Child Sexual Abuse : Emotional Reactions

by Child Welfare Information Gateway

(Page 2 of 5)

Initially, the enormity of sexual abuse is likely to engender one of two opposing responses - disbelief or belief accompanied by an intense desire for retribution. Such responses can cloud the most important issues - concern for the child and the child's safety.

Disbelief has a lengthy history. When Freud proposed that the etiology of the hysteria he was treating in middle class Viennese women was to be found in childhood experiences of sexual abuse, his theory was roundly rejected as preposterous by his colleagues. Ultimately he retracted this theory because he simply could not believe that so many and such worthy men could have committed incest. The theory he proposed instead was one that put responsibility on the victim, who was regarded as fantasizing about having the sexual relationship with the paternal figure in question. The implication was that the sexual relationship was desired by the child. For 50 years, professionals were comfortable with the belief that sexual abuse, particularly incest, was quite rare, and when it did occur, it quite likely was the consequence of the child's seductive behavior and was not particularly harmful.

This position could not be sustained in the 1970's. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act required that States mandate professionals to report suspected child maltreatment, including child sexual abuse, in order to qualify for specific Federal funding. The result of this provision was a dramatic increase in the number of cases of sexual abuse reported. These referrals were investigated by child protective services (CPS) caseworkers and law enforcement personnel. As a rule, a believable account of sexual abuse was assumed to be true, and reports of sexual abuse were substantiated at approximately the same rate as other types of child maltreatment.

However, very soon, new doubts emerged in what is now called the "backlash." Claims are being made - by those accused, their lawyers, and a small number of professionals who serve as experts on their behalf - that many accusations of sexual abuse are untrue. Although research indicates that false allegations are rare, the credibility and integrity of children and the competence of professionals who believe them are being challenged. More problematic is the fact that the backlash gains its strength from well-meaning professionals and lay persons who have a great deal of difficulty believing that an adult could sexually abuse a child. In addition, among those individuals who acknowledge the possibility, there is the strong tendency to minimize its traumatic impact on the victim.

The tendency to disbelieve is reinforced by the troubling emotional reactions that many people have if they conclude that in fact the child has been sexually abused - a sense of anger or rage at the offender. Professionals may believe that the offender should be jailed or that emasculation is suitable punishment. On the other hand, often professionals experience anger and helplessness when a disbelieving family court judge gives custody of a child to an alleged offender or criminal prosecution is unsuccessful.

The rather universal tendencies to want to explain away or minimize the sexual abuse or to desire "a pound of flesh" are also reflected in reactions specific to gender, to socioeconomic and professional status, and to personal experiences, which are described below.

The Impact of Gender

The gender of the professional is likely to influence reactions to cases of child sexual abuse. The major issue is gender identification. The impact of gender identification is complex and varied. At a specific level, it causes the professional to see a person of the same sex, whether offender, victim, or mother of victim, as "like me." At a more general level, the professional may regard the behavior or circumstance of a person of the same sex as reflecting upon not only the professional, her/himself, but also upon others of the same sex. Gender identification can result in either greater empathy or greater rejection of the person of the same sex. On the other hand, the fact that the child, alleged offender, or mother is of the opposite sex may render the professional relatively impervious to the plight of that person.

When confronted with an accused man, a male professional may be more concerned about the impact of an allegation on the man and may have greater difficulty believing the allegation than a female professional. As well, a male professional might be either more understanding of a male offender because he appreciates gender-related temptations or more censorious because the violation of the taboo reflects on all men. A female professional may give much less thought to the circumstance of the accused man and concentrate on the females (i.e., the girl victim and her mother) and their circumstances.

In one possible scenario, a female professional may be more disbelieving of accusations against women than a male professional because, as a woman, she cannot imagine doing such a thing. However, when she concludes, for example, that a mother has sexually abused her children, she may be especially enraged because of her personal experience as a mother. Similarly, a female professional may have more empathy for the mother of a victim having to choose between her child and her husband, because she is or has been in a comparably dependent position with a man. Alternatively, she may perceive the woman who sides with her husband as a "traitor to her sex."

Both male and female professionals have empathy for victims. However, it is possible that gender identification causes each to be more sensitive when the victim is of his/her gender. This may be particularly true for male professionals when boys are victims, since there is less knowledge about the impact on boys, and boy victims are less likely to share their feelings. A male professional, because of his experience of having been a boy, may better appreciate the boy victim's trauma or, alternatively, have more difficulty accepting the boy's vulnerability to victimization.

Finally, professional reactions to sexual abuse may differ by gender because men and women experience living in society differently. That is, although men may not condone their position, they are generally dominant. Women are generally in the subservient position and are probably, as professionals, more appreciative than men of the relationship of sexual abuse to general male dominance in society.

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