Al2 - Wednesday, April 14, 1982 - North Shore News

Silence of sexually abused is based on fear

FROM PAGE A1

related sex. Data gathered
on a continent-wide basis
shows that for many women
incest ts an ongoing regularly
occurring ordeal which, in
the vast majonty of cases,
remains a secret.

“AL studies and ex-
penence indicates there is a
fairly wide incidence - wider
than portrayed by statistics -
of sex offences within the
family,” says the RCMP
spokesman.

Not that he believes the
situation is any more
prevalent than it has ever
been. ‘There's no more of it,
no less of it and J] don't even
know how much there is of
it.”

And this is the greatest
obstacle in even tackling the
problem - complete lack of
knowledge by authorities as
to the scope of the problem
being looked at.

For, while society is today
at least recognizing that
incest does occur - and
probably on a far wider basis
than had previously been
imagined the victims
themselves are as secretive
about their ordeal as they
have ever been.

This secrecy is based on
fear. Impressionable teenage
girls often experience
feelings of shame and guilt
about what they are suf-
fering - that maybe they have
subconsciously encouraged
sexual attentions of the
family member, or even if
they haven't, that they will
be accused of having done so
if they report the matter.

And in many instances
there is the fear that if the
girl does not keep her plight
a secret then her father
whom - apart from _ his
problem -- she loves, is likely
to be taken away for years
because of her own betrayal.

The blockade facing the
RCMP in these cases 1s one
of image, largely blamed on
the television stereotype of
the hard-nosed, bone-
headed insensitive cop who
makes an arrest every lime a
crime is reported, regardless
of the consequences

It is this image that the
RCMP are trying to shake
off so that they are able to

deal more effectively with
sex crimes.

The North Vancouver
detective spokesman sees

the police function in incest
and other dehcate matters
pmmarily as one of cnme

prevention rather’ than
punishment.
“It is very difficult for

vicums of any of the sex
crimes to report them,” he
says. “We want the public to
know we are willing to listen
and are congnizant of the
vicum's feelings and willing
to treat it confidentially if
the victim chooses to do so.”

“We would rather have an
offence reported where we
know what has happened but
where we can only deal with
it on a confidential basis
than have it going on and
have some vicious outcome
occur down the road.”

A child vicam of sexual
abuse can approach Ministry
of Human Resources (MHR)
personnel or school
counsellors rather than the
police, the RCMP
spokesman stresses, adding
that he feels there is still a
great need for these three
agencies to hase more fully.

Since 1980 MHR workers
have been legally required to
notify police of incidents of
sexual abuse and = serious
physical injury which come
to their attention.

A major element in an
increase of reports in child
sexual abuse this year is
attributed to television
advertising of the problem
and the Zenith child abuse
line, which makes reporting

accessible to everyone,
including the children
themselves without the

need for the caller to be
identified.

Police are also finding
some reports are due to
family members, such as an
older sister) whose father
may have sexually abused her
for years and who eventually
decides to report the
situation because a younger

sister as reaching an age

where she might take over
being a vicum

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Reports rarely come from
the mother of the family,
who tend to protect the
father or step-father who 1s
committing incest, ac-
cording to police. More
often, police are eventually
notified as a result of an
abused girl confiding in a
friend, a parent of a friend or
a teacher.

Even so, the RCMP say
they are barely scratching
the surface at uncovering the
extent of incest and child
sexual abuse.

Even in today’s sexually
liberated society, where
homosexualism is openly
admitted to, incest is still
taboo to the extent that it
occurs but 1s not discussed.

“We are just now learning
about it,” says the RCMP
spokesman. “A sex offence
is such a personnal thing to
the suspect as well as the
victim there is a whole grey
area we are having trouble
with. We have no way of
telling just how senous the
problem is.”

One reason is because
sexual crime has a_ low
profile in the North Van-
couver community. As the
spokesman comments:
“We've got the problem
where it starts - with incest
and child abuse and
Vancouver gets the results of
it, with street hookers and
skid road.”

For, unlike other crimes,
the effects of sexual abuse
extend far beyond the im-

mediate situation and are
often felt throughout the
victim's life and even into

the next generation.

“The potential results of
incest and child abuse are
much more senous than any
other specific crime,” says
the RCMP spokesman, “in

terms of human anxiety,
depression and lack = of
sexual satisfaction.

“One of our biggest

concerns ts that the a'used
child will grow up to be an
abuser ”

US) psychologists point to

statistics indicating that
more than SO per cent of
mothers who abuse their
children were victims of
abuse mn their own

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childhood.
Many of North Van-
couver’s sexually abused

children - both female and
male - end up walking Davie
Street and other well-known
hooker hangouts.

“A lot of children,
because of the guilt they are
feeling. end up going into
prostitution,” says the
RCMP spokesman. “That is
one of the results of child
abuse - where their self
esteem goes out of the
window and they are more
liable to resort to that sort of
crime.”

It is these longer-term
ramifications which = are
among the many reasons the
RCMP want input in helping
out’ with difficult family
sexual situations, in a
preventative rather than a
punitive capacity.

When these matters come

to police attention they are
often dealt with by diverting
them from the court system
by way of counselling.

The RCMP are anxious
that victims of sexual abuse

should feel they can contact
the police for help. The
spokesman says as
reassurance: “We are human
beings and can be com-
passionate.”

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