rural aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

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A public health perspective Jon Willis May, 2008 Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

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Page 1: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

A public health perspective

Jon Willis

May, 2008

Rural Aboriginal people and child

sexual abuse

Page 2: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Some Background Between 2001 and 2007 Australia has been

occupied with an extended moral panic about the issue of family violence, particularly child sexual abuse.

The perpetrators demonised by this moral panic have often been personified in male public figures. Most prominent were two cases.

The Australia Governor General and former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Peter Hollingsworth, was implicated in concealing the abuse of children by priests under his authority, and forced to resign as the Australian head of state in 2004.

The second case involved Geoff Clark, the first elected chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), who was sued in 2002 by two women who alleged that he, among others, had raped them in the

Page 3: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Geoff Clark‟s case(s) The lawsuits failed, as had criminal

prosecutions of Mr Clark in both cases, but not before Mr Clark‟s behaviour was put to an extended examination in the media.

The public and political frenzy surrounding Mr Clark‟s case was accompanied by an unprecedented groundswell of public discussion of Aboriginal men as rapists and abusers of women and children

This frenzy included policy discussion and shifts in relation to

services to Aboriginal women and families

in early 2005 the total dismantling of ATSIC, which had been responsible for provision of a range of Government services to

Page 4: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

I did a study of the Australian print media portrayal of Aboriginal men and their sexuality from mid-2002 to mid-2003, at the height of the moral panic. A Lexis-Nexis search of all Australian newspaper from

the period on the search terms Aborigines and Sex returned an (astonishing) 445 articles, letters and editorial pieces addressing the issue of Aboriginal men as rapists and sexual abusers of children.

Although many of these pieces focus on or allude to the ongoing public spectacle of Mr Clark‟s rape cases, they also discuss a range of other prominent sexual abuse accusations around the country, many implicating senior Aboriginal men previously viewed as leaders of their people and even non-Aboriginal public servants working in Aboriginal policy portfolios.

Page 5: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

The media content of this moral

panic is fuelled by centuries-old

characterisations of black men as sexually suspect and dangerous

it serves the continuing disempowerment of Aboriginal people by characterising them as perpetrators or victims of sexual violence and therefore degraded in comparison to European Australians

the moral panic was cynically manipulated by the Ministers of the Howard Government to achieve their policy goal of dismantling ATSIC, destabilising the authority of the Northern Territory Government, and attacking Land Rights through the compulsory re-acquisition of Aboriginal land for Government purposes

Page 8: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Aboriginal child sex numbers „put in

perspective‟Margaret Wenham, May 19, 2008, Courier Mail

ONLY 39 of nearly 7500 Aboriginal children

examined from remote Northern Territory

communities were assessed as at risk of serious

neglect or abuse.

The Commonwealth Health Department figures of

those examined after the Howard government's

indigenous intervention, and released to The

Courier-Mail yesterday, raised questions about the

true level of child-sex abuse in indigenous

communities. A departmental spokesman said the

0.5per cent of cases was not necessarily for

suspected sexual abuse but could include

emotional or physical abuse or neglect.

In contrast, nearly 40 per cent of the children

examined were referred to dentists and ear, nose

and throat and pediatric specialists for basic health

Page 9: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Sunrise Health Service chief executive Irene Fisher

said the figures brought a "welcome perspective back to the

whole issue".

Page 10: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

"We screened 1100 of the children and less than a handful

were suspected of being sexually abused," she said.

"Since June 21 (last year) I've been really concerned

about the perpetuation of negative stereotypes about

Aboriginal people.

"Not only has it been made to seem like every male is a

perpetrator of abuse, but communities have been labelled

neglectful, when they just live in poverty.“

Page 11: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Mr Howard said in June last year that

the innocence of childhood in

indigenous communities was "a myth".

He ordered a widescale "intervention

in the Northern Territory in response to

allegations of shocking

neglect, including child health

checks, controls on spending of

welfare money and alcohol bans.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny

Macklin said it was important to

balance the "reality" which showed

indigenous children were five times

more likely to be abused than non-

indigenous children, with the need to

Page 12: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Recent Evidence

The Mullighan Commission of Inquiry into

Children on APY Lands reported 2 weeks ago on

abuse and neglect issues in the far north-west of

SA

The Commissioners found “evidence of sexual

abuse relating to 141 children living on the Lands

where it was reasonably possible that they had

been sexually abused”.

http://www.service.sa.gov.au/ContentPages/sagovt/mullighaninquiry_apy.aspx

Page 13: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

The case summaries The case summaries that relate to each child who

was reasonably likely to have been sexually abused have been put into categories based on the relationship between perpetrator and victim and the nature/reason for the sexual abuse. The categories are: extra-familial – men abusing girls (mostly 13-15 year old

girls, and 17-19 year old boys) Sex for petrol, food or cannabis, money and gambling Promised wife

extra-familial – juvenile on juvenile So-called „consensual‟ sex between juveniles No consent

intra-familial abuse (11 cases, including abusers with intellectual disability, or petrol sniffers)

offender unknown (mostly extra-familial)

Page 14: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse
Page 15: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Why so

many?

