Drawing by Kristina, age 7

A Major Social Problem

Since then, the number of adults and children disclosing abuse has climbed rapidly. More and more people have begun to seek help to heal from the trauma. Most have come forward after years of silence because they were unable to reveal the abuse while it was occurring. Gradually the myths and distortions about the sexual exploitation of children are being stripped away and we are learning just how many lives are affected by it.

A growing body of research has contributed to more accurate information about the nature and extent of child sexual abuse in Canada. However, there are still no national statistics on the sexual victimization of children and there are still significant gaps in the knowledge base in this field.

In 1980 the federal government established a committee to study sexual offenses against children and youth. In 1984 the Badgley Report estimated alarmingly high levels of child sexual abuse. In a random survey of adults, one-third of males and one-half of females said they had been the victims of at least one unwanted sexual act. Four out of five of these acts had occurred in childhood. Most of them were never reported to authorities.2

The report was deeply critical of existing responses to abuse victims and their families, and urged major reforms to the criminal justice system. It called for new definitions of sexual offenses as well as changes to the rules of evidence and procedure which would give children the same protection as adults under the law.

About the same time as the Badgley Report came out, child protection agencies across Canada began to report and verify increasing numbers of child sexual abuse cases. The rates of reported child sexual abuse have risen five-fold since the late 1970's. 3 The needs of victims and survivors have exceeded the capacity of most front-line systems to meet them. In the span of a few years, however, there has been a revolution in public awareness and professionals from many different disciplines have mobilized to tackle the problem.

Since the mid-eighties, a range of new government and community based initiatives have been introduced, including new funding programs, research and resource materials, interdisciplinary projects and protocols and changes to provincial and territorial child protection legislation. There was also an increase in funding for front-line services, and an expansion in programs filling critical gaps as well as public awareness programs, child-centred prevention programs and staff training. Unfortunately, many of these initiatives have been reduced or eliminated by cutbacks in the 1990's.

In 1988 the federal government announced Bill C-15 which contained important reforms to the Criminal Code of Canada and the Canada Evidence Act. It created new offenses and expanded opportunities for courts to receive children's testimony, thus making it easier to prosecute individuals who sexually abuse children. In 1990, the federal government released Reaching for Solutions, a report outlining a national strategy for dealing with the sexual abuse of children. The report concluded that while the advances made in combating child sexual abuse were heartening, an urgent need remained for concerted action to respond to an ever growing number of complex and demanding cases.

In 1993 the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women published a report entitled Changing the Landscape: Ending Violence - Achieving Equality. It contained the results of an in-depth survey which revealed startling statistics about the sexual abuse of girls. More than half the women surveyed had experienced some form of unwanted or intrusive sexual experience before the age of 16. 4 One in four said the acts involved forced or attempted forced intercourse. Seventeen per cent reported at least one experience of incest and 34% had been sexually abused by a non-relative before age 16. Almost half reported one experience of incest and/or extrafamilial sexual abuse before age 16. Ninety-six per cent of the perpetrators were men. 5

Recent evidence suggests that more boys are victims of abuse than previously thought. It appears that male victims are molested more often by perpetrators outside of the family. 7 For a variety of reasons, it may be harder for males to disclose abuse. Boys may fear being considered homosexual, since their abusers are mostly men. They are also socialized to expect that sexual experiences are a normal part of boys' lives and may feel social pressure not to express helplessness or vulnerability

One factor that contributes to sexual abuse is the social isolation of families which lack ties to and support from the community around them. Social and geographic isolation may reduce the likelihood that abuse will be discovered by outsiders, thus allowing it to continue.8 Social isolation may be imposed by the surrounding community when it segregates certain less I/ acceptable" groups within it. Abusers may also enforce the isolation of family members in an effort to maintain control over them and preserve secrecy. Often abusers jealously watch the social contacts of victims and profoundly curtail their social lives. 9

Multi-victim Cases

A landmark study conducted in British Columbia looked at 30 cases between 1985 and 1989 in which numerous victims were abused by one offender. The research found that offenders spent an average of 9.7 years victimizing children and estimated that there were 2,099 possible sexual abuse victims, or an average of 70 victims for each case. In 50% of the cases, the majority of victims were male. This is in contrast to single incident investigations in which 85% of victims are female. The majority (57%) were under 12 years of age. Two-thirds of the children had adjustment problems prior to the abuse. Many came from troubled families and had learning or behavioral disorders, handicaps, communication deficits and/or a history of physical or sexual abuse.

