken this behaviour for normal sexual curiosity,' Briggs said. She felt the most important aspect of her research was the confirmation that child sexual abuse is a learned behaviour: 'We found that offenders abused victims of the same gender as their own abuser; boys abused only by men only abused men and boys abused by both men and women abused both boys and girls. Some only began offending when they reached the same age as their abuser. They were often attracted to boys who reminded them of themselves.' Fifty per cent of the offenders and about a third of the non-offenders were abused by women - often their older sisters. This statistic is in line with the Perth male survivor phone-in and international studies. Victims did not view the sexual component as particularly harmful but they were badly scarred by the psychological effects when the offenders were their mothers. Mother-son incest invariably involved emotionally disturbed women who dominated their sons' entire lives, causing lifelong fear, rage and confusion. What are Briggs' recommendations for improving child protection programs? Firstly, better community education to make parents more aware of the risks to boys. She regards this as essential given that, when boys report sexual abuse to their mothers, they are often not believed. Schools throughout the English-speaking world commonly report that when they hold parent information sessions relating to child protection, fewer than a third of parents attend. Most believe that their families are immune from the problem - they don't know anyone who is 'mentally ill' and their kids are safe. Secondly, she would like to see treatment and re-education facilities becoming more widely available and better advertised for sex offenders (within and outside prisons). Treatment facilities should be available for juvenile offenders who are increasingly coming to the notice of teachers and authorities. Finally, she believes that we need to re-examine child-protection curriculum in the light of what we now know about the victimisation of boys. Briggs thinks that men should play a substantial part in the revision or creation of new programs for boys. And the crucial question of why some people grow up to be offenders and others do not, Briggs replied, 'Reading the book, don't you sense that boys who are supported by their families will stand a much better chance of recovery than those who are unsupported? However, the main differences appear to be that the men who were least damaged were those who were abused by strangers in single, non-violent offences. The victims recognised that the abusers had a problem. They did not accept responsibility or guilt. They escaped and remained in control. The behaviour damaged their lives insomuch as, from thereon, they avoided the reference library, cinema, park or wherever the sexual misbehaviour occurred. However they were able to put the incident behind them without too much trauma. 'The boys who became offenders often identified with their offenders and they were controlled in every way. To cope with the abuse, they accepted abuse as normal. Boys abused in all-male institutions found that, when they went out into the world, they could not relate to women but they did not trust homosexuals. Some only felt comfortable in the company of young boys. If they could tell themselves that the boys had already been abused and were willing participants, they had no conscience and were genuinely surprised when they were arrested. Surprise was greatest when, throughout childhood, they had been abused by priests or paedophiles involved in the media or the justice system.' What occurred to me as I read Briggs' book was that the authors had clear and total recall of their victimisation, even when it took place at a very early age. In my own experience, most non-offenders I have met in support groups seem to have some degree of amnesia about the experiences of childhood. [Recently I read research showing that about two thirds of abuse victims - male and female - suffer some degree of amnesia.] Briggs agreed that many of the interviewees - offenders and non-offenders - suffered some amnesia, especially when offences took place in early childhood. However, she has found a common tendency for people to put abusive experiences behind them when they know they are not responsible and can't do anything about it. Unfortunately, memories often remain in a corner of the brain, waiting to take victims by surprise when something happens to revive them. Briggs stresses that the sexual abuse of males is far more common than men care to admit; the problem is in defining sexual abuse. When the interviewers asked men whether they were sexually abused in childhood, most denied it and made comments to the effect that the size of the problem was exaggerated. When the interviewers used different terminology and asked men about their sexual experiences in childhood with people five or more years older than themselves, most men provided several examples of behaviour that constituted abuse. 'The problem for males is that victimisation is the antithesis of our definition of masculinity', Briggs said. 'Men think that sexual abuse is something that happens to other people. The denial is very damaging because male victims find it extremely difficult to get counselling for the effects of abuse. Male psychologists who work sympathetically with female victims tend to become macho when they face homosexual abuse. They make statements such as "It happened a long time ago. Snap out of it and get on with your life", statements they would never dream of making to a woman.'
- PM.
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