Dear Editor,
For too long, boys have been misunderstood and harmed mainly because our perception of our children – particularly boys – influences the level of care and protection we provide to them. Gendered social norms are attitudes and behaviours that society deems acceptable based on one’s gender. For example, girls must love cooking and boys should be able to fight. These social norms help to shape the way we view our children and this in some ways, has been to the detriment of both girls and boys. One key concern ChildLinK raises today is that boys require as much protection as girls to be safe from sexual violence and that parents remain the single most important line of defense for all children against all forms of abuse including child sexual abuse.

The Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) and non-governmental organizations (NGO) have been advocating for protecting boys from sexual violence and encouraging the public to report known cases of child sexual abuse. We have seen indications that the public is responding to the advocacy. For example, when comparing the number of reported cases of boys who were sexually abused in 2015 and 2018 we find that in 2015 there were 108 such cases. In 2018, there were 179 reported cases where a boy was sexually abused – an increase of 71 cases or 66 percent. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for every reported case, there may be two or more cases that go unreported. The data indicates that boys in the age range of 8 to 13 are most vulnerable with respect to reported cases. For example, in 2018, of the 179 reported cases of sexual abuse of boys, 71 of the 179 boys were in the age range of 8 to 13 years.

One of the gendered social norms that places boys at risk of sexual violence is our view of boys as ‘tough’ and ‘macho’ and more than capable of ‘defending’ themselves. When our boys are young, many are encouraged to ‘knock back’ if anyone ‘knocks’ them. If a boy cannot ‘defend’ himself or shows any signs of being vulnerable, he is stigmatized as being ‘girly’ and could be subject to ridicule and bullying even by members of his family. Boys are not seen as possessing ‘innocence’ in relation to girls and many parents/caregivers simply assume that no harm will come to their sons. As a result, parents/caregivers are generally more casual in the protective measures they put in place for the boys which then leaves them vulnerable to all forms of abuse including sexual abuse. One case ChildLinK encountered was of a little boy who was daily left in the care of a ‘friend of the family’ by his parent. The parent assumed that because the ‘friend’ was a female, that her little boy was safe. However, one day, the parent caught the ‘family friend’ sexually abusing the boy. It is these assumptions which give no thought to the vulnerability of boys that puts them at risk.
Parents allow boys to have more freedom to move around the community because they fail to see their boys as vulnerable to child sexual abuse. Parents are more likely to take precautionary measures in the places girls traverse in the community as opposed to boys. In another case ChildLinK encountered, a boy was left in the care of an older sibling. The older sibling gave little care to the whereabouts of the boy, who went to visit a relative in the community. One of the relatives living in the home, forcibly raped the boy. When the actions of parents demonstrate that boys are not at risk to harm, older siblings are likely to treat their little brothers the same way leaving them vulnerable to potential abusers.

Perhaps one of the most critical reasons that boys are vulnerable to sexual abuse is because they are largely left out of the national conversation on child sexual abuse, which generally focuses on girls. In 2018, Family For Every Child, an international alliance of civil society organizations, produced a report addressing boys and sexual abuse captioned ‘Caring for Boys Affected by Sexual Violence’. The reported noted that there is a “…lack of public discourse and visibility around sexual violence affecting boys…” Government and civil society must increase our efforts to sensitize parents of the vulnerability of boys while continuing to emphasize on the vulnerability of girls. There are parents who view sexual violence committed against a boy as something ‘shameful’ and as a result, they make a concerted effort to ‘cover up’ the matter and deny their child justice and healing rather than ‘bringing shame on the family’. This belief is an obstacle to reporting and many boys suffer prolonged sexual abuse and trauma as a result.

Parents and caregivers must recognize that the boy child needs the same amount of love, affection, affirmation, and attention as the girl child. Boys too need to be included in the conversations of how to be safeguarded from all forms of abuse including sexual abuse. Boys too need a good relationship with their parents and to have the confidence to TELL if they are being abused. As a society we must acknowledge that boys are made vulnerable to many societal ills largely because of neglect. It still takes a village to raise a child – be it a girl or boy child. ChildLinK is working to create a Guyanese society where every child grows up in a loving, safe and secure family and community. The Recovery, Safeguarding and Reintegration initiative is supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Guyana and partners with the CPA and several agencies to strengthen family-based care of children. Report child abuse by calling the CPA on 227-0979, the closest Police station or ChildLinK on 233-3500 or email: admin@childlinkgy.org.

Regards,
Shaquita Thomas
Communications Officer
ChildLinK Inc