New Study Shows Media Underreport Child Sexual Abuse and Leave Prevention Out Of The Story

May 25, 2011 - PRLog -- NEW YORK, NY  --  The numbers of children who are sexually abused in the United States are staggering and often hidden behind a broad demographic range in our country.  Studies continue to reinforce the facts:

By the age of 18, 1 in every 4 girls will experience some form of sexual abuse.
By the age of 18, 1 in every 6 boys will experience some form of sexual abuse.
93 percent of child sexual abuse cases happen at the hands of someone known to the child.  

Tens of thousands of children are sexually abused every year in this country and yet news coverage of the subject is out of sync with both the magnitude of the issue and the context in which it occurs. This finding comes from a study released this month from Berkeley Media Studies Group http://www.bmsg.org/, a project of the Public Health Institute. The report, Case by Case: News coverage of child sexual abuse http://www.bmsg.org/pdfs/bmsg_issue19.pdf, examined national news stories on child sexual abuse published between 2007 and 2009. Fewer than one story a week focused on the topic and even fewer covered the issue in detail.         

“This is a crime that can be prevented, and a key part of that prevention involves parents empowering children to say ‘ NO’ …  and giving them the confidence to tell” according to Jill Starishevsky, an Assistant District Attorney in the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau of the Bronx District Attorney's Office.  She is passionate in her pursuit of preventing these crimes and convicting those who are guilty.
“Parents should not be lulled into thinking - it’s not going to happen to my child,  Or, I would know if it were happening to my child. Though infrequently covered in the media, the statistics tell a very sad and different truth.”
Starishevsky has prosecuted hundreds of cases over the past decade. One of those cases involved nine-year-old girl named Tiffany who was brave enough to come forward and tell about her abuse who had been raped by her father for three years.
Tiffany’s case and others like it prompted the prosecutor, who is also a mother of three, to write a book, “My Body Belongs to Me”.  The book was written to help parents have life-saving dialogues with their children.
“Every parent with children ages 3 to 8 should be having a discussion with their child about their body.  It’s not always the easiest talk for parents to have with their children, but it can be one of the most important. “
Jill Starishevsky and Tiffany, now twenty years old, appeared on “Oprah” on April 15th talking about what brought them all together.

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Safety Star Media is a publishing company founded in 2008 intended to empower children with information about safety.