Factors Responsible For Sexual Abuse As Expressed By Students Of Federal College Of Education, Osiele Abeokuta, Nigeria

Sexual abuse is a sexual act imposed on a victim who lacks emotional, maturational and cognitive development. Authority and power enable the perpetrator, implicitly or directly, to coerce the child into sexual compliance. The ability to lure a woman into sexual relationship is based upon                                                                                                                                                                                                                    the all powerful and dominant position of the men or older adolescent perpetrator, which is sharp contrast to the victims age, dependency and subordinate position .The abuse can be intra-familial, between a woman close family friends or extra-familial and some one out side the close family unit (Unitarian-Universalist Association, 2005 ).
    Gibbs and Bathrope (1982) noted that male harassment of female is the most common type of sexual abuse because in most organizational setting majority of the bosses are men and they lure their subordinates which most times leads to rape and this therefore, result in physical and psychological periods to the victims. Danes (1989) observed that sexual abuse is a global problem that can no longer be ignored or permitted to remain hidden. He noted that victims do not acknowledge such violence when it occurs to them. They also perpetuate such violence by remaining silent, excusing violence or blaming them selves.
    Both women and men may experience sexual harassment, but most targets are women. It is important to under stand that there is a pervasive belief that woman create their own sexual problems, because “blaming the victim” is a very strong part of our culture’s gender–role ideology. Also, perpetrators often don’t believe that the target reaction is extreme. Most women and men try to deal with sexual harassment by ignoring it, (Powell, 1991).
   But this is seldom effective and can lead to an escalation. Women with higher self-esteem deal with the assertively.
    Violence against women also depletes women’s energy and their self-esteem. It is a risk for all children especially girls who grow up with a sense of such vulnerability (Davies, 1989). Sexual abuse has its effect not holy on the negative but also on the children. In view of the negative impact of sexual abuse on the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of woman children and individuals in general.
    The researcher therefore set out to investigate the factors responsible for sexual abuse as perceived by students of Federal College of Education, Ogun State. The study is based on the assumption that majority of the students from federal college of Education, Ogun State are young adolescents whose expressions may adequately represent the most vulnerable group. These students could have experienced sexual abuse, either directly or otherwise. This therefore qualifies them to be able to give useful information (expression) on the factors responsible for sexual abuse. Livingstone (1982) noted that the effectiveness of any remedial action depends on the extent to which the causal factors of the problem are identified. Hence it is within the purfew of this study that solution will be recommended in order to reduce the menace.
Statement of the Problem
    According to Fontana (1981), sexual abuse appears to be increasing and has become a major health problem sexual abuse is a problem in our society today because it has caused a lot of harm to the victims both young and old. It has psychological effect on the victims. It has also become a problem in the sense that victims suffer serious physical injuries which are inflicted upon them by the perpetrators. In recent years tertiary institutions could not so much play their traditional roles as citadel of knowledge but only a place of evil deeds, of crimes and crises that have bedeviled the campuses especially the act of sexual abuse (Nosike, 1990).
    Sexual abuse has been further classified by practitioners as sexual exploitation, which involves touching the victim and or compelling him/her to observe or be involved in other sexual activity (for example watching pornographic videos, sexual assault, molestation, victimization and rape.
    Finkelha (1984) underscored that women become victims of sexual abuse as a result of their fragility and relationship with abuser. He further estimated that the proportion of persons in the United States that were exposed to some form of sexual abuse was between 9 and 52 percent for females and between 3 and 9 percent for male. Sexual abuse has been documented as a menace involving women of all ages and status but it is also clear that majority of perpetrators of sexual abuse are men and that the victims are predominantly female (Fonkellor, 1984).
    A multi-centre study, led by Trowell and Kolvin (1999), from the Tavistock clinic London, was set up to evaluate the use of psychotherapy with girls aged 65 – 14 years who had been sexually abused. The key findings were as follows: sexually abused girls who had problems were more affected psychologically, socially and educationally than previously recognized. There was evidence of post traumatic stress disorder, depression and separation anxiety. Many of the older women had experienced physical or sexual abuse in their own childhood. Sexual abuse has some long term implications for mental health and this include; psychological symptoms, guilt, low self-esteem, sleep disturbance. Problem behaviour such as self harm and drug abuse, relationship and sexual problems are resultant effects of sexual abuse.
    The available, police data for instance, are often in complete and limited. Many women do not report incidences of sexual abuse to the police because they are ashamed, or fear or being blamed, not believed, or otherwise mistreated. The question that often agitates minds of many educationists, school authorities, sociologists, psychological parents is that, why do people commit sexual abuse? What are the factors responsible for sexual abuse?