Professionals' Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse:A Cultural Difference

Child Sexual Abuse is often not a physical pain, but rather a psychological pain. Child sexual abuse is considered one of the most horrendous crimes in almost all societies, however, it is handled differently in almost every country. To what extent the professionals perception of child sexual abuse is related to cultural differences? To what extend do their perception predict the abused situation? The concern about the difficulties the professionals face in identifying and reporting an abuse case may be outweighed by concerns about the right and respect of cultural difference and cultural values. Increasing the cross-culture awareness on child sexual abuse is not about to find a magic pill for cross-cultures differences, also, it is not about to suggest that this culture is necessarily superior or inferior to the other culture. Cross-culture awareness involves the learning and understanding about actions, attitudes, values, beliefs, and entire ways of thinking and behaving of other cultures including a model of parenting.