restricted from moving around freely as they did earlier because of fears they may begin a sexual relationship and lose their virginity before marriage or get pregnant or get raped”. 57 This approach reinforces the attitude towards children within the family home which the Inquiry found to shift responsibility from perpetrators of sexual violence to the victim. This allows men to act with impunity by promoting the myth that they are insatiable sexual creatures who cannot control their impulses. If both teachers and parents take this approach then it is little wonder that children grow up believing sexual assault is the fault of the victim, whilst the perpetrator is not asked to face up to their own responsibility. The content of the curriculum itself is also not helpful in empowering children to live violence free lives. In order to be able to avoid, resist or report sexual violence children must have a basic level of understanding of what sex is, the notion of consent and what to do if someone touches them in an inappropriate way. The Inquiry found this is not happening in the home and neither is it happening in the schools. In the school curriculum there is no content relating to safe sex and the only references relate to sex within a marriage and promoting abstinence in all other situations. This is an ideal most would like to realise, but it is not realistic. Youth and adults have sex outside marriage in all areas of society and to ignore this fact is to contribute to the perpetuation of violence. This is because the lack of parenting and education for children on good versus bad sexual practices makes them substantially more vulnerable to sexual violence. Children are not able to identify what sexual assault is. They are led to believe that it is their fault in some way and have no channels of communication for reporting it. The absence of parenting or education derives from general beliefs and attitudes that sex is a taboo and outside of marriage, it should never even be discussed. However, this attitude, and the lack of education is directly contributing to the prevalence of sexual violence towards children (and later adults). If Samoa is serious about protecting the interests of the child then this attitude needs to change. Whilst attitudes remain a barrier to effective education of children so too does language. Talking about sex can be a sensitive topic and even if teachers or parents did want to educate their children many find it difficult. This is because there are simply no right words to do so, in a positive manner and without using crude words. “We do not talk about the abuse that happens because we do not even have the words to describe the good aspects.” Lani Wendt Young, Inquiry public hearings If the words do not exist to be able to talk about sex then children are not going to be educated and nor will they be able to report it if it does happen to them. It is therefore not only attitudes which need to change but the language around sex and sexuality which needs to evolve too. This will allow healthy 57 Ramona Boodoosingh and Penelope Schoeffel. (2015). “Addressing Violence against Women in Developing Countries: The Case of Samoa.” Document 82 Inquiry anthology.