Power and Domination in the Lives of Children
In world news, this story published in BBC news in May of 2008 tells a horrifying story of children in post-conflict areas that were being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid-workers. The Save the Children charity, which has researched in areas like the Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, say that they have a policy of zero-tolerance to child sexual abuse, but it was clearly not taken seriously. Girls as young as six years old were being forced to partake in sexual acts with men that they thought were suppose to help them.
Theorists Max Weber discusses theories of power and domination and the idea of being forced to do things that maybe otherwise we don’t want to. Domination and power are shown in this news event as being greatly misused. First off, these children we’re expecting these men to help them, not hurt them. So, it says a great deal about the authority that the children saw in these men even before this incident. They probably trusted these men to protect them. There are many news stories everyday about the abuse that children receive from people who seem to be the most trusted in their lives. These stories show how power and domination can often be a bad thing if it is used in the wrong sense. Second, many of the little girls involved in this incident perhaps haven’t even learned about the brutal acts forced upon them. These men used their power against these girls and forced them to give up the free will they didn’t even know they had. Elizabeth (13), who was gang raped in a field near Ivory Coast, states, “I tried to escape but there were ten of them and I could do nothing”. Although she was one who did know that the acts were wrong, I’m sure that the little 6-year-old girls had no idea about the pain they were about to endure.
Theorist Talcott Parsons discusses how society has a strong tendency to define women as dependent on a man. For many years, America has created sex roles in the kinship system, placing certain roles on a man and woman. I relate this theory to this news event because many times people perceive dependency as powerless (you depend on someone thus that person holds some sort of power over you). This situation with the little girls are once again showing how there is a tendency to define women as dependent on a man, giving men the idea that they have overall control. When often times, that is not true. Those little girls also become seen as “others” to the men in a sense that the men treat them as sexual objects without looking at them as human beings.
After much research, the charity agreed that better reporting mechanisms needed to be implemented and a greater effort should be made to strengthen the worldwide child protective systems. As much as I agree with the efforts to strengthen protective systems, I think that much of the issues around child abuse have a lot to do with society and the way that people are placed in terms of power and domination. A well-grown man should be aware that they have a lot of power over a child in some ways, but that does not mean he needs to abuse that power. I’m sure that people have various reasons of why they abuse a child, but overall, it just isn’t right and no reason is a valid reason.
Talcott Parsons- “Action Systems and Social Systems” (1961-1971)
Max Weber- “The Types of Legitimate Domination” (1909-1920)
