“This isn’t something that has affected me, and it never will affect me or the people around me,” a doubter might say. People are lulled into a false sense of security, denial or some combination of both. It is an issue that affects more people than imaginable across all economic, social and racial divides. Unequivocally, I can say to whoever is reading these words: You know someone who was sexually abused as a child. Maybe it is your boss, your academic adviser, your aunt, your dad, your sibling, your best friend, your significant other or you.

Nationally, one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, according to a 2006 adult retrospective study performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To extrapolate, this means about 5,600 female students at MSU and about 3,700 male students at MSU were victims of sexual abuse before they even stepped foot on campus. Our society perceives that the rape of adults is a crime of great proportion and significance, but in reality, about 70 percent of all reported sexual assaults occur to children under the age of 17, according to d2l.org, a website dedicated to ending child abuse.

We live in a hyperpolarized time where anything and everything has a political bend. Science is for liberals, faith is for conservatives, pro-choice abortion policies are for democrats, pro-life policies are for republicans, liberals like windmills and solar panels and conservatives like oil wells and coal mines. The divisiveness of the rhetorical barbs and bombs traded between the two sides is toxic.

We have a unique opportunity here in Michigan to come together on a level that transcends the constantly radicalizing gap between right and left by embracing the wide-scale prevention of child sexual abuse. Senate Bill 1112-1114, commonly known as Erin’s Law, was introduced by two Republican state senators and one Democratic state senator at the beginning of this month.

Erin’s Law is named after a survivor of child sexual abuse in Illinois who has worked toward advocating the prevention of child sexual abuse throughout the nation. Upon adoption, it would create a onetime Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children, comprised of state officials, experts and legislators who would compile recommendations on changes to Michigan laws. Additionally, school boards would be required to formulate, adopt and implement policies that specifically address child sexual abuse.

These policies would look like an age-appropriate curriculum that informs students of the realities and dangers of child sexual abuse, school personnel training on child sexual abuse and more effective means of informing parents on the warning signs of abuse. The current idea of teaching “stranger danger” practically is a punch line. How many of us have seen the image on the Internet of that creepy, windowless van that reads “Free Candy” on the side? Is that oddly comedic model really an accurate depiction of who is perpetrating children?

In reality, only 5 percent of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by a true stranger — someone the child or child’s family does not know. About 39 percent of all assaults on children are perpetrated by family members. The remaining 56 percent of sexual abuse is perpetrated by individuals who have a relationship with the victim or victim’s family, according to d2l.org.

Why is a school-based approach of widespread education necessary for this topic? Being a victim of this type of abuse at any age can be confusing, shameful and infuriating, among hundreds of possible feelings. How are elementary-aged children expected to recognize the signs of possible “grooming” tendencies by a potential abuser?

Erin Merryn, the woman after whom Erin’s Law is named, says it better than I ever could: If children are taught tornado drills, fire drills, stranger danger and drugs, why aren’t they taught about sexual abuse?

“When I was sexually abused, I listened to the only message I was being given — and that came from my abusers to stay silent. Educating kids on sexual abuse prevention in schools is the best way to empower kids to tell so abuse won’t go on for years the way it did for me. My voice was silenced. I am on a mission to make sure no other child has their voice silenced and innocence stolen the way mine was.”

Take five minutes to contact your state representatives to urge the passage of SB 1112-1114.

Bobby Busley is a guest columnist at The State News. Reach him at busleyro@msu.edu.