Sunday, January 26, 2020

The history and effects of child sexual abuse

The history and effects of child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse is definitely not a new or modern phenomenon and even though it was not necessarily acknowledged before the 1800s, it does not mean that it did not exist. Throughout history, documentation about child sexual abuse has existed, with references especially to Greek and Roman civilisations, as well as in colonial America and Europe (Bolen, 2002). Jean-Claude Chenais (1981), in a study using multiple data sources has been pivotal in the attitude changes in Western societies over the issue of child sexual abuse over the last hundred years. His studies have shown that due to a number of different contributing factors, in some European countries like Germany and France, child sexual abuse was so frequent as to be considered normal (Bagley King, 2004). As cited in Bolen (2002), in his research on classical childhood analysis of different historical eras, DeMause (1988), states that: The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only begun to awaken. The further back in history one goes, the lower the level of child care, and the more likely children are to be killed, abandoned, beaten, terrorised and sexually abused. In her research of historical child sexual abuse, Florence Rush has found that it is predominantly a phenomenon of the patriarchal systems in history, where children were considered as property of the father. In Talmudic law it is the tradition that a female daughter can be betrothed by her father by means of sexual intercourse after the age of three. Even though not encouraged, sexual acts including intercourse with a child younger than three years is not a crime. Such sexual activity with young girls was not discouraged by the Catholic Church either in history, as in a Papal decree of the sixth century stated that for a marriage to be valid it was copulating that was the overriding factor and consent only desirable. The age of the girl was taken into consideration for the purpose of betrothal where if the girl was not at least seven years old than this was considered invalid. Also, through history we find however that sexual abuse was not limited only to girls. Especially in Greece , it was popular to use boys for sex. It was also common to castrate young boys and buy or sell them as sex slaves (Bagley King, 2004). In its broad sense, child sexual abuse is when an older person forcibly engages in sexual activity with a child. The definition of the terms sexual assault on children or child molestation is different in different legal jurisdictions (Rowan, 2006). As cited in Kinnear (2007), child sexual abuse is defined by Fraser (1981) as being the exploitation of a child for the sexual gratification of an adult, whilst Baker and Duncan (1985) claim that [a] child (anyone under 16 years) is sexually abused when another person, who is sexually mature, involves the child in any activity which the other person expects to lead to their sexual arousal. In their 2003 report on the maltreatment of children, the Childrens Bureau of the US Department of Health and Human Services defines it as the involvement of the child in sexual activity to provide sexual gratification or financial benefit to the perpetrator, including contacts for sexual purpose, molestation, statutory rape, prostitution, pornography, exposure, incest, or other sexually exploitation activities (U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, 2005). The age of consent is also different from one country to another. However, it is commonly understood, that a child is not able to understand or willingly consent to sexual experiences with an older person. It is also acknowledged that there exists sexual experimentation between young people and therefore molestation charges are only enforced when the older person is sixteen or eighteen and that child is three or five years younger (Rowan, 2006). There are certain factors which categorise sexual encounters as abuse according to the World Health Organisation. As well as the age difference it also includes in the definition the misuse of a position of authority by the adult which then leads to sexual acts. The child must also be unwilling to participate in such acts even if he or she did not offer resistance. It also requires the attempt to touch the genitals or breasts of a child or make the child touch the ones of the adult. If the adult attempts to touch the child by exposing himself or if the child is undressed, made to, as well as the attempt to seduce or tempt to take to another place whilst psychology threatening the child (Fegert, 2003). Sociological definitions of child sexual abuse differ from the clinical or legal ones and whilst some are universally acknowledged some are less so even though equally important and influential (Lawrence, 2004). One of the definitions widely accepted by child protection services is that of Schechter and Roberge and it states that Sexual abuse is defined as the involvement of dependent, developmentally immature children and adolescents in sexual activities they do not truly comprehend, to which they are unable to give informed consent (Schechter Roberge, 1976). When researching child sexual abuse, it is common to associate this with the phenomology of pedophilia. When assessing and treating sex offenders however, professionals know that it is important to explore different variables that have an important role in such deviant sexual behaviour. The sexual preference and history, including any of crime or violence, are taken into consideration. Any other disorders such as endocrine or neuropsychological ones as well as any other biological factors are to be explored (Langevin, 2003). By definition, a pedophile is generally an individual who for no less than a period of six months fantasises about having sexual encounters with young children or is sexually aroused