Social construction of child sexual abuse: messages on Nigerian Facebook networks

Abstract

Child sexual abuse is one of the most serious public health problems facing society. Its coverage by the media exposes the public to  the ills as well as strategies of reducing its prevalence. Although studies have shown the use of traditional media in disseminating child sexual abuse (CSA) stories, they have neglected to examine sexual health narratives or ways through which social media construct in
constructing child sexual abuse. Paradoxically, while the views of Nigerian Facebook users were predominantly text-framed (98.6%), posts presented through multiple frames attracted more attention, evoked more reactions, comments and likes, and shared 8,494 times relative to the highest text-only frames shared 321 times. Users frame child sexual abuse as a bad thing and drove a narrative of change. Accordingly, most comments focused on advocacy (37.9%) and condemnation (32.9%) of CSA. The manifest content shows that more Nigerian Facebook users advocate for an end to child sexual abuse. This social construction of reality has implications for the development of young people’s sexual health and policy formation in Nigeria.