ABSTRACT
Survivors of all forms of childhood sexual trauma frequently have serious sexual problems. As E. Sue Blume says in her 1990 book, Secret Survivors, which lays out many of the sexual sequelae of incest, “The context in which the child victim is first introduced to sex is responsible for numerous distortions in later life. Sex is not sex for the incest survivor” (p. 207). In particular, survivors of incest feel shame over the fact that they were sexually aroused during the abuse. The body is wired to respond to being sexually stimulated, and this is something a child cannot handle emotionally. Sexual aversion is frequently seen, as is sexual addictions, as well as other forms of sexual compulsivity.
