Child Abuse

How Common Is Child Abuse?

Child abuse occurs in about 2% of American homes.

Who Are The Perpetrators Of Child Abuse?

In over 70% of cases of child abuse, the mother is the perpetrator or one of the perpetrators; in 35% of the cases, the father is the perpetrator or one of the perpetrators.

"Women who severely injure or kill children are typically closely related to the victim: A child's mother is more likely to kill or injure him than his stepmother is," according to one researcher. "Male offenders tend to be more distantly related to their victims: A child's stepfather or the boyfriend of his mother is more likely to kill or injure him than his father is."

Why Are Women Relatively So Violent To Children?

This is puzzling to many people, especially when combined with the statistic that women in the home are perpetrators of just as much domestic violence as men.

You never see women get into fistfights on the street or in barroom brawls, so why are women so violent (relative to men) to their husbands and children in the home?

The key to understanding this is something that every man learns when he's in a relationship with a woman: that no matter how tentative, polite, and subordinate a woman is with strangers, she is much more confrontational, emotional and demanding within the home. This difference is also confirmed by research. These research results suggest that, although few men or women are violent, violence in women is much more personal and family-oriented than violence in men.

Why Does Television Always Portray Only Fathers As Child Abusers?

Television reporters repeat what women's activists tell them, and women's activists ignore all child abuse except one form, sexual child abuse. Sexual child abuse is only a small part (10%) of the child abuse problem.

Even in the case of child sexual abuse, the figures aren't nearly as skewed as women's activists claim. The figures are that 27% of the perpetrators are mothers and 35% of the perpetrators are fathers.

The reason that television and newspapers report much higher levels of child sexual abuse by fathers is because, for political and fund-raising reasons, women's activists combine sexual abuse by the mother's boyfriends with sexual abuse by the biological father.

Most child sexual abusers are men, but they're most likely another relative, or the mother's boyfriend, or the child's stepfather. The biological father is almost as unlikely as the mother to sexually abuse a child.

What's The Difference Between "Pathological" And "Transactional" Child Abuse?

Pathological or sociopathic child abuse is the kind of behavior that makes you wonder how the perpetrators can be part of the human race. Examples are: a man rapes his 8 year old niece repeatedly and a mother punishes her misbehaving 4 year old son by immersing his hands in boiling water.

Transactional child abuse is the kind of behavior that happens day to day in homes dealing with ordinary stress. An example is a parent who shouts at a child or slaps him once in a while.

How can we change public policy to reduce the amount of child abuse in society?

One can prove with almost mathematical certainty that it's impossible to prevent pathological child abuse, although fortunately events in that grisly category happen only rarely.

But there are programs designed to prevent transactional child abuse, which can happen in families with even the best parents at times of great frustration. Much of it occurs right after birth of the child, a time when both parents are likely to be depressed and confused. These programs provide for outreach to new parents, to help reduce stress and solve problems, thereby reducing the level of child abuse.

Fraternizing With The Enemy contains the facts, figures and researcher information you need to help you understand what child abuse is, and what to do about it.