ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the author's clinical work with a woman to explore how her relative safety away from the streets during her periods of incarceration allowed her to explore her sexuality. During these periods of incarceration, the woman explored what she called “gay for the stay.” The chapter explores her early childhood sexual traumas, including being trafficked as a minor. It also explores how complex trauma impacts the developing self and provides an examination into how trauma might impact or change the course of one’s developing sexuality. Sexual abuse survivors might find relational problems in adulthood and find issues with sexual functioning that range from sexual compulsivity to sexual aversion. After prolonged periods of trauma, people will do whatever it takes to decrease emotional exposure, usually in the form of numbing or dissociation. An important framework to use when working with survivors of trauma is trauma-informed care.