| "If you have
been sexually abused, you are not alone. One
out of three girls, and one out of seven boys,
are sexually abused by the time they reach the
age of eighteen." (Bass and Davis, 1988,
p. 20) The traditional definition of incest
is sexual intercourse between blood relatives:
it is illegal to marry because of such a close
relationship.
There is now an evolving definition of incest
that takes into consideration the betrayal of
trust and the power imbalance in these one-sided
relationships. One such definition is: "the
imposition of sexually inappropriate acts, or
acts with sexual overtones ... by one or more
persons who derive authority through ongoing
emotional bonding with that child." (Blume,
1990, p. 4) This definition expands the traditional
definition of incest to include sexual abuse
by anyone who has authority or power over the
child. This definition of incest includes as
perpetrators: immediate/extended family members,
babysitters, school teachers, scout masters,
priests/ministers, etc. "Incest between
an adult and a related child or adolescent is
now recognized as the most prevalent form of
child sexual abuse and as one with great potential
for damage to the child". (Courtois, 1988,
p. 12)
With the increase in the divorce rates, more
children are at greater risk than ever. Women,
in their attempts to find a mate, may unwittingly
be putting their children at greater risk for
sexual abuse from the men they date. If the
mother remarries, according to a survey done
by Russell, the "stepdaughters are over
eight times more at risk of sexual abuse by
the stepfathers who reared them than are daughters
reared by their biological fathers." (Russell,
1986, p. 103) "As some researchers have
begun to suspect, it may be the case that a
growing number of stepfathers are really 'smart
pedophiles', men who marry divorced or single
women with families as a way of getting close
to children." (Crewdson, 1988, p. 31)
In the Finkelhor study, "Boys' experiences
are somewhat different from girls'. They are
primarily homosexual (experiences), and they
less often involve family members. However,
boys do seem to be victims of force and coercion
just as often as girls. Both girls and boys
report that in over half the incidents some
form of coercion was used." (Finkelhor,
1979, p. 143)
According to Diane Russell (The Secret Trauma)
and David Finkelhor (Child Sexual Abuse) 95%
of the perpetrators of girls are men and 80%
of the perpetrators of boys are men. (Bass and
Davis, 1988, p. 96) This may be the major reason
why talking about incest is a bigger taboo than
incest itself! Who hold the power in our society?
Men. The majority of judges, police, prosecutors
and others responsible for protection and enforcement
are men.
Freud, in 1896, was the first to recognize
the connection between adult survivors' mental
health problems and their past histories of
child sexual abuse, thus explaining the problem
of hysteria. This led to his seduction theory.
After much uproar by his contemporaries (many
of whom were implicated as perpetrators), Freud
denounced the seduction theory and replaced
it with the oedipal theory. The oedipal theory
viewed incestuous accounts by victims as mere
sexual fantasies. (Russell, 1986, p. 4-6)
The largest number of incest cases from the
population at large comes from the Kinsey studies
in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Even though
the women in his studies said that their experiences
of childhood sexual abuse was traumatic, "Kinsey
cavalierly belittled these reports. He hastened
to assure the public that children should not
be upset by these experiences. If they were,
this was the fault not of the sexual aggressor,
but the prudish parents and teachers who caused
the child to become 'hysterical' ... By contrast,
this group (the Kinsey group) demonstrated a
keen sensitivity toward the adult offender ...
Ignoring issues of dominance and power, they
took a position that amounted to little more
than advocacy of greater sexual license for
men ... The public, in the judgement of these
men, was not ready to hear about incest."
(Herman, 1981, p. 16-18)
In the 1970s, the incest issue was once again
brought forth, this time by women themselves.
It was during the explosion of the women's liberation
movement that subjects like rape, wife- battering,
and sexual abuse of children were brought to
the front. In 1979, Diana Russell interviewed
"more than nine hundred randomly chosen
San Francisco women about their childhood sexual
experiences ... she found that 38% of those
questioned ... had been sexually abused by an
adult relative, acquaintance, or stranger before
reaching the age of eighteen." (Crewdson,
1988, p. 25) There were some flaws to her methodology
but not enough to dismiss her study as worthless.
