Chapters in a collective biography of child sexual abuse

Abstract

This article tells the collective story of six women who experienced sexual abuse in their childhoods. How these women made sense of their sexual abuse, and view the impact of it on their lives, is portrayed from their perspective. The researcher worked collaboratively with the women throughout the research. The research is qualitative and is aimed at giving the reader insights into how these women survived the trauma of incest. The results of this research expand our understanding of the intense fear, self-blame, anger and grief experienced by victims of child sexual abuse. Once the women were able to name and define themselves as sexually abused in childhood, they were able to place previously unex-plainable behaviours in the context of their sexual abuse histories and to view these as normal reactions to abnormal events.