Most parents would readily agree that protecting their children from sexual abuse would be a lot easier if they only knew how to identify offenders before they struck. Sadly, child predators look a lot like everyone else; they’re often not shabbily dressed, unkempt, or sporting any special markers. On the contrary, they’re often accomplished and well-respected members of their communities.
They can be found in all neighborhoods and communities. And their prevalence is not limited by educational, religious, racial, or socio-economic backgrounds. At present, the most effective way parents can protect their children from predators is by arming themselves and their kids with relevant knowledge on child sexual abuse. Equally important for abuse prevention is for parents and childcare workers to know the signs of a child predator or child molester.
Who can molest a child?
Studies from reported cases and convicted offenders show that about 90% of children were sexually abused by someone they know. This person could be a member of their immediate family, a relative, or someone close to their family.
When one considers this, it becomes easy to understand how difficult it can get for parents to accept that their kids are being abused. The fact that their children are being violated by people they trust can make it difficult to see things as they are. Many parents find it difficult to acknowledge the signs of a child predator or molester. This denial of facts increases the risks of child sexual abuse. However, when you understand that a child abused is at risk of abusing another child in the future, you become more motivated to put a stop to it.
Gender of Child Molesters
When the topic of child predators or molesters comes up, people are quick to picture the offender as an adult male. However, research conducted by childluresprevention.com, shows that that has only been the case 88% of the time.
According to that report, 9% of child sex offenders were female (3% of the offenders’ sex was unknown). Moreover, the US Department of Justice also found that 23% of child molesters were children themselves. That is, they were below 18 years of age. It’s important to note that most of these children had also been victims of sexual abuse at some point in their young lives.
So you see, anyone – adult males and females, boys, and girls – can be a child molester. Hopefully, this information helps you to understand what you should look out for. It also helps to know that your scrutiny for signs of a child predator shouldn’t be limited to a particular gender or age group. To further deepen your understanding of the child predator, we’ll take a look at their types.
Types of child predators or child molesters
There are basically two types of child molesters:
- The situational child molesters
- The preferential child molesters
Situational child molesters
The situational child molester isn’t primarily attracted to children. Rather, they’ll engage in some type of sexual activity, both touching and non-touching, with children when the opportunity presents itself. This makes them different from preferential child molesters who are primarily sexually attracted to children.
Preferential child molesters
Preferential child molesters go out of their way to attract children and create opportunities to engage in sexual activity with them. All of the activities involved in attracting children and the creation of these opportunities are referred to as grooming. Statistics from the FBI, show that a preferential child molester can abuse an average of 282 times in their lifetime. They’ll also have an average of 150 different victims.
Characteristics of child predators/child molesters
What we have here isn’t an exhaustive list as child predator patterns are fraught with a lot of variations. However, we’ve gathered the more common signs of a child predator or molester and it can help you determine if your children are safe with a particular person or not.
Now, in addition to frequently invading a child’s personal space and touching them, child molesters:
- Usually have a history of sexual problems such as sexual abuse as a child or over-exposure to sexually stimulating environments. They may also have had sex-related problems as adults.
- Often do not marry. When they do marry, it may cover their sexual preference for children or for access to their partner’s children.
- May exhibit a low sex drive in marriages or relationships.
- Would rather spend their time with children than adults; they show an excessive interest in children and can come off as childish themselves.
- Often have a stash of toys and treats with which they lure their victims and bribe them into silence. Their houses may be full of toys even when they don’t have any children of their own.
- Show interest in a particular child; often praising them or giving them extra privileges or gifts. The pet or favorite child may vary from year to year as they’ll have to be replaced as they grow older.
- Stares at or watches a child for long periods of time.
- Make sexually inappropriate comments about a child’s physical appearance or body
- Appear to be very helpful and considerate; offering to babysit, drive the kids to places and do things with and for your child.
- Encourage the child to keep secrets from parents and other people. For instance, they may ask the child to hide gifts from his or her parents. Another example is sharing inside jokes that you or anyone else don’t understand.
Classification of Child Molesters
Perpetrators of child abuse can be classified into seducers, introverted and sadistic. The seducer has a likable personality and can be quite the charmer. This makes it easy for them to befriend and win the trust of the children and adults. The introverted molester isn’t quite as outgoing; they’re often lacking in interpersonal skills and target the least resistant or most vulnerable children. The sadists abduct, abuse, and kill their victims.
Knowing what signs to look out for in a child predator is important because it’ll help concerned adults identify people who are at risk of harming children sexually. Once a potential molester has been identified, actions can then be taken to ensure that he or she doesn’t get the chance to offend. And that they get the help they need. When parents are proactive in this way, they greatly increase the odds that their children will live abuse-free lives.
We have written a piece that outlines the steps you should take to protect your child from molesters. And we also recommend that you install cameras in strategic locations of your house.