ABSTRACT
Physical and emotional abuse and neglect represent extreme abnormalities of parenting. Therefore a major deficiency of attachment behaviour occurs between parents and children, and such patterns are an integral component of the trauma-organized system. The trauma-organized system of sexual abuse consists of the victimizing action on the part of the abuser. "Sexualization" is the traumatic response characteristic of the individual who is not giving consent or cannot give consent. The traumatic sexualization characteristic of sexual abuse and the powerlessness of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse have profound effects on the identity and meaning system of the individual. The victim response to sexual abuse emerges from the immediate post-traumatic effects, and from longer-term traumagenic responses given the length of time that children are often abused over. Traumatic stress appears as a first-level response, and traumagenic dynamics effects as a second-level response.