by the thoughts of such fantasies. Usually the sexual urges of such individuals are focused on children younger than thirteen years of age. Pedophiles can be frustrated from these urges and often suffer from interpersonal difficulties because of these sexual impulses. However, even i f not necessarily always the case, some pedophiles will act upon such fantasies and are usually only apprehended or brought to attention because of this. Most pedophiles are usually not necessarily disturbed enough about such fantasies about children and as a consequence do not seek voluntary medical help (Hall Hall, 2007). The key factor in the assessment of pedophilia is the age of the children for whom interest is shown. In its most strong forms, exclusivity is shown towards prepubescent children with no sexual urges or interest in other adults. Not all pedophiles however commit sexual offences with child victims and not all sex offenders with children are pedophiles (Seto, 2004). Dr Langevin (2003) noted however, that even though there seem to be a number of factors that are common between pedophile priests and other pedophiles in terms of sexual preferences, pedophile priests generally have less antisocial behaviour characteristics. In light of the huge amount of media coverage of the clergy abuse crisis in the last few years, it seems that even though much interest by the community has been sparked on the topic, little research has been carried out by psychological and clinical bodies. This may be due to a long existing mutual indifference between the Church and the mental health field. Only a few studies have actually addressed the issue of the pedophile priest or the priest who sexually abuses children. Despite the surmounting media coverage and attention of the issue providing an alarming public assumption that most priests are pedophiles, an American study estimated however that only 2% of priests are pedophiles whilst another 4% being ephebophiles. However, it is also taken into account that a probably large number of sexual abuse cases by the clergy are not reported (Plante, 1999). Michael Rezendes (2002), part of the Boston Globes Spotlight Team was one of the first journalists who brought attention to t he issue of child sexual abuse allegations against the American clergy. A year of investigations carried out by this team resulted in the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law on the 13th December, 2002. This was mainly due to the exposure of a series of shortcomings and mistakes, in his handling of a well known pedophoile in Boston; Rev John J. Geoghan, where after being reported of sexual misconduct with children, he was reassigned. However, it was clear that Geoghn was only a sign of a more serious problem. The Spotlight Team investigated further into the Archdiocese of Boston and by the time of Laws resignation, had published over 800 stories. An earlier singular case which also received worldwide publicity however dates back to 1984, where Fr Gilbert Gauthe of Lafayette, Louisiana was charged on multiple counts of child sexual abuse. This was the first criminal case of its kind to receive such level of media attention and publicity and also was the first time that a civil suit was initiated against a diocese on the grounds of failure to protect children from a known abuser in its clergy (Murphy, Buckley Joyce, 2005). Dr Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and psychiatrist as well as a former Roman Catholic Priest, wrote extensively on the subject of child sexual abuse and reports that even as early as 1976, before the big scandals broke out on the media, there opened a programme, the first, perhaps, in the world dedicated to the treatment of psychosexual disorders for clergy. This included the treatment of disorders which involved the sexual abuse of children. The need for such a programme and its preparation, years before i ts opening, shows that knowledge of Catholic Clergy who had problems of sexual misconduct was already widespread in the 1960s and 70s (Sipe, 1995). With such an increasing interest in the phenomenon of priests as sexual abusers of children, the Catholic Church seemed to be spiralling into a crisis as portrayed so by the media, with an increasing number of people coming forward with new allegations all over the world. Philip Jenkins (2001), as cited in Dokecki (2004) explores the terms of moral crisis as opposed to moral panic. In order to fully understand weather the Catholic Church was being victimised by a new panic born out of media frenzy or if the panic was due to a moral crisis deeply rooted in actual facts and reality of the problem, one must also explore the issue in its full context. It is worth noting and reflecting upon the possibility of child abuse scandal by clergy as being a classic example of social construction. This is not to belittle the seriousness of priests com mitting such lewd acts with children, but it is more a manner of asserting how the media portrayal of such events can impact the way it shapes the social response to it (Jenkins, 2001). The way that this issue in the US has been widely covered and reported by the media, it has undoubtedly generated a growing popular feeling of mistrust in the church. This might have been a trigger in the claim that the Catholic Church has been inefficient in its response to such abuses and allegations, as the increasing number of cases began to crop up all over America as well as the rest of the world. By 2004, the time of the Globes investigation of the Boston cases, it was reported that between 1950 and 2002, four thousand three hundred priests were alleged to have abused or molested almost eleven thousand children or adolescents (Paine Hansen, 2002). A study of child abuse committed by clergy which was conducted by the John Jay College for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 recorded these figures. However, this only reflects the numbers for those