Preventing sexual violence against children is a deeply serious topic and yet it continues to be treated with some superficiality. We were shocked by the statistics and demanded harsher sentences for perpetrators, focusing only on punishment – not prevention. We keep hearing that “you shouldn’t talk about this with children”, because it can scare or traumatize them. The misconception persists that preventing sexual violence means talking about gender or sex ideology, explicitly.
Every year, the available data reveal a growing incidence of sexual crimes against children of both sexes and of all ages. In Portugal, the most affected age group is between 8 and 13 years old, but cases involving babies and preschool children are also increasing.
No digital worldthe known reality is terrifying. According to Internet Watch Foundationin 2024 424,047 pages were identified web with sexual content involving children — an increase of 8% compared to the previous year. Of this content, 29% belong to category A, that is, they involve sexual penetration, acts with animals or sadistic behavior. This means that thousands of children are penetrated (orally, anally or vaginally), involved in acts with animals (a topic almost never discussed), or subjected to physical attacks, burns, strangulation, whipping or torture.
The ages of these children are equally shocking: the majority of victims are between 7 and 10 years old, totaling almost 229 thousand children; followed by the age group from 11 to 13 years old, with around 218 thousand; between 3 and 6 years old there were more than 101 thousand; and, in 2024 alone, more than 13 thousand children aged between 0 and 2 years old were identified in these files.
These children are not virtual. They exist – or existed – in a real time and place. They are flesh and blood. They feel physical and emotional pain. They cry and scream in many of these videos and images, which, for some attackers, generates greater sexual excitement.
No one can remain indifferent to this data. There is no point in pretending that nothing is happening, nor in believing that everything happens “far away”. It happens here. In Portugal. In our city. In our neighborhood. So many times, in our house.
That’s why we need to look at this phenomenon with the seriousness it demands. It is not enough to take specific actions in April, the month for the prevention of abuse. Or in November, because the convention on the rights of the child is celebrated. It is also not enough to put up posters in schools or community centers, make clotheslines about human rights or human bonds.
We need a effective preventive strategyaligned with the main international guidelines, which includes strengthening legislation and sanctions against crimes involving children, increasing corporate responsibility (through the creation of ethical codes of conduct, verifying age when accessing and providing accessible reporting channels), as well as promoting greater international cooperation. At a local level, it is urgent to invest in training of professionals from different areas and implement primary prevention programs that are systemic, continuous over time and based on scientific evidence.
Other countries have been working in this area for decades, and the studies are clear: sexual violence prevention programs, implemented in an educational context, involving families, with various sessions and participatory activities, and from pre-school age, have a positive impact on children’s knowledge and protection skills.
Given all this, I ask: Why do we continue, in Portugal, to play house? In other words, pretending that we are preventing it?
Clinical and forensic psychologist, family and couples therapist