Men’s Emic Perspectives on Factors Contributing to Child Sexual Abuse Vulnerability on the Islands of Western Kenya

ABSTRACT

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major global health concern. Although it is prevalent in Kenya, there is scant literature on what factors contribute to CSA vulnerability on Kenya’s islands. This paper is based on a cross-sectional study of men’s perspectives on factors contributing to CSA vulnerability on Kenya’s islands. This qualitative study, therefore, focused on opinion leaders, children’s officers, male community members, and boat owners from selected islands (Mageta, Magare, Oyamo and Ndeda) in western Kenya. Several factors emerged as contributing to CSA vulnerability on the islands: social stigmatisation and cultural sensitivity of CSA, proximity to social services, unrestricted migration, perceptions of legal costs, lack of committed witnesses, and commodification of sex for economic survival. This article recommends a local, targeted campaign for these fishing communities that promotes common goals, such as a safe and healthy environment for children, and working together to achieve these goals. Such a campaign has the potential to bring together a community to fight CSA and to increase its bargaining power to reduce CSA vulnerability. When a community does not agree on shared principles and expectations, deviant behaviour such as CSA has room to flourish, because community members cannot effectively organise themselves against it. It is hoped that the findings in this article might contribute some key insights on vulnerability experienced in remote areas that might be used by policymakers.

KEYWORDS:

• child sexual abuse
• poverty
• fishing communities
• emic perspectives
• Lake Victoria
• vulnerability
• western Kenya

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the island dwellers of Lake Victoria, western Kenya, for their invaluable contribution towards the development of this work. I also like to thank my main research assistant, Joram Ochieng, for his assistance during the study. I am also indebted to Prof. Erick Otieno Nyambedha and Dr. Salome A. Bukachi for their comments and guidance during my fieldwork.

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest was declared by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Stephen Okumu Ombere

Dr Stephen Okumu Ombere is a lecturer in the department of sociology and anthropology, Maseno University, Kenya. His research interests are in social protection, HIV/AIDS, culture, and sexuality. He completed his doctorate in social anthropology at the University of Bern, Switzerland.