victims who actually reported their abuse and came forward to the Church authorities. Studies have shown that a great number of victims, especially males, never come forward to disclose their abuse to anyone and even more never report it to the authorities. It is also important to note that not all dioceses participated in this study and not all kept official and accurate records (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2002). In the matter of establishing whether the problem of child sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church is just moral crisis as opposed to just moral panic, numbers alone do not suffice. It is often normally recognised for organisations and public entities to take defensive measures when dealing with such serious accusation against its employees or members. Most importantly the defense would most certainly be targeted against a blanket condemnation of the whole organisation. Sometimes, such corporations genuinely fail to recognise and acknowledge the fact that the destructive effects of such allegations have deeper roots than simply moral panic (Dokecki, 2004). Studies of other organisations entrusted with the care of children show that the prevalence of child sexual abuse is also of concern. In his study as reported in The Washington Times (1991), Patrick Boyle outlined that between 1971 and 1989 there were one thousand, one hundred and fifty seven reports of child sexual abuse out of a million volunteers (all adults) and four million member scouts; with the majority believed to be boys aged between eleven and seventeen. Case studies also seemed to indicate that in order to safeguard the image of the Boy Scout organisation, certain information was covered up in order to prevent the possibility of a crisis scandal. The police were not involved if the alleged abuser left the organisation. However, it was common practice for these offenders to move to other states and join new troops whilst those reported to the General Headquarters still managed to bypass the system and re-roll in new States (Boyle, 1994). Other studies of different organisa tions for youths and children also show sexual abuse incidents reported. These include institutions like the Big Brother Organisation, the YMCA as well as other athletic organisations and centres for child care-giving in day care institutions or families. In sporting organisations, the perpetrators were found to be involved in the majority of cases with a school; i.e., teachers or principals who appeared to have multiple victims, with one coach reported to have four hundred counts of sexual abuse. The majority of these cases occurred in the US, the UK and Ireland. In both the sports organisations and the Big Brother one, however, it seemed that legal action was taken against the perpetrators and screening processes put in place for all future volunteers (John Jay College, 2002). As seen from the community, the sexual abuse crises in the Catholic Church presented a larger moral shock than any other abuse scandal, predominantly because of the social status priests hold within the same community. The priest is believed to be not merely a man serving the pastoral functions for his church, but also a delegate of Christ on Earth. The priest is often held in a position of trust within society; where people look upon him as a source of comfort and advice. In Catholic communities the clergy are viewed as central and present in everyday life through their work within the parish and as reference points for the safeguarding of the souls (Cozzens, . However, priests do not only function in a society as preachers of the word of God. In most cases, they will take on the role of therapists, care-givers and educators. They do not only earn their loyalty from the altar, but mainly from being there for the sick, the troubled, the dying and the dead. It is understood, because o f such an intimate involvement in social and community life, that any case of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy will have relational and social implications as well as personal ones (Frawley-ODea, 2007). According to Lebacqz (1985), from an ethical perspective, priests are professionals and as such, a relationship of mutual trust needed. The clergy however go beyond our normal understanding of their sacramental office and thus in the relationship between priest and child, the typical power discrepancy is significantly amplified. This is so because the context of the relationship is the church and also the professional is a priest and the client a child (Dokecki, 2004). From their early years children are socialised to view the Church as a mother and a priest as a fatherly figure; hence also priests being called father.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Becoming an Alpha Male

Does this sound like you? Are you the guy that women just want to be friends with? Do you have lots of women pals but not lovers? Do women try to push you around, control you or make all the decisions in your relationship? Do you wish you had the confidence and authoritative presence to be in charge of social and business situations?Do your own insecurities keep you from achieving your own potential? Do you wish your sex life was more creative, exotic and fulfilling? This is the plight of what nature calls the beta male – the lesser man.The beta male shrinks into the background and rarely exerts any type of control. He allows himself to be the fallback guy for women, to be controlled by them, and relegated only to asexual pals. He gets very little sex, and what he does get is uncreative and boring. He is not able to assert himself with women or men and has very little chance of achieving his dream in life and love. Beta males do everything in their power to try to please a wom an, but no matter how hard they try, women just push them away and push them around.Beta males are taken advantage of by their friends and by their female