Why the Resistance to Acknowledging Sexual Abuse by Women?
Resistance is partly due to the status bestowed upon mothers and women in our society, and is reinforced by the emphasis on the special bond between mother and child. For example, a mother who abandons her children is maligned and demonized, whereas the reality is that many more men abandon their children, but society sees this as acceptable, even predictable. To be sexually abused by anyone you trust is devastating, but to be sexually abused by a woman, especially your mother, is seen and experienced by some as the ultimate betrayal. It can be distressing for survivors to hear people minimising the effects of women sexually abusing children, with comments such as “it can’t be as bad as being abused by a man.” Abuse is abuse whoever the perpetrator. Isolation and feeling different is something many survivors of childhood sexual abuse feel. However, survivors of female sexual abuse face their own inner turmoil, and the isolation and separateness caused by the lack of awareness of this i