There appear to be significant changes in Pitjantjatjara sexual culture over the last 10 years (e.g. sexual repertoires and scripting, availability of pornography) without concomitant changes in education about relationships and sexual risk

There have been considerable disruptions to family and community life over the past 2 generations (missionaries arrived here in 1938)

Neglect of older kids, and substance misuse

Communalisation and the provision of Western-style housing has had a significant and disruptive effect on the management of privacy, and particularly on the supervision and surveillance of adolescents

Community standards differ, including what is categorised as a child, and what constitutes a sexual offence. In the last

Page 16: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Why we worry: the consequences of

child sexual abuse Sexual abuse touches every life when it leads to

losses of trust, decreases in self-esteem and development of shame, guilt and depression.

Sexual abuse touches every life when it leads to eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, promiscuity/prostitution and other psycho-behavioural problems

Victims of child sexual abuse report more substance abuse problems. 70-80 per cent of sexual abuse survivors report excessive drug and alcohol use

Young girls who are sexually abused are three times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders or alcohol and drug abuse in adulthood than girls who are not sexually abused

Page 17: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Among male survivors, more than 70 per cent seek psychological treatment for issues such as substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide. Males who have been sexually abused are more likely to violently victimise other

Children who have been victims of sexual abuse exhibit long-term and more frequent behavioural problems, particularly inappropriate sexual behaviours

Women who report childhood rape are three times more likely to become pregnant before age 18.

An estimated 60 per cent of teen first pregnancies are preceded by experiences of molestation, rape or attempted rape

Page 18: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Victims of child sexual abuse

are more likely to be sexually

promiscuous

More than 75% of teenage

prostitutes have been sexually

abused

Adolescents who suffered

violent victimisation are at risk

for being victims or

perpetrators of felony assault,

domestic violence, and

property offence as adults

Nearly 50% of women in prison

state that they were abused as

children

Page 19: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Some strategies for moving

forward

As Public Health practitioners

Page 20: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Support versus control

Hold back expertise unless invited

The difficulty is empowerment, or providing an

enabling environment

Barriers include personal and community history,

and current personal circumstances

Sometimes the same things work or don‟t work in

different situations, but when they don‟t work you

don‟t get the chance for critical reflection with the

group on what went wrong

Page 21: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Sensitivities finding the right person to talk to

elders

organisations

ignorance about community structures can make it

hard to manoeuvre (in the way you would with a non-

Indigenous community)

use local workers/connections to talk to the right

people, meet the requirements of local protocols

permission

sometimes being rigid about structures causes

problems – eg working with young people where they

have conflicts with elders

Page 22: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Time frames

develop trust

staff turnover – problem with long project time

lines

long time to develop foundation networks

Page 23: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

National focus means different approaches with urban, rural and

remote communities but

need to work through local networks, and with local people

gender is important, though there is flexibility

managing and meeting expectations is important – not good

to surprise people

other issues can intervene in relation to gender (for eg

young gay men in one place didn‟t want to be seen by a

straight male health worker)

Page 24: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Service Delivery

flexibility (outside of hours, outside of clinic)

may cause problems over visible “work hours”

men sometimes need to know women‟s stuff, and

women sometimes need to know men‟s stuff

Page 25: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Shame

Difficult to understand cross-

culturally

Includes different understandings

of the implications of different

parts of interaction (such as

looking/staring and touch)

Aboriginal people may not be

experienced with dealing with

white people

Shame reactions might include

withdrawal or anger

Page 26: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Sensitivity to levels of abuse in the

community

make counselling available

make sure people feel free to leave

be conscious of and prepared for the emotional

content of these issues

Page 27: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Partnerships

need to normalise processes of dialogue with

organisational cultures

include Aboriginal people prior to the

development of the process

the importance of advisory structures, especially

being involved from the start

formal mechanisms sometimes lack the flexibility

need to allow partnerships to move forward, or

get in the way of the work of the partnership

Page 28: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Equality

mutual respect needs to be articulated

expectations between workers and managers go

both ways

Page 29: Rural Aboriginal people and child sexual abuse

Interviews

May be difficult to ask direct questions without

giving the person time to think

Sometimes hypothetical scenarios are a better

way to go (not as personal)