companions. Beta males are the â€Å"nice guys† who get caught up in the web of deceitful games that women play and end up losing out in all ways possible while their friends, the alpha males, get all the hot women and all the sex they can handle. After a while, these beta males fall out of reality and become even less attractive to women. Shake off the beta male image now! Learn how to be the alpha male! Be the first guy to get this hot new guide on how to command attention from women by learning the techniques of the alpha male!The alpha male always gets the first pick of woman because of the skills that you will learn in this exciting new guide. Be the master of sexual experiences and social opportunities beyond your wildest dreams. The alpha male gets what he wants, and that guy can be and will be you! You can and will be an alpha male. Forget what you have ever thought about relating to women as a beta male. This informative and innovative new book, Becoming an Alpha Male, will retrain you in how to be dominant, aggressive and completely irresistible to women. That beta male attitude will be gone forever!Beta males are frequently the subject of abuse by hot women. How many times have you wined and dined a woman, only to take her back to your place to find out that she doesn’t want to have an intimate relationship with you because she sees you as just a â€Å"friend†. And how many times does it seem to you that the harder you tried to please a woman, the more she regards you as a just that – a nice friend and does not want to take the relationship with you further. These situations happen because hot women have learned the benefits of preying on what they believe to be men’s motives – desiring them for sex or dating!.In many situations, beta males always cede pow er to the hot women who then become bored with being regarded as superior by these very guys. She is actually looking for the guy who will be a challenge to her. This guy will treat her as just an equal or less and be confident of his ability to attract her without resorting to giving expensive gifts, performing favors, or excessively lowering himself to win her approval. This is the behavior that she finds attractive. The guy who is able to do this exudes an inner belief that he thinks he is able to attract women, and women are attracted to this quiet self-confidence.Consequently, alphas are irresistible to women. The betas who do everything they can to win over a woman’s approval are sabotaging their own efforts, and the more they try, the more women are turned off by them. – How does one shed off the beta male image to move into the alpha male zone, or – How does one cultivate and manifest all the qualities of an alpha male that will quietly attract women, ag ainst their subconscious will and beyond their own awareness? These will be among the major challenges addressed in this book, which you will learn after going over the tips in detail.This article offers only a skeletal preview of the tactics and techniques involved. Get a complete and FREE COPY of the book now for a thorough explanation on the tips. Also, it is no myth that hot women are frequently given their power by beta males, who are willing to accept compromises and even self-abuses in order to get these women. This behavior makes hot women unusually arrogant and ready to walk over you if you are seen to be the next guy that is going after her. Thus betas find getting these women to date them to be nearly impossible.If you do not wish to settle for less, however, this book is for you. It will teach you how to re-establish the playing field, how to become the dominant party in the relationship, how to get hot women to relinquish those powers that they have been given by the be tas, and get them to instinctively surrender to you. Tips to enable you to avoid playing into a hot woman’s games, to avoid being abused by her like the betas who inadvertently became her victims, will be covered in depth in the book, as will the tips on how to lower a hot woman’s esteem and ego, or arrogance.All these will turn you from being a predator to the target and make you that much more different and harder-to-get than other men, and you can turn from being the hunter to the hunted. While betas yearn to sleep with a hot woman, but fail to get her attention, you would be able to sleep with many as you wish and make hot women accept compromises in order to be with you, if you learn how to develop the Alpha Male combination of inner self-confidence and masculine dominance that attracts women. In other words, you can even have hot women tolerate abuses and mistreatments from you, and they will still yearn to sleep with you.Therefore, this book teaches you the tips on how to move quickly through transition phase from being a beta into a hot, confident, but also dominant alpha male that attracts hot women and makes them pursue you. Maintaining their threshold of power, alpha males attract hot women to them, but do not have to accept any compromises themselves and can even have their own picks and selections of any hot women they wish. Hot women simply cannot interfere and block their decisions! Have you ever seen how easily jerks discard their choices of beautiful babes and get themselves new ones almost effortlessly?Jerks are one extreme example of males who attract with dominance and self-confidence. But alpha males can achieve the same thing without being as abusive as jerks. The similarity, however, is that by being an alpha male, you will get women, especially hot women, with success, and not get tossed over by arrogant hotties! Those days will be history pretty soon. And all these and more will be precipitated into realities, but only if you learn how to transform yourself from being a beta male today into an dominant, alpha male, which is the intended purpose for this ebook.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Effects Of Alcohol Consumption On Adult Populations...

Alcohol consumption is well entrenched in the social fabric of many adult populations across the world, virtually constituting a behavioral norm. It is cheap, legal and readily available. Regular and extensive alcohol consumption is a brain-centered addictive behavioral disorder that crosses all boundaries of gender, race, age, social class and, in many patients, might lead to alcoholic liver disease (ALD).1-3 Not only does heavy drinking significantly increases morbidity and mortality from infectious disease4, it also risks the development of brain, pancreatic, cardiovascular, oncological, cerebral and renal diseases.5 ALD signifies a series of clinical illness that range from fatty liver to hepatic inflammation and necrosis (alcoholic hepatitis) to progressive fibrosis (alcoholic cirrhosis).3 Furthermore, excessively drinking alcohol increases the chance of other liver diseases progressing, such as virus-related chronic hepatitis, increasing the threat of hepatocellular carcinoma.6-8 From the 1970’s, there was a gradual decline in ALD mortality in many countries. 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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Cleanup vs. Clean Up How to Choose the Right Word

The words cleanup and clean up are clearly related, but one is a noun describing an event, and the other is a phrasal verb, describing an action. How to Use Cleanup The noun cleanup (one word), sometimes written as clean-up, refers to an event during which some type of cleaning takes place. For example, a cleanup can refer to the tidying up of a person, place, or thing, or it can mean an exceptional financial success or a robbery and its proceeds. It can also mean the removal or stamping out of immoral influences or pockets of enemy resistance. In baseball, cleanup means the fourth position in a teams batting order, the person responsible for cleaning the field of runners by batting them home. How to Use Clean Up The two-word verb phrase clean up refers to an action: to free from dirt or clutter or bring up to a certain level sanitariness, to clear land of weeds or brush, to rid oneself of alcohol or other drug addiction, to vanquish an enemy, or to obtain a sizable profit. Examples In these examples, the word cleanup is used to signify an event or process: Paul scheduled next Saturday for spring cleanup in his garden.If the cleanup of your garage is so important, you may need to rent a dumpster.Imani made a cleanup when she sold her antique car collection.The candidate pledged that she would conduct an investigation and cleanup of the corruption in local government.The player batting cleanup tied the baseball game in the ninth inning, bringing in three runs. These examples, however, describe the action of cleaning up, rather than an event: If you really want to clean up your garage, rent a dumpster.The neighbors pitched in to clean up the abandoned lot.He decided to really clean up and quit drinking before the kids came to visit.The candidate pledged, Im going to get rid of corruption and clean up this town!The PTA hoped to clean up from the bake sale and buy new uniforms for the schools basketball teams. How to Remember the Difference The difference between cleanup and clean up has to do with whether the topic is an event or an action or process. If its an event, the words can work together as cleanup—think of a group working as a unit to get the event done. If its an action or process, clean up can take a tense: A cleanedup isnt grammatically correct, but cleaned up is. Related Grammatical Concepts Idiomatic uses of clean up include clean up ones act, and clean up after. The expression clean up ones act means to follow certain standards of behavior or improve the way one behaves; it can only be an action: The teacher told Kim she would have to clean up her act if she expected to pass the class. To clean up after (someone or something) means to remove a mess or fix problems made by something or someone else. Harold was forced to clean up after his roommate before his parents came to visit. Sources â€Å"Cleanup.†Ã‚  Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster.