The victims of eight out of ten sexual assaults in childhood are girls or adolescents, according to Save the Children

Europa Press Madrid

Madrid

Updated Wednesday, March 6, 2024-18:39

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The victims of every ten sexual assaults that occur during childhood are girls or adolescents.

This is clear from the

'Silenciadas'

study that Save The Children presented on March 8.

According to the report, in 2022, 18,731 complaints

of sexual violence were filed in Spain

, of which almost half (45%) had a person under 18 years of age as the victim.

Of these complaints, 82% were girls or adolescents, so, for the organization, "being a girl is once again a determining risk factor for being able to suffer an attack of this type."

As for the aggressors, the data on sexual crimes committed by both adults and people between 14 and 17 years old - ages at which there is already responsibility - reflect that

in 97% of cases the aggressor is a man.

Save the Children has also recalled that the digital environment is another space in which childhood and adolescence develop and

pornography is also conditioning

the way in which children and adolescents relate to each other.

According to the organization's Sexual Misinformation report, almost seven out of every 10 adolescents consume pornography, and on average they access sexual content for the first time at age 12.

A pornography that is for mass consumption online, free and unlimited and its contents are mostly based on violence and inequality.

PORNOGRAPHY AND GROUP ASSAULTS

The organization warns that pornography shows aspects that boys and girls can reproduce, such as the lack of need to ask for consent or the refusal of consent on the part of men, the absence of contraceptive methods, the

stigmatization of bodies and objectification

as objects of women's pleasure or the establishment of unequal roles: dominance (boys) and submission (girls).

Regarding group attacks, the study indicates that the number of sexual assaults committed by more than one person

has increased in recent years by more than 64%

.

However, it is still far from the figures for individual sexual assaults, representing 4.2% of the total in 2022.

And, with regard to the children and adolescents who suffer these attacks, the Ministry of the Interior has indicated that the profile of the victim is that of

a single girl or adolescent, with an average age of 15 years

, whose aggressors are of Similarly, they are known beforehand and the crime is usually committed with penetration and violence.

"We must take into account that more than 10% of multiple sexual assaults are

recorded or photographed

as a sign of dominance and waiting for recognition from the peer group, which clearly shows how new technologies and the Internet affect the way boys, girls and adolescents relate," explained

Catalina Perazzo

, director of Political and Social Advocacy at Save the Children.

Given these data, the organization demands specific legislation that deploys prevention measures contemplated in the Organic Law for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents against Violence, such as affective-sexual education or the

safe and responsible use of new technologies

.

"Pornography cannot be the sexuality teacher of boys, girls and adolescents because

we are talking about fiction, it is not real.

It is as if we were teaching teenagers to drive with car racing video games," said Perazzo.

In his opinion, "it is essential to implement affective-sexual education from an early age so that boys and girls can establish healthier and more egalitarian relationships, as well as provide them with tools so that they can make safe use of the Internet and social networks." ".

Likewise, the organization considers that, when violence has already occurred, it is necessary that girls, boys and adolescents who have been victims

be cared for with the greatest guarantees

and respecting all their rights.

To this end, Save the Children proposes initial and ongoing training for all professionals in the legal field and the coordination of all existing resources to care for child victims, as well as adolescent aggressors.

In caring for adolescents who have committed an attack, the organization is committed to intervening not only on an individual basis with the aggressor, but also

with their environment

for effective long-term reparation.