Home Child Sexual Abuse - Abusers
Child Sexual Abuse - Abusers
Research from the United States has provided the following information:
- All men who sexually abuse are recidivists and there is some evidence that their behaviour is addictive.
- Their behaviour goes in cycles; they think about it, plan it and do it .Their behaviour is reinforced through fantasising about future abuse.
- They reinterpret the child's behaviour and use this to excuse and justify their own behaviour.
- They minimise their own behaviour in order to justify it.
- They have often abused for years and their behaviour often starts in adolescence.
- They are expert con-men of their families, the children they abuse, professionals and themselves.
- Whilst some abusers are sadistic, violent or mentally ill or disturbed in other ways, they have also been described by incest survivors as normal men and responsible adults in other respects.
- In over 97% of cases the offender is male.
Sexual abuse is not confined to particular social classes or geographical areas.
The myth that sexual abuse is the product of overcrowded living conditions, rural isolation and so on is the result of the sampling methods of earlier studies. These were challenged by Susan Forward who examined data relating to the abusers of almost three hundred women and concluded:-
Abusers
Come from every cultural, economic, racial, educational, religious and geographical background. They are doctors, policemen, prostitutes, secretaries and merchants. They are heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual. They are happily married and four times divorced…they are emotionally stable and they have multiple personalities.
