Times Of Swaziland: UNDERAGE VICTIMS VS THREAT OF SEXUAL PREDATORS

UNDERAGE VICTIMS VS THREAT OF SEXUAL PREDATORS
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Runsford Laryea on 08/04/2025 08:39:00


Among many others, one of our responsibilities as adults lies in ensuring safe,
well-protected and secure physical and psycho-emotional environments in which
younger members of our families and communities are meant to find genuine
comfort, solid solace as well as a generally positive space where they can grow.
However, recent times are proving that we (as caregivers) are somewhat failing
our young people in this regard, and because of that, we have ‘left the door
wide open’ and our children vulnerable to the advances of individuals whose
intentions are otherwise.
Astounding
The rise in number of sexual violation cases against minors (alone) is quite
astounding; and recently, these numbers seem to have spiked which only
emphasises the depth of danger minors these days find themselves in, simply by
just being young. As if this was not shocking enough, the layer of irony is
added by the fact that a large percentage of these crimes are committed by
individuals who are meant to be in a position to protect these young people, but
instead choose to inexplicably manipulate, coerce and eventually violate them.
The nature of sexual predators is one that, personally, I find (really) complex
to comprehend or to make sense of and because of their complicated psychological
nature, it would be difficult to fit an explanation in one article such as this.
From a psychological perspective, individuals who tend to engage in behaviours
such as forming sexual relationships and preying on young innocent souls for
their own pleasure tend to have a background in that sort of thing.
Survivor
By ‘background’ we mean that, there is a very high likelihood that
particular individual may have been a survivor of similar acts or they may have
witnessed it from an early age and assumed it to be a great model to follow.
This is obviously a misconstrued idea and because it may have not been corrected
earlier in the individual’s life, it tends to grow (and grow) as does the
individual, while manifesting in a series of inappropriate behaviours.
Also, since large fractions of these cases involve adult males and young,
underage females, we cannot rule out the idea that a ‘relationship’ between
these two can only be based on the older individual targeting, taking advantage
of and psycho-emotionally manipulating the younger, less knowledgeable female
into agreeing to things she may not be entirely willing to do. This is sometimes
even made possible via the use of physical aggression, acts of physical violence
as well as other techniques the perpetrator uses to keep the minor in ‘mental
bondage’ for their own purposes.
Raises
It is a pretty serious issue when you think about it especially when you
consider how these predators target minors as young as toddlers as this raises
questions about our sisters and daughters’ safety in our homes and
communities. It also represents a disastrous depiction of us male figures (from
sons, brothers to ‘bomalume’) in our neighbourhoods because they have since
gone from sources of provision and physical protection to images of a threat and
uncertainty.
Therefore, the rifeness of crimes such as these means we have to learn and adapt
to becoming more of a vigilant society whose aim should be to always safeguard
the presence and environments in which our minors (both males and females) spent
most of their time in.
This includes being aware of your child’s whereabouts, where (and with whom)
they hang out as well as exercising caution when it comes to who spends time
around your young children. Also of importance is keeping an eye out for any
changes in behaviour, especially ones a child will try to hide as it is those
that usually tell a story.
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