Most of the offenders were in highly visible positions of trust, both professional and non-professional. Many provided services and activities of interest to children and their families, thereby gaining access and providing camouflage for the abuse. They were baby-sitters, recreation leaders, ministers, dentists and child care workers. In 63% of the cases, the offenders had been suspected of abusing children for more than a year prior to being investigated. They used verbal intimidation, coercion or reinforcement as methods to control and manipulate children. In 87% of cases, the form of abuse included physical touching, fondling or pressuring of victims' bodies. Slightly less than half of cases included oral-genital contact and about a third involved anal or vaginal penetration.10

While a child may appear to voluntarily take part in sexual activity or appear to initiate sexual contact with an adult, this cannot be seen as consent by virtue of the inherent inequality between adults and children. As Dr. Gene Abel puts it, 'Saying yes means nothing if NO is not one of your choices." Jan Hindman affirms: 'By virtue of being a child, no is not an option, making any form of yes meaningless." 12

The roles of these individuals have changed considerably in recent years. Since the 1988 amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada, complaints have been more thoroughly dealt with and children have had more direct access to the courtroom. In the past, sexual abuse cases were often treated more as evidence of family dysfunction requiring mental health interventions than as crimes requiring a criminal justice response. More and more communities are developing procedural guidelines that require child protection officials and police to conduct joint interviews and work as a team throughout child sexual abuse investigations. 13

Sexual Offences Against Children

There are now 16 sexual offences in the Criminal Code of Canada that could apply to child sexual abuse:

• Sexual interference
• Invitation to sexual touching
• Sexual exploitation of a young person
• Anal intercourse
• Bestiality
• Parent or guardian procuring sexual activity of a child
• Householder permitting sexual activity
• Exposing genitals to a child
• Vagrancy
• Offences in relation to juvenile prostitution
• Incest
• Corrupting children
• Indecent acts
• Sexual assault
• Sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm
• Aggravated sexual assault 14

The major reforms of Bill C- 1 5 include:

- three new offences, sexual interference, sexual exploitation, and invitation to sexual touching. These allow police to charge individuals who have engaged children in sexual activities that lead up to but don't necessarily include molestation or penetration

- eliminating barriers to testimony by children, in particular by eliminating the corroboration requirement, and enacting the "ability to communicate" test for determining the competence of children to testify in court

- permitting use of the videotape of an interview with the victim in which the child describes the acts complained of, provided the tape is/was made 'within a reasonable time" of the acts complained of and that the child testifies in court

-allowing a child to testify via closed-circuit television or from behind a screen, if this is "necessary to obtain a full and candid account" of the acts complained of.

Children who are being abused are generally powerless to stop it by themselves. Therefore, some use denial, minimization, rationalization, dissociation and repression as coping skills to protect themselves from pain and take some control over their lives. These skills are critical to their survival. Children may make attempts to shield themselves from the abuse, hide it from others, escape the experience or call attention to the fact that something is seriously wrong.

Blocking out or letting go of their own reality is a common way to deal with unendurable inner turmoil. Children try to escape in many ways. Some attempt to run away. Others numb their bodies so as not to feel what is being done to them. Still others "leave" their bodies and watch the abuse as if from a great distance, a form of what is called "splitting" or dissociation. Some may retreat into fantasy or obsessive behaviour.

Children can become hyper-alert and hyper-vigilant, attuned to every nuance in their environment in order to stay safe. Some children cry out for help through aggressive, destructive and anti-social behaviour. They may try to harm or mutilate themselves. This 'acting out" is often a form of bravado used to mask fears, to conceal the abuse or to cope with the sense of being marked or different.

The coping mechanisms of children and adolescents can turn into adult strengths such as self-sufficiency, humour and empathy. For example, some survivors have developed a heightened sensitivity to the pain of others as a result of experiencing their own pain. Others have turned their capacity to fantasize into a source of great creativity.

Unfortunately, survival skills can also become self-defeating behaviour patterns, such as truancy, lying, stealing, abusing alcohol or drugs or compulsive overeating. Strategies such as dissociation and numbing out can distance survivors from their real feelings and make it harder to respond authentically and appropriately in intimate relationships. The very skills that enable abused children to cope can also trap them as adults, and keep them from living the full, rich lives they deserve.

