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We offer private sessions and professional
training on preventing sexual abuse, resolving
family chaos and building family harmony. Contact us.
What is Child Sexual Abuse?
Child sexual abuse occurs when adults use children for
sexual gratification. Sexual abuse may begin with kissing or fondling,
and progress to intrusive sexual acts, such as oral sex and vaginal or
anal penetration. It may be combined with emotional abuse that destroys
a child’s self-respect, for example repeated verbal abuse such as
shouting, threats, and degrading or humiliating criticism, emotional
incest and emotional blackmail.
Emotional Incest . Emotional
Blackmail . Child Abuse
What is Sexual Assault?
Sexual assault refers to sexual intercourse or
attempted intercourse carried out against a person’s desire by the use or
threat of physical force. If a man forces a woman who is not
his wife to sexual intercourse against her will, he commits rape. In some
countries, rape includes sexual intercourse without force, but without
agreement, with a spouse.
Sexual Dysfunction .
Impotence and Frigidity
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Sexual Solutions
What causes Sexual Perversions?
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Theories about Sexual Assault
& Perversion |
- Psychoanalytic Models
- Victim Encouragement
- Family Dysfunction and Incest
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- Psychological Models
- Societal Models
- Systemic Models
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Mother - Son Problems
. Father - Daughter Problems
1. Psychoanalytic Models
In 1895, Sigmund Freud wrote about the consequences of sexual
abuse, claiming that boys are sexually attracted to
their mothers, and girls to their fathers. Freud tried to explain sex offences -
"castration anxiety is a failure to resolve an Oedipus
Complex which causes feelings of sexual inadequacy
and a need to be sexually dominant". Hence sexual offences would
be parenting failures. Freud's models still strongly influence psychiatrists.
The psychoanalytic model places the blame of
childhood sexual abuse and incest on the child and the mother,
(which may well represent Freud's biography). Although widely used by
psychiatrists, the psychoanalytic models are limited:
- Mothers and children are blamed for childhood
sexual abuse, not the abusers.
- Does not explain father-son or
mother-daughter sexual abuse, incest by other family members nor sexual assaults
by neighbors, teachers, clergy
or family friends.
- Sex offenders or rapists are perceived as mentally sick, even
though the vast majority of sexual offenders show no symptoms of other
recognized mental illnesses.
Consequences of Abortion .
End Addictions
. Parental Alienation
2. Victim Encouragement
Victims are said to encourage rape through verbal and
non-verbal behavior (for example by walking alone). A woman who accepts a dinner
invitation or a lift home, or who visits a male friend at his home or who
invites a male friend into her own home may be perceived by a rapist as a sex
partner, and her actions rationalized by a rapist as consent for sex. Spoken
refusals of sex may be perceived by a rapist as "sex games" and ignored
or encouraged.
- Men may force women to participate in sexual
behavior
- The
victim is blamed for the responsibility for sexual assault
- Men
may deceive women and hide their intention to have sex
Relationship Bonds
.
Stress Disorders
3. Family Dysfunction & Incest
Incest is seen as a symptom of
a sick family, and all family members are considered responsible for allowing it to occur.
Incest, in a dysfunctional family, is covertly used to keep a
family together. Family dysfunction theory has been adopted by many
government authorities.
Users of this model see the mother as a dysfunctional
wife who does not fulfill her husband's sexual needs, nor protect her
children from him. She absents herself either emotionally or physically
from her children by absence through work or illness, or by being emotionally
and/or sexually frigid.
Despite wide acceptance, the family dysfunction model:
- Does not explain other forms of sexual abuse
- Does not explain two thirds of child sexual abuse
- Minimizes or denies the
devastating effects of incest on a child
- Proposes that a father has a right to be sexually
serviced by females
- Regards incest as a symptom that keeps a dysfunctional
family together
- Argues that a father imposes sexual
demands on whoever does the housework
Mothers rarely ignore incest. In America, about 75% of mothers
react to disclosed incest and 60% take immediate action, in contrast to
the predictions of this popular model.
4. Psychological Models
Psychological models focus on identifying
the personality profile and motivations of sex offenders. Some
personality characteristics have been associated with sexual abusers.
- feelings of masculine inadequacy
- need to dominate and
control family relationships
- introverted or withdrawn behavior (few or no friends)
- often adept at lies, evasions, excuses,
justifications and blame
Research shows that abusers come from all social
backgrounds; and do not suffer from known mental illnesses, nor do they
necessarily have other criminal tendencies. This model perceives sexual
abuse against women and children as normal male behavior.
