Two local psychology professionals spoke Wednesday about the recent arrest of a 35-year-old teacher charged with having a sexual relationship with her 14-year-old male student.
    Amy Bass Jackson is charged with several sex offenses including aggravated child molestation after parents of a 14-year-old male student told deputies she had sex with their son.
    Speaking in a general sense, both Dr. Theresa Yancey, assistant professor of psychology at Georgia Southern University, and Dr. Steve Chester, a licensed psychologist who practices in Statesboro, said sexual predators often “groom” a victim, sometimes for months, before taking advantage.
    In most cases, a sexual predator will target a child he or she knows.
    “It’s easier for them to find a victim and get children to be more compliant,” Yancey said.
    “Grooming” is a term that describes an intentional effort to gain a child’s – and sometimes his or her parents or guardians – trust and confidence, she said. Methods used are “being friendly, asking favors, borderline touching such as tickling – it’s a slow process built up through repeated contact,” Yancey said.
    Predators use “trust, intimidation and fear,” Chester said. Often a predator will reward or threaten a child to get what he or she wants. Promises of better grades, or using power in ways that would entice a child to be compliant in exchange for rewards are often methods used. Sometimes an abuser will make threats to hurt family members or talk about how parents would blame the victim if the abuse was discovered, he said.
    “It’s a desensitization,” he said.
    Talking after class, praise, flattery, gradual buildup to giving gifts and asking the victim to keep it secret because parents or others would not understand “comfort” touching and rewards and incentives, he said.
    Some grooming behaviors are done to try to get the potential victim interested in the offender or to see how the potential victim may react if a sexual advance is made. Grooming leads up to the actual offense and can also involve threats, bribes, or coercive acts.
    Even when the victim is older, such as in his or her teens, the adult offender knows better than to abuse that authority. And although the victim may be a teenager, “they are still children, and their cognitive abilities are not that of an adult,” Yancey said. “At that age they are old enough to know they should tell an adult, but … they are also finding out who they are and are more independent.”
    Chester said an abuser may play upon a teen’s rebellion against parental control and persuade the victim they understand them better than parents do.
    Ultimately, preying upon a child victim that has been groomed is a betrayal of trust. The actual victim is not the only one affected by the incident either, he said.
    There will be trust issues between parents, students and the school system following the recent incident, he said. But, “these things happen” no matter how well schools work towards keeping their students safe.
    The recent arrest of a well-loved and respected teacher will likely cause confusion, anxiety in students already plagued with anxiety, and could trigger emotions in those who have been victims of sexual abuse in the past, he said.
    Bulloch County School Superintendent Dr. Lewis Holloway said counseling will be available to any students needing guidance in response to the incident.
    Yancey said five percent of reported sexual attacks on children involve female offenders. While some may view female-on-male molestation differently than an incident involving a male offender and female victim, “The outcome for the male victim tends to be the same (as for a female victim),” she said. “We see some of the same (reactionary) patterns in boy (victims).”
    It is less frowned upon for boys to be sexually active, and a male victim of sexual abuse is often “treated differently in society,” she said.
    “I don’t perceive it as any different,” Chester said. “Generally speaking, male offenders get more air play. It seems you … get more information about males than you do females.”
    That could be because fewer victims of female abusers report the incidents, he said.
     “The perception is men are stronger and able to get away with this kind of behavior.”
    A new program for child victims of sexual abuse and their non-offending parents will soon be available at Georgia Southern, Yancey said.
    Project SAFE at Southern is free through the GSU doctoral program and lasts 12 weeks. For more information interested parties can contact Yancey at (912) 478-5704.

 Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.