How have society's views of child maltreatment changed over the years?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• During the 1950s and 1960s, the limited literature of the sexual victimization of children was on "stranger danger"—the dirty old man in the wrinkled raincoat approaching an innocent child at play. During the 1970s and 1980s, society became more aware of the sexual victimization of children. Society began to increasingly realize that relatives sexually molest most children. The progress of the 1970s and 1980s in recognizing the child's sexual victimization not simply as a result of "stranger danger" was an important breakthrough in addressing society's denial. Today, for many child advocates and professionals in the field, the sexual victimization of children is still perceived primarily as one-on-one, intrafamilial sexual abuse. Although they are certainly aware of other forms of sexual victimization of children, when discussing the problem in general their "default setting" seems to always go back to children molested by family members. For the public, the "default setting" seems to be stranger abduction. To them, child molesters are sick perverts or "predators" who physically overpower children and violently force them into sexual activity.