Menstuff® has compiled information, books and resources on the
issue of incest and molestation.
Discussion
Are Gays Abusing
Children?
Resources
Publications
Journals
- on Child, Emotional, Religious, and Sexual Abuse and
Trauma
Related Issues: Talking With
Kids About Tough Issues,
Books on abuse-boys,
abuse-child,
sexual-incest,
abuse-ritual,
abuse-sexual,
violence-rape,
violence-sexual
Resources
Bumper
Sticker - Make the World Safe for Children
Sexual Abuse Position Statement
Incest Defined
Once referred to sexual activity or intercourse between close
blood relatives. However, an expanded version is given here: a
violation of trust between a caregiver and a child. It is abusive
because of the power an adult has over the child. It involves
sexually inappropriate acts or those with sexual overtones involving
a child and a person who has authority by virtue of an ongoing
emotional bond - a family member, extended family member or other
person known to them whom they were led to trust.
Occurring with non-family members, often perpetrated by pedophilies. There are four general categories.
While it is possible to look too hard for incest, it is much more likely for incest victims to deny it or try to explain it away. Recovery from incest is essential if one hopes to experience the emotional and mental freedom since it affects the very essence of who you are and interferes with sanity, joy, relationships, self-esteem and spirituality. Part of this involves getting in touch with reality about what happened: remembering, feeling, believing and grieving about what happened. THe need to learn to trust yourself and to express your anger. Healing from the shame and knowing it was not your fault, reaching forgiveness at your pace, are all part of the process. Incest is a major trauma. Personality disorders, dissociation and other dramatic survival mechanisms may result. Recent research is finding that victims often develop multiple personalities as a coping mechanism. Survivors generally need competent professional treatment. One out of every three female children and one out of every seven male children in the U.S. have been or will be sexually abused or molested before the age of 18. Most victims know their abusers prior to the commencement of the molestation with 95% of all sexual abuse occurs within the extended family. It is commonly initiated when the victim is between four and 12 with four to nine a particularly high risk, although victims as young as two months have been identified. Sexual contact is usually terminated by either party by the age of 15. Fifty percent of all incest cases occur in alcoholic homes. Eighty percent of women and thirty percent of men in chemical dependency treatment programs have been sexually assaulted. (One of every four U.S. families suffer from alcohol/drug related problems-over 22 million people (3 million of which are children.)
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