Bud Lewis of the Los Angeles Times conducted
a poll in July, 1985 to determine the extent
of sexual abuse. He sampled 2,627 men and women
from every state in the union. The results showed
that "27% of the women and 16% of the men,
said they had been sexually abused as children
... applied to the current population, it meant
that nearly thirty-eight million adults had
been sexually abused as children." (Crewdson,
1988, p. 27-28)
"Approximately 40% of all victims/survivors
suffer aftereffects serious enough to require
therapy in adulthood. (Browne and Finkelhor,
1986)." (Courtois, 1988, p.6) Some of the
aftereffects can include: inability to trust
(which effects the therapeutic relationship),
fear of intimacy, depression, suicidal ideation
and other self-destructive behaviors, and low
self-esteem, guilt, anger, isolation and alienation
from others, drug and alcohol dependency, and
eating disorders.
"Briere questions the use of psychiatric
labels (for victims of sexual abuse). He suggests
instead that the psychological disturbances
experienced by survivors of sexual abuse be
considered post-sexual-abuse trauma. This term
refers to symptomatic behaviors that were initially
adaptive, but that over time have become `contextually
inappropriate components of the victim's adult
personality'." (Gil, 1988, p. 28) This
view gets away from stigmatizing and blaming
the victim. The person responsible for inflicting
the trauma is to blame - the perpetrator. Children
are never responsible for their sexual abuse,
adults are the ones responsible. At the turn
of the century, Freud labeled victims of sexual
abuse (predominately women) "Hysteric".
For the next 70 to 80 years society has labeled
these victims as "mentally ill". It
is now understood that survivors of sexual abuse
are actually suffering from the aftereffects
of the trauma.
Traditionally, sexual abuse of children was
considered either incest or pedophilia. Now,
it is viewed as being on a continuum. While
some incestuous men have sex only with their
own children, according to one study (Abel,
1983), "at least 44%, abuse children outside
the home during the time they are having sexual
contact with their own children," and other
men have sex with children they aren't related
to. Characteristics that offenders have in common
are: "dependent, inadequate individuals
with early family histories characterized by
conflict, disruption, abandonment, abuse and
exploitation." (Encyclopedia of Social
Work, 1987, p. 256) Not all offenders are men.
While some offenders were sexually abused as
children, they still need to be held accountable
for their abuse of children and receive sex
offender treatment. Unfortunately, court action
may be the only way to assure offenders' participation
in treatment programs.
The social work profession is dedicated to
the values of human dignity, personal autonomy,
self-realization and self- determination. These
are the very areas that victims are the most
severely damaged.
In order to be effective in identifying and
treating victims of child sexual abuse, the
social worker needs to be knowledgeable about
the characteristics, aftereffects, and treatment
strategies relevant to this issue. Intervention
activities should ideally include the victim,
the "silent partner", and the perpetrator.
Intervention activities may include referral
to appropriate individual and/or family counseling
services, securing emergency shelter if necessary,
referral to medical and legal services, and
advocacy for clients. Because it is a very complex
issue, the social worker needs to be able to
coordinate an array of community services.
In the area of prevention, the social worker
can provide education to the community and work
with citizens groups for legislation to address
child sexual abuse. Educating the child to say
"no!" is not enough. "Finally,
the responsibility we all bear to protect the
defenseless falls on the shoulders of the recovering
incest survivor as well. She (he) must face
the reality that she (he) holds information
whose withholding keeps others at risk. No perpetrator
stops on his (her) own. In breaking the secret,
she (he) has finally, the power to break the
chain." (Blume, 1990, p. 72-73)
Bibliography
Bass, Ellen and Laura Davis. 1988. The Courage
to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child
Sexual Abuse. Harper & Row, Publishers,
New York, NY
Blume, E. Sue. 1990. Secret Survivors: Uncovering
Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women. John Wiley
and Sons, New York, NY
Courtois, Christine A. 1988. Healing the Incest
Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy. W.W. Norton
& Company, New York, NY
Crewdson, John. 1988. By Silence Betrayed:
Sexual Abuse of Children in America. Harper
& Row, Publishers, New York, NY
Finkelhor, David. 1979. Sexually Victimized
Children. The Free Press - a division of Macmillan
Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY
Encyclopedia of Social Work - Eighteenth Edition.
1987. NASW, Silver Spring, MD
Gil, Eliana. 1988. Treatment of Adult Survivors
of Childhood Abuse. Launch Press, Walnut Creek,
CA
Herman, Judith Lewis. 1981. Father - Daughter
Incest. Harvard University Press, Cambridge,
MA
Kroll, Paul. "A Conspiracy of Silence:
Sexual Abuse of Children" in The Plain
Truth, July 1990, pgs. 16-20.
Russell, Diana E. 1986. The Secret Trauma:
Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women. Basic
Books, Inc. Publishers, New York, NY
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