被禁止的性行为与性暴力

成人与儿童的性接触: 娈童癖: 心理方面

大多数对儿童的性侵犯是由男人或由儿童所熟悉的男性青少年所为。这些人可能是受害儿童的父亲、祖父、叔叔或堂兄，然而更常见的是他们的朋友或诸如邻居、临时保姆等家人的熟人。陌生人涉案仅占少部分。女性侵犯者相对罕见。许多罪犯当受害人在儿童期时就对他们实施了性侵犯。在许多案例，这种性接触并不是一个孤立的事件，而是会持续相当长的时间，因为这名成年人通常会设法建立一种长期的性接触关系。

就受害儿童方面来说，他们可能对这样的性接触反应非常不同，这得依具体的境况而定。多数依据受侵犯时的年龄、被性接触的类型和与罪犯的关系程度而定。如果罪犯是近亲属或某个受害儿童所信任的其他成人（然而，他却亵渎了这种信任。），那么，受害儿童极可能会遭受到严重的心理伤害。例如，他们可能有一系列的行为障碍，或丧失自尊、攻击焦虑和萎靡不振。一些受害儿童可能需要心理咨询或心理治疗一段时间。另有一些受害儿童似乎未体验到多久的心理伤害。显而易见，如果受害儿童没有受到罪犯的精神伤害，就不应该事后再受到“试图提供帮助”的其他成人的不适当反应的烦扰。再次强调一下，多数时候依特定的情形不同而定——在性侵犯被发现之前性接触持续了多久，是否涉及到强制或暴力，事情暴露之后如何处理的，受害者家人原来怎样提供的帮助？……等等。父母和兄弟姐妹的冷静反应及其无条件的爱护可以起到极大的积极作用。同样重要的是，要让受害儿童认识到这件事情“并不是她/他的错”。

无论如何，我们应该切记，每一个案例是独特的，是由所涉及的各种特定因素综合的结果。所以，也需要来自于愿意帮助个别儿童的那些人的特殊的综合响应。

Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Adult Sexual Contact with Children: Pedophilia: Psychological Aspects

Most sexual offenses against children are committed by men or male adolescents whom they know. These may be fathers, grandfathers, uncles or cousins, but more often they are friends or acquaintances of the family, neighbors, or babysitters. Strangers are involved only in a minority of cases. Female offenders are comparatively rare. Many of the offenders had themselves been victims of such offenses when they were children. In many cases, the sexual contact is not an isolated incident, but continues for quite some time as the adult usually tries to establish an ongoing relationship.
As for the children, they may react to the sexual contact very differently, depending on the circumstances. Much depends on their own age at the time of the offense, the type of contact, and on the degree of closeness to the offender. If he is a close relative or some other trusted adult who violated this trust, they are more likely to sustain serious psychological damage. For example, they may develop a variety of behavioral problems, or suffer from a loss of self-esteem, anxiety attacks and depression. Some children may need psychological counseling or therapy for some time. Others do not seem to experience any lasting harm. Obviously, if the child was not traumatized by the offender, it should not be upset after the fact by the inappropriate reactions of other adults who “try to help”. Again, much depends on the specifics of the situation - how long the contact had gone on before it was discovered, whether force or violence had been involved, how the discovery is handled, and how supportive the family proves to be. A calm reaction of parents and siblings and their unconditional love can make an enormous, positive difference. It is also important that the children learn to understand that it was “not their fault”.
At any rate, one should remember that each case is unique in the specific combination of the factors involved. It therefore also requires a specific combination of responses from those who want to help an individual child.