Sexual abuse reports emerge at school academies, boarding schools
Readers seeing the words “grooming behaviors” might typically have no particular reaction to them at all, simply viewing them in the commonplace vein of actions taken to render oneself presentable in public. We clean, we comb … we groom.
Given that this is a blog focused on advocacy for sexual abuse victims in California, though, it is quite likely that many of our readers coming across a reference to grooming immediately put it into a different — and sinister — perspective. Grooming is a term often used to denote the manipulative behavior of adult predators to gain the trust of young victims.
And, to that extent that works, it often takes time, meaning that the adult is frequently in a position allowing for a sustained and long-term relationship with a child or older adolescent.
That often translates to something like a mentor, coach or clergy member.
And, of course (and perhaps most centrally), a teacher.
Sexual abuse acts committed against children by teachers are at once a pernicious and galling evil. The act alone, of course (and, often, the series of acts) is illegal and unforgivable, but it can also seem to be especially horrific because of the preying behavior that often precedes it and is aimed at procuring the trust of an innocent juvenile.
School-related sexual abuse involving teachers is prominent subject matter in national media outlets these days, fueled especially by ongoing revelations concerning long-hidden crimes that have been committed in private schools and academies.
We will explore that subject matter a bit more closely in our next post.
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