Psychiatrist: don’t hide problem of sex crimes
With the recent arrest of a high school guidance counsellor on charges of raping a fourteen year old female student, the public has been forced to face questions that in the past have often remained hidden; issues like sex between students and teachers, teenaged prostitution and the under-reporting of rape and child molestation. From numerous conversations with educators and students, it appears that the level of sexual assaults– particularly in schools–is far greater than commonly acknowledged. And while no school principal would talk about the problem on camera, one health care professional had no such qualms. Dr. Claudina Cayetano, is one of the few psychiatrists working in Belize, and in her many years of practice she’s counselled more than her share of rape victims.
Claudina Cayetano, Psychiatrist
“Being raped, it’s very humiliating for a woman when that happens. It puts you in a situation where you’re full of fear, where you’re full of paranoia, where you feel powerless and embarrassed. And then eventually these people can develop a certain disorders, maybe anxiety disorder or a post traumatic stress disorders, and they may even have difficulties developing relationships. So that’s very traumatic, so counselling is for that particular thing, to help them to be able to… from a victim position to become a survivor.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Dr. Cayetano what are the warning signs of somebody who might commit rape or sexual abuse?”
Claudina Cayetano
“Certain teachers who have this arrogance about them, who have the attitude where they’re looking at women as a sexual object just for their own sexual gratification. They’re unable to develop empathy, to develop a proper relationship with them. And they also have this aggressiveness about them, especially when they’re relating to women.
It’s good to be aware that boys are also vulnerable, girls are also vulnerable. Yes we see more girls than boys, but when you’re looking at children who come from an emotionally deprived house, they seek. Sometimes because they’re attention seekers this attention is misinterpreted as sexual attention. And so they put themselves in vulnerable situations, and then most of the times they’re also shy, they are also smaller physically. Because you find that when you look at rape situations, the rapist or the perpetrator tends to be a person who is bigger even in size and they are looking for a victim that is smaller because it’s about power. They want to overpower that person, so the person is powerless, they can’t do much about fighting them.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“What can the academic community do to help to stave off these acts?”
Claudina Cayetano
“It’s very important that the teachers too are aware of the situation. And not only aware, but they can be open about them, they can be honest about them. Because most of the times what happen is that there is a community where it’s close, it’s a close community where these issues are not being talked about in an open manner. So an advice would be that they get together, they need to talk about these things, they need to be aware about that and address them properly. Because if they are not being address, how can you then be able to attempt to solve them? So it’s very important that they talk about them, they develop policies and that there is a monitoring system for that policy. So at the high school level, you want to continue people learning that they have rights, the students have rights, not because the teacher is a teacher and is in a power position that they have to be submissive to them. If they know that the school will address this issue they feel more comfortable to go to the school, to go to the principal because they know that they will be supported, they will not be penalised.”
Dr. Cayetano says given the number of rapes being committed, we need a treatment centre to help sexual predators deal with their criminal tendencies, once they have been dealt with by the law.
