ABSTRACT
All children who have been abused are harmed. Generally, the damage to a child’s emotional well-being caused by abuse can be long lasting and traumatic. Finkelhor (1984) has analysed the damage caused by sexual abuse and identified several effects:
• the child has had his or her trust betrayed; • the child feels stigmatized and suffers a negative view of self; • the child asks: ‘Why me?’ ‘What did I do wrong?’ and feels guilt for
not stopping the abuse; • the child suffers a sense of powerlessness through the betrayal of
trust and through losing control over his or her body; • poor relationships and confusion around appropriate affection may
be features later in life; • some children feel ‘unclean’ and show inappropriate sexualized
behaviour.