Child sexual abuse takes a huge toll on individuals, families and society as a whole. Whatever form the abuse takes, the wounds left behind can be deep and enduring. Abuse can have a wide and complex range of effects. Some children survive sexual abuse relatively unscathed; others are profoundly traumatized.  15  Still, survivors can and do heal. Sexual abuse is not necessarily a "ticking time-bomb" and those who have experienced it are not destined to lives of despair nor condemned forever to be "damaged goods."16

Some of the factors which may determine the severity of trauma include the use of threats, force or terror, the age of the child when abuse begins, the nature and duration of the abuse, the relationship with the abuser, the secrecy surrounding the abuse, the clarity of the 'victim' and 'abuser' roles, the reaction following disclosure and the nature of any subsequent therapy 17

In the short term, victims often suffer anguish, fear, shame, betrayal, abandonment, sadness, and a deep sense of helplessness. Sexual abuse can interfere dramatically with the social, emotional, physical and intellectual development of the child. Abused children may feel that they are powerless, alone and not worthy of protection or love. Their basic worth is negated. Establishing independence and intimacy - the tasks of early adulthood are harder for survivors who may have problems with basic trust, autonomy and Initiative. Their ability to form stable relationships and develop healthy self-esteem can be seriously affected by sexual victimization in childhood.

Survivors of child sexual abuse may be more vulnerable to repeat victimization. The risk of rape, sexual harassment, or battering, though high for all women, is approximately doubled for survivors of abuse. 18 Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of survivors don't abuse or neglect their own children although the sex of the survivor has a bearing on this. 19 While both males and females may abuse their children, because of gender conditioning, males are more likely to act out their pain on others and females to internalize their suffering and hurt themselves. 20

The trauma of sexual abuse is shared by the family and community. The family touched by incest is often torn apart and may experience shame, degradation and financial burden. The impact on communities of both intrafamilial and extrafamilial abuse includes heightened fear and increased demands on already over stretched educational and social service systems. Schools must contend with children who are experiencing the cognitive, emotional and behavioural aftermath of abuse.

Child sexual abuse also has severe consequences for society as a whole. It has emerged as a contributing factor underlying much adult despair, dysfunction, addiction and criminal behaviour. The mental health system is filled with survivors of child sexual abuse, many of whom have never been identified as such. 21 Abuse victims seek help for eating disorders, problems with interpersonal relationships, sexual problems, self-destructive behaviour, substance abuse, 22 suicidal feelings and dissociation disorders. Although most people who are abused in childhood never come to psychiatric attention, many psychiatric patients have been sexually victimized as children. 23 This has only recently been recognized by the mental health system.

Sexual abuse is also implicated in learning disabilities, prostitution, 24 and the growing numbers of youth living on the streets, 25all of which place tremendous stress on social institutions and human services. Taxpayers foot the enormous bill for this victimization, both in the direct costs of protecting children, prosecuting and punishing offenders as well as in the indirect costs of the law enforcement, correctional, social, medical and mental health services used by victims, survivors and perpetrators.

There is still a great deal we don't know about individuals who sexually victimize children and what drives their behaviour. Except for the fact that they engage children in sexual acts for their own pleasure, child abusers are not very different from other people. There is no way to distinguish them by race, religion, intelligence, education, occupation or socioeconomic status. There is no one psychological profile; they are a markedly diverse group. 26

Most sexual offenders do have one characteristic in common. The vast majority are male. Most studies indicate that among reported perpetrators, 90% or more are men. There is also evidence pointing to the fact that a significant minority of the male population has committed child sexual abuse. A study conducted by Finkelhor found that 10% of the general male population (i.e. outside correctional institutions) admitted to having molested a child. 27

One in four offenders is a member of the child's family or has been entrusted with the child's care. Approximately half are friends or acquaintances of the child or family. Only one in six is a stranger.  28 Therefore most victims of child sexual abuse not only deal with the trauma of molestation but also with violation of trust. This data also calls into question the effectiveness of warning children about "stranger danger" as a way to prevent abuse.

Although more concern has been raised recently about adolescent sexual offenders, we still know little about them. Roughly one-quarter of all sexual offences are committed by youths between 12 and 17 years of age, the vast majority of them being male. 29 The Badgley report found that almost one third of suspected or known child sex offenders were under the age of 21. 30 Their abusive acts may be more violent and coercive than those of older perpetrators. 31 Like adult abusers, they are usually well known to their victims.

Some research seems to be confirming the observations of professionals that youthful offenders are often victims of child abuse themselves. One of the few Canadian studies on the subject shows that one-third of adolescent offenders had experienced an abusive or neglectful childhood. 32Offender patterns established early in life may carry on into adulthood. Early intervention with young offenders may reduce the number of their victims and contribute to the prevention of child sexual abuse.