5. Societal Models
Some say that social change can eliminate child abuse and sexual assault,
by changing:
- the balance of power between men and women
- the balance of power between adults and children
- abusers' responsibility for sexual assault
Societal models explain sexual assault in terms
of social structures. Abuse is considered to be a facet of a patriarchal
society, and sexual abuse and sexual assault are a result of legal, social,
economic and political systems which support or enforce male dominance over women and
children. These models predict that men ...
- see wives and children as property
- express dependency through sex
- use sex to reconfirm their sense of self
- are stimulated by the genitals of preferred sexual objects
- desire sexual partners who are younger and smaller than
themselves
This approach assigns responsibility to sexual abusers,
but argues that socialization contributes to sexual abuse, and that women and
children are passive, vulnerable and unable to resist.
6. Systemic Models
Our systemic model includes family dynamics about the
victim, the abuser and the family as well as social and cultural
factors. We provide a flexible framework which places responsibility with the abuser,
while recognizing the influences of the abuser's history, family and culture.
This allows us to offer solutions for
the victims and for the perpetrators of sexual abuse and sexual assault.
We predict that:
- The abuser identified
with a family member who was perceived as a victim
- At least one adult caretaker of the abuser was
chronically sexually frustrated
- The abuser's family did not allow conversation or
discussion about sexual issues
- The abuser was abused, physically or emotionally, by an
opposite sex caretaker
- Most male sexual abusers will be
bonded to immature (childlike)
female caretakers
- Most female sexual abusers will be bonded to their
immature (childish) male caretakers
Sexual Abuse, Therapists & Health Professionals
Many of our clients are therapists or
counselors, and many other clients described their interactions with previous
therapists, counselors, etc. We suspect that helping professionals often specialize
in their own issues - and we wonder how many people who specialize in deviant sexual
behavior develop and use theories which mitigate their own guilt or shame for
their own past
actions or fantasies.
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I wanted my client
to express her feelings ... and she did so powerfully. At first I rejected her advances because I knew that
she was reacting to her father. At first I discouraged this transference
... I knew I should avoid a personal relationship with her ... she was so young
... but we made love anyway ... her mother later reported me.
XX, Chicago, USA |
Sexual contact between therapists and clients is
regarded as unethical, malpractice, and may be a criminal
offense. Sexual contact between physicians, lawyers, clergy, and professors and
their patients/clients/students may be considered unethical and grounds for a
lawsuit. However, as some therapists use their profession as a
source of sexual stimulation, we offer assistance to therapists, counselors
and other professionals who have abused or who risk abusing their clients.
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My doctor referred me to a therapist for
depression. I quit when I saw that he was masturbating under his desk. I
wanted to report him but couldn't work out how. He is known to have
affairs with clients but he is still in business. NS Fredericton, Canada |
In fiduciary relationships, the more powerful party is
required to act in the trusting party's best interest. Yet a survey of therapists
showed that
about 14% of male therapists and 3% of female therapists reported erotic
contact with at least one client. Another survey found that 70% knew at least one client who had been sexually involved with a previous therapist.
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I went to a therapist after my divorce. He
was obsessed with my sex life and details of an affair I had while I was
married. He was obviously getting off on what I told him. I felt dirty and
soiled although he never touched me. PF Los Angeles, California, USA |
Around 90% of patients who had sexual contact
with therapists have consequences including sexual dysfunction, anxiety
disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, increased risk of suicide, depression,
dissociation, feelings of guilt, shame, anger, confusion, hatred feelings of
worthlessness and lost ability to trust people. Yet few (<10%) victims of
therapist abuse seem to report it.
Note that some therapists argue that therapist-client sexual
intimacies rarely harm clients; rather that such actions are generally
inconsequential or beneficial; and that such intimacies do not constitute
exploitation, nor are an abuse of trust, power, prerogative, responsibility in
therapeutic relationships.
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When Dr H. Greenwald (see Shepard, 1971) tried to encourage a
study of therapist-patient sexual intimacies:
I just raised the question ... intending, as a clinical
psychologist, that it be studied like any other phenomenon. And just for raising
the question, some members circulated a petition that I should be expelled from
the Psychological Association.
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In a survey of 4,800 therapists, Borys and Pope (1989) found
that psychiatrists, psychologists, and clinical social workers engaged in sexual
intimacies with their patients at equivalent rates.
We offer private sessions and professional training to prevent, alleviate or
control the unpleasant consequences of sexual abuse and
emotional incest.
Our private sessions and training provides helps people
dissolve the underlying systemic causes of sexual and other obsessions,
compulsions and ...
Do you want private sessions or professional training?
Do you want to coach individuals, partners and teams to resolve complex
relationship challenges? Do you want to help people achieve their dreams?
Copyright © Martyn Carruthers
1999-2008 All rights reserved. |
