Dignity
Key Principle: Foreground the voice, experience and dignity of victims and survivors
Where possible, place the story in the wider social context, supported by facts, and consider stories of resilience and growth.
Journalism can be a powerful tool for education on, and prevention of, child sexual abuse. However, victims and survivors are often silenced in media reporting, or blamed, and perpetrators are often valorised which can cause great harm. Stories also often focus on the abuse only and ignore the stories of dignity, resilience and bravery that many victims and survivors demonstrate.
Reporting on child sexual abuse can be an opportunity to educate the community about the social prevalence of child sexual abuse and highlight stories of resilience from victims and survivors.
Reporting can situate child sexual abuse as a societal problem and not only an isolated event. Nearly 30% of all adults in Australia have experienced some type of child sexual abuse. Research shows that when children experience child sexual abuse, it rarely happens only once (for research and statistics, see ‘Defining and measuring the prevalence of child sexual abuse’).
- Be aware of the hierarchy of sources in the story. Whose voice is used first in the story, and whose voices are missing?
- Contact advocates and support groups in your area for comment and perspectives on stories on child sexual abuse, where appropriate.
- Note that court reporting is subject to legal constraints.
- Ensure you verify the data and statistics. You can go to the Australian Child Maltreatment Study website for the most recent statistics on child sexual abuse and the National Office for Child Safety website for more information on this issue.
Ask yourself
- Do the voices and experiences of victims and survivors frame your story?
- Does the language convey the gravity of the issue?
- Is child sexual abuse described in a way that reflects its gravity and impacts?
- Are you victim blaming, discrediting the victim and survivor, or focusing on their behaviour? If so, you should revisit.
- Are you valorising the perpetrator (focusing on career, achievements, character)? If so, you should revisit.
"… we're starting to try and bring a bigger picture to our story, hoping that the journalist is able to grasp that, rather than individualise us. We rely on journalists to tap into the bigger picture."
(Victim and survivor and advocate)
Defining and measuring the prevalence of child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a crime. While there is no universal definition, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse defined child sexual abuse as ‘any act that exposes a child to, or involves a child in, sexual processes that are beyond their understanding, are contrary to accepted community standards, or are outside what is permitted by law’.
The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) estimates that more than one in four (28.5%) Australians have experienced child sexual abuse. Those who identify as females were twice as likely to have experienced child sexual abuse compared to males (37.3% of females compared to 18.8% of males).
The ACMS found that child sexual abuse rarely happens once and it often co-occurs with other forms of child maltreatment. Most victims and survivors of child sexual abuse (78%) reported that the abuse occurred multiple times. Around four in ten victims and survivors (42%) experienced child sexual abuse more than six times. Around one in ten victims and survivors (11%) experienced it more than 50 times.
The ACMS further identified the profound impacts of child maltreatment, including on mental and physical health outcomes. When compared with people who have not experienced child maltreatment, those who experienced child maltreatment: are more likely to have a mental disorder (48%), compared with around one in five (21.6%) of those who did not experience maltreatment; are three times more likely to have Major Depressive Disorder (24.6% compared with 8.1%); are 3.9 times more likely to have self-harmed in the past year; and are 4.6 times more likely to have attempted suicide in the past year.