Recognizing child sexual abuse (CSA)

For many survivors of CSA, the past few months have been a challenge. For them, the events that took place around the Epstein files appear familiar, almost normal. The kinds of activities were taking place replicate those that were taking place in their own childhood. That's why many are starting to ask questions about what exactly took place when they fell asleep, when they felt their memories were foggy or had nightmares of certain things taking place that they denied actually happened. The very real experiences of children are starting to gain more traction as the documentation of it happening with one individual (and his network) towards hundreds of victims emerges. These individuals exist in communities everywhere.

Why has it taken so long for us to believe children? Well, many have been trained to forget. It could be through normalizing exposure to explicit sexual behaviours or pornography at young ages. It could have been through patterns of child-on-child sexual abuse that preceded activities by adults, making the experience feel like normal behaviour. And many of the individuals involved are using strategies of gaslighting, manipulation and re-telling of events that favour the perpetrators over the victim. For instance, an child who attended a party and participated in underage drinking became so intoxicated that they blacked out. A perpetrator will use their memory loss to say that the sexual behaviours the victim exhibited were unwanted and unwelcome. Or, the family members taking part in the child-on-child sexual abuse have family members that emphasize the importance of the family's reputation instead of reporting the abuse or resolving it constructively in therapy.

Many perpetrators employ trauma-based strategies for creating distraction and pain to the victim in other areas of their life while these activities are taking place, so that the perpetrators actions will seem not as bad. These tactics are real. They are employed by groups of individuals that support them getting away with their crimes. They share the explicit materials they create when someone was sleeping, too intoxicated to remember or drugged. That material goes on the internet, where it can be used as extortion. Many children and survivors go on to commit suicide because of these haunting experiences. Others who do seek support can feel devastated by the experience of not being believed.

We can do a better job of recognizing these children and adult survivors. They are telling us their stories in chunks. They are revealing their concerns in subtle ways to test how trustworthy you are. They are confused. They are traumatized. We need to help them gain some understanding of their experience before perpetrators move onto new victims.

Join me on my Instagram to see reels I have reposted. These engaging videos demonstrate signs, risk factors and prevention strategies. Many content creators have done an excellent job raising awareness about this devastating reality. We have to do more to make sure that future generations are protected.