Some Myths about Child Sexual Abuse

1. Normal appearing, well educated middle class people don't molest children. 

Because it is hard for people to imagine a "normal" person doing such a heinous act, people often assume that child molesters must be monsters. Dr. Salter an expert in sex offenders, says that "the life a child  molester leads in public may be exemplary, almost surreal in its righteousness." (Salter, A. C. (2003). Predators: Pedophiles, rapists and other sex offenders: Who they are, how they operate, and how we can protect ourselves and our children . New York: Basic Books.) I would add that Yes even someone who appears to be a faithful Mormon or Christian can be an offender. I have not been able to find any statistics specific to the LDS population, but I believe our statistics probably don't vary from the rest of the population.

2. People are too quick to believe an abuser is guilty, even if there is not supporting evidence

In truth, people are too quick to believe that the accused is innocent, even if there is plenty of supporting evidence.

3. Child molesters molest indiscriminately 

Sex offenders tend to carefully pick and set up or "groom" their victims

4. Children who are being abused would tell their parents

Many studies (and I have already quoted some in earlier blogs) show that that is just not the case! Sex offenders typically try to make the victim feel that he or she has caused the offender to act inappropriately. Children have great difficulty sorting out who is responsible for the abuse and frequently blame themselves for what happened. Fears of retribution and abandonment, and feelings of complicity, embarrassment, guilt, and shame along with threats of bodily harm to the victim or other family members - all lead to inhibiting the disclosure of abuse

5. Children who are physically or sexually abused will show physical evidence of abuse

Research shows that abnormal genital findings are rare even in cases where the abuse has been proven. For example: in a case review of children with proven sexual abuse only 2 of the 36(5.5%) pregnant girls   showed definitive evidence. (Kellogg, N. D., Menard, S. W., &  Santos , A.  (2004). Genital anatomy   in pregnant adolescents: " Normal " does not mean "nothing happened". Pediatrics, 113 (1 Pt 1),   67-9.)

6. By using repeated interviews, therapists or police can easily implant false memories and cause false accusations among children of any age.

Research has consistently shown that children rarely confabulate about having been abused. False       allegations have been found to be rare. Laboratory research using suggestive questioning has consistently shown that negative events are relatively difficult to implant in children's statements. In fact, research shows that children are more likely to fail to report negative experiences that actually did happen to them, than falsely remember ones that did not.

Much of this information was taken from  http://www.leadershipcouncil.org