ABSTRACT
In 1961, Kempe shocked the world with his account of the way in which small children could be battered by their parents (Kempe and Kempe, 1978). It is only in the past twelve years or so that we have become aware of the way in which parents and other members of the family abuse children sexually. We have been amazed at the increasing number of women giving a history of sexual abuse. This is partly because the subject has been highlighted in the press and on television. It is also because we, the professional carers, have at last begun to ask the right questions. While our minds were closed to the possibility of this type of trauma, no-one could tell us of the awful things that had happened to them, and we could not hear them if they tried.
