Common sense can be a great guide for life, especially if it is based upon a solid foundation of experience. However, in some cases, common sense reaches people in the form of rumors and assumptions which may or may not be based in quantifiable reality. In those cases, common sense beliefs can be confronted by empirical science, and often overcome. This author looks at the common sense belief that most children who are sexually abused are abused by strangers or childcare workers, and compares it to scientific studies on that subject. Social science research generally agrees that the above common sense assumption is false, and that children are in fact more likely to be abused by people close to them, their family, or their peers, as compared …show more content…
This opposition is an example of science running contrary to common sense or conventional wisdom. Some common sense assumptions are held up by science; for example, as many may reason, “severity of abuse is found to be significantly associated with the perpetrator's age, and the child's age” (Margolin and Kraft, 454). However, when it comes to the perpetrators of abuse, most studies seem to agree that these individuals tend to be close to the child, rather than being strangers, and that, surprisingly to this author, many of the perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse are, in fact, also …show more content…
Bolen’s source looks at the pervasiveness of childhood sexual abuse. The main point of the resource is to point towards programs that target the potential offenders, rather than relying on a system that only targets the victims in a reactionary manner. In this way, the article also serves as a call to action.
Conte, J. 1994. “Child Sexual Abuse: Awareness and
Backlash.” The Future of Children 4(2): 224-32. Conte’s article looks at general issues regarding child sexual abuse, rather than going into the specifics of demographic profiles for offenders and victims. One strong point in the article is the author’s focus on the history of child abuse recognition, and their inclusion of multiple cultural perspectives.
Giglio, J., P. Wolfteich, W. Babrenya et al. 2011.
“Differences in Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Based on Perpetrator Age and Respondent Gender.” Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 20: 396–412. These authors engaged in a general empirical study. They found that age and gender were related to the perception of child sexual abuse, in that people viewing children abusing children were less likely to see abuse than in the same situations involving adults abusing