The jury is still out as to the true extent of female offenders, and a great deal of controversy and distress surrounds the issue. Most of the research to date fails to show any significant amount of sexual abuse by females. However, survivor reports are starting to reveal that more abuse is perpetrated by women than previously thought. It is clear that some women do sexually victimize children, both boys and girls. Many of them are accomplices to men and under their control, but some are not. Some researchers believe that abuse by females is less likely to be detected and acknowledged because of the taboo surrounding it. As a society, we are loath to believe that women, the "natural" nurturers of children, are capable of such offences. As a result, survivors who have been abused by women generally keep it to themselves, fearing hostile reactions and, at the same time, feeling isolated and "crazy". 33

Of the child abuse offences that are reported, less than one-third of alleged offenders are charged. Of those charged, only about a third are convicted. Of those who are convicted, only a minority end up incarcerated or in treatment programs. Abusers who end up in jail tend to be those who are the most repetitive, the most disadvantaged, the most socially unattractive and those with the least resources. 34

Studies of convicted and incarcerated offenders have shown that anywhere from 20% to 60% had suffered physical, sexual abuse or emotional abuse as children. While this might appear to suggest a cause of adult abusive behaviour, it is clear that these offenders do not represent the full spectrum of abusers. Finkelhor believes that estimates in the range of 20% to 30% are more realistic, leaving another 70% of offenders whose abusive behaviour can't be explained by childhood sexual trauma. 35

Most offenders are unwilling to be held accountable for their acts, preferring to deny, minimize and rationalize their behaviour in order to avoid recognizing the seriousness of the crimes they have committed. They may also attempt to deflect blame onto the victim. Treatment programs have little success in stopping abuse until offenders admit and accept responsibility for the harm they have caused.

The Gender Connection

"Social attitudes that view women and children as objects and blame the victim who is sexually harassed or assaulted continue to be the norm in our culture. When cases of sexual assault are before the courts, the preoccupation often seems to be with the use of force, possible enticement by the victim, and the moral character of the victim, rather than on the basic responsibility and accountability of the perpetrator for his behaviour. There is a tendency to discount the seriousness of a perpetrator's behaviour, especially if little physical violence is involved or the assault takes place in the family. The victims, even children, are made to feel somehow responsible for their own victimization". 36

Many believe that male socialization lays the groundwork for their over-representation as sexual abusers. Finkelhor suggests that males are more likely to molest children for the following reasons:

1. Women learn earlier and much more completely to distinguish between sexual and non-sexual forms of affection. Men are not given as many legitimate opportunities topractise nurturing and express dependency needs except through sex. So when men need affection and are feeling dependent, they are much more likely to look for fulfilment in a sexual form, even with an inappropriate partner.

2. Men grow up seeing heterosexual success as much more important to their egos than women do. When their egos or their competencies suffer any insult, men are much more likely than women to feel a need for sex as a way of reconfirming their adequacy, even if the only available sexual partner is a child.

3. Men are socialized to be able to focus their sexual interest around sexual acts isolated from the context of a relationship. Women, by contrast, are taught to focus on whole romantic contexts and whole relationships. This ability of men to relate concretely to sexual acts is illustrated in their greater interest in pornography, as well as their ability to be aroused by children.

4. Men are socialized to see persons who are younger and smaller than themselves as their appropriate sexual partners, while women are socialized to see persons older and larger as their appropriate sexual partners. 37

Secrecy is essential to sexual abuse. The abuser often intimidates the child into silence. Bribes and threats may be used. Children are not always aware that the abuse is wrong. Sometimes abusers disguise abuse as a game, a punishment, or sex education. In some cases, a strong emotional bond between victim and abuser leads a child to protect the perpetrator for fear of losing affection.

Another reason for silence is shame. Abusers have ways of convincing children that they are partners, not victims. Sometimes children feel that they have brought on the abuse themselves, because they are "bad," or because something is wrong with them. They may believe that telling will get them in trouble. They may also feel guilty for enjoying the sexual activity, being aroused by it, or allowing it to continue even though they don't actually have the power to stop it.

Many adult survivors report that as children they desperately wanted to be rescued from abusive situations. Unfortunately, however, when children do try to tell adults what is happening to them they are too frequently met with a lack of understanding, disbelief, denial or minimization. Some children lack the words to express what is occurring and cry out for help in other ways. 38

Silence is the greatest barrier