Childhood Sexual Abuse

Childhood Sexual Abuse

Introduction

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) includes a wide range of sexual activities, from fondling to non-consensual sex or rape, yet currently no clear de?nition exists. The term CSA is often used interchangeably with molestation, sexual assault and rape, making it dif?cult to draw conclusions about risk factors, prevalence rates, or clinical consequences. Dolezal and CarballoDieguez (2002) described how including the age of the child, age of the ´ perpetrator, type of relationship between child and perpetrator, sexual acts involved, and the reaction to or the existence of coercion can all affect how CSA is conceptualized. Feldman and Meyer (2007) stated that CSA refers to any abusive action toward children involving touching sexual parts or sexual activity including penetration, while Brennan, Hellerstedt, Ross, and Welles (2007) also included “forced” sexual activity as part of their de?nition of CSA.

Despite the lack of consensus about the de?nition of CSA, all agree that experiencing CSA is a traumatic experience that should be given considerable clinical and research attention (e.g., Arreola et al., 2009; Bradford, Ryan, and Rothblum, 1994; Doll et al., 1992; Jinich et al., 1998; Loulan, 1988; Morris & Balsam, 2003; Paul et al., 2001; Roberts & Sorenson, 1999; Saewyc, Skay, Pettingell, et al., 2006; Simari & Baskin, 1982; Tomeo, Templer, Anderson and Kotler, 2001). Scholars and clinicians have described the psychological impact on survivors, risk factors that make one more susceptible to being victimized, and the association with later developing a healthy and positive lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer sexual or affectional identity which is the focus of our article. Historically, researchers and clinicians have been encouraged to describe or explain a cause for individuals who deviate from the culturally sanctioned norm of heterosexuality. For example, in the heteronormative society in which we live, one such myth has been that people begin to identify as non-heterosexual as a result of a traumatic sexual experience by someone of the opposite sex.

Most clinical and research literature, however, makes it clear that there is no direct causal link between experiencing CSA and later identifying as a non-heterosexual adult (Balsam, 2003; Dietz, 2001; Morris & Balsam, 2003; Russell, Jones, Barclay, & Anderson, 2008; Saewyc, Skay, Pettingell, et al., 2006). As Dietz (2001) described, a heterosexist framework suggests that “everyone is assumed to be heterosexual unless some event or trauma changes his or her sexual identity” (p. 31). While most of the extant research clearly suggests that there is no direct causal link between experiencing CSA and later developing a non-heterosexual sexual identity, researchers have reported that there is a 25-50% higher prevalence rate of CSA among non-heterosexual individuals. We ?rst describe CSA's impact on the population and provide a critical analysis of salient contextual variables (e.g., race, ethnicity, and gender).

We purposefully did not include the experiences of transgendered men and women because their particular socio-cultural context distinguishes them from the more general population of individuals. Then, we summarize the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects among survivors of CSA and examine the strengths ...