Thanks to the individuals who contacted me since the last blog posting. While that blog focused on sexual victimization in summer camp settings, readers informed me that sexual humiliation likewise occurs, events that do not involve any physical contact but can be just as traumatic. One mother, for example, told me that her son left camp traumatized when his bunkmates tormented him and spread stories throughout the camp population about his perceived inadequacy in penis size.
Peg Smith, the CEO of the American Camp Association (ACA), also contacted me. She was understandably upset that I had depicted the organization so disparagingly when it has a century-long history of promoting the best interests of youth. Therefore I want to set the record straight. I was a camp director for many years, and the ACA's standards were a starting foundation for camp safety. While I was dissatisfied with the ACA's decision to overlook my concern about sexual victimization in camps, my previous blog was not meant to disparage the organization and its goals in their entirety.
I applaud the ACA for not going into spin mode now that this issue has been made public, and, since my posting two weeks ago, its CEO has informed me, "we are absolutely in agreement that this is a terribly important issue and one that demands significant attention from our organization and camping professionals alike, just as it separately demands significant attention from all youth organizations. One incident (even with 10 million children at camps each year) is one too many."
The feedback I've received since posting further supports my contention that sexual victimization is an occurrence in camps. Thus camps must be held responsible for the sexual safety of their participants, and this will assuredly come about through a combination of parental demands and a "call to action" from the ACA. We have only scratched the surface of the true extent of sexual victimization at camp, and as we examine the problem we will have a much better grasp of its scope and severity. While sexual victimization in camps is undoubted, the majority of children will not have this experience. Indeed, most will have a positive camp experience. The problem is ascertaining which camps are proactively implementing meaningful protections. I assure you as someone who has worked in camps for more than two decades that not all camps are alike in these practices.
