More than 900 children and juveniles were victims of sex crimes in the Hunter in 2016, crime data shows.
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This included more than 400 cases of aggravated rape, rape or assault with intent to rape and more than 500 cases of indecent assault, act of indecency or other sexual offences.
About 700 of the victims were female and more than 200 were male.
Antonia Quadara, the sexual violence program manager for the Australian Institute of Family Studies, said the power imbalance between adults and children in society was a factor in sex crimes.
“A lot of our institutions are set up to privilege adults over children,” Dr Quadara said.
“Even if a child discloses a peer-on-peer sexual assault, sometimes the institution itself or adults might not believe them.”
Dr Quadara said this was changing, but children remained vulnerable.
“For child sexual abuse, if we consider any sexual touching, one in three girls and one in six boys will have experienced that under the age of 16,” she said.
She said there was much discussion about how to teach children and young people what respectful relationships look like.
This involved teaching teenagers the skills to talk about sexual consent and understand its meaning.
Adults also need education about respectful relationships with young people.
“We often focus on young people as though they’ve got the problems, but there’s a lot of adults for whom sex is a taboo subject,” she said.
Dr Quadara said there was room for more discussion with boys aged eight to 11, before they reach year 7 and join high-school peer groups.
This discussion should address “the idea of what it means to be a man”.
“We don’t give boys or girls very many tools in years 5 and 6, then suddenly they hit puberty.”
NSW shadow minister for the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault, Jenny Aitchison, said education about respectful relationships must begin before year 7.
“Kids these days are going into puberty or starting to have hormonal changes at the ages of 9 and 10,” the Maitland MP said.
She said children must be taught that “if anyone is trying to touch you or make you do something that you feel uncomfortable about, you need to be able to say ‘this is my body, it’s my choice, I don’t want you to do that’.”
The values that parents and teachers pass to children at a “very young age” were important.
“It’s the messages about respecting yourself and others that are key,” she said.
The NSW Rape Crisis line is 1800 424 017 and the Kids Helpline is 1800 551 800.
Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and MensLine Australia is on 1300 789 978.
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