Sexual perverts and abuse of children

By Saher Abushaheen DURING a trip to an Asian country I visited a tourism service office outside my hotel and checked various packages offered by tour agents. The price offered by a man with long hair, red lips and prosthetic breasts attracted me. The man’s strange appearance did not prevent me from taking a ship journey with him. But later I regretted and thought I should not have gone with him. The trip went well. After some time the man got on to the ship’s second floor, which was filled with tourists from different countries. The man was wearing wet clothes and was making shameful moves. My husband and I got up with our child and went to the floor. Two Bahraini families followed us. At the same time, other tourists were clapping to encourage the man to continue his nasty acts. Sexual perverts have been found all over that country and some of them work at airports, the country’s main gateways to foreign tourists. During our talk on the issue, I asked a citizen of the country whether he would accept his son to behave like that. He answered in the affirmative and said he would not interfere in the personal affairs of his son. That Asian friend then told me that there are such perverts in Saudi Arabia as well. I told him Saudi society and the Islamic faith reject the phenomenon. Unfortunately no study has been conducted on sexual perverts in the Kingdom. We often avoid studies on such disturbing issues. A study conducted by the family safety program showed that 21 percent of children, mostly boys, in the Kingdom are subject to sexual abuse. One out of 15 children is forced to watch porn videos while one out of 40 children is photographed to sexually exploit them. I am sure some of these children would become perverts in the future, although the study did not focus on this factor. Exposition to abnormal sexual practices in early ages will leave a negative impact on children and influence their sexual pursuits when they grow up. The duration of sexual exploitation they suffered would mold children’s behavior, if they are not given proper psychological treatment and care. Any delay in providing such treatments would be detrimental. It’s alarming that 21 percent of our children are sexually molested. It accounts for 1.28 million Saudi children from a total of six million aged below 14, according to official figures provided by the General Authority of Statistics in 2016. Protecting children and providing them with basic sexual education are the duty of parents. We should know that close relatives are the main culprits in sexually abusing children. Parents should not leave their children with such abusers, including cousins whose age may not exceed 12. Parents who travel alone to foreign countries to enjoy their vacation should make sure their children are safe from abusers. They should also follow closely the life of our children, whom they befriend with, where they spend their days and nights outside homes and what they watch on television, the Internet and other electronic devices and this will help save them from sexual abuse and becoming perverts.