Today, victims need to hear the truth. This requires us all to highlight publicly the true dynamics of sexual abuse—to expose the painful reality that most victims care for and trust the perpetrator (before, and sometimes during and after, they are abused), that they do not really understand the nature of what is being asked of them, that they feel they are receiving love and attention, that it does not hurt and sometimes feels good, and that, for all these reasons, participation is common.

Once exposed to the truth about how victims feel and behave during sexual abuse, victims need to hear, loudly and clearly, why they were not at fault. We cannot accomplish this with platitudes or blanket statements like "You were not to blame" or "It was done against your will." They consented not because they were forced to but because they did not understand enough not to. And victims need to know that this is normal. Although they made an error of judgment—ideally they should have said no; they should have resisted—we must reassure victims that given their age and level of cognitive and physical development, this error of judgment was understandable.

In short, in order to help victims feel less stigmatized in the aftermath of sexual abuse, we must all communicate that they were helpless victims—not, as the trauma model portrays them, literally helpless but metaphorically helpless, victims of their own level of development.

This information needs to be highlighted in the form of prevention campaigns, books, websites, and other culturally accessible outlets. Until that happens, victims will continue to feel alone, guilty, and ashamed.

Professionals may fear that raising attention to children's participation in abuse will elicit in others a tendency to condemn victims, but I think we better get past this. Victims are already condemning themselves. Here is the tragic paradox. If the victim's cognitive interpretation of the event guides the process of psychological adaptation after sexual abuse, then the trauma theory is not only wrong but actually backwards. The less traumatic sexual abuse was when it happened, the more betrayal, guilt, isolation, and shame victims will feel and the more psychological distress and dysfunction they may experience in the aftermath. And because it is backwards, the trauma model is not just failing to help victims; it is actually causing some of the harm it was supposed explain by simultaneously exacerbating the victim's damaging beliefs ("It was my fault," "I am alone," "There is something wrong with me") and suppressing the information that would neutralize them.

From the book The Trauma Myth: The Truth About the Sexual Abuse of Children and Its Aftermath by Susan A. Clancy. Copyright © 2009 by Susan A. Clancy. Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Book Group. Tell us what you think about this article by e-mail at letters@psychnetworker.org, or at www.psychotherapynetworker.org. Log in and you'll find the comment section on every page of the online Magazine section.

Only registered users can write comments!

Read comments

SD1  - "The Trauma Myth" and terminology   |Registered |2010-07-13 06:33:13 Framing sexual abuse as either traumatic or not traumatic seems to simplify a complex range of experiences. Nevertheless, the article's discussion is fruitful. I do question the use of some terms, and suggest that more of a distinction be made between how the adult survivor views his or her behavior and what the nature of that behavior actually was. Specifically, the word "participate," like "consent," may tend to misrepresent the child's attitude and autonomy in relation to what is being done to him or her--isn't the nature of the injury to the adult recalling the experience that s/he "participated"?, which is a false construct. And I question the characterization of the child's behavior as showing an “error” in judgment. This suggests that a reasoned evaluation was followed by a faulty conclusion of how to act--and that, had better, more adult, judgment been used, the child might have been capa... stopchildabuse  - reply to "The Trauma Myth" article   |Registered |2010-06-04 17:49:25 In reply to "The Trauma Myth - Understanding the true dynamics of sexual abuse" by Susan Clancy, Clancy makes several large mistakes when she discusses the trauma phenomenon. Child sexual abuse is indeed traumatic, when it occurs as well as afterwards. The large ACE study (at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/ACE/findings.htm and http://www.cbwhit.com/ACEstudy.htm) clearly shows the strong detrimental effects child sexual abuse has on its victims. In her study with McNally (WHO NEEDS REPRESSION? Normal Memory Processes Can Explain Forgetting" of Childhood Sexual Abuse) the average trauma rating was 7.5 out of 10, with 10 being "extremely traumatic" for child sexual abuse crimes. In other words, even her own study showed child sexual abuse to be traumatic. This study stated "All 27 subjects (100%) reported multiple adverse effects from the abuse." In the book review "Susan Clancy discusses her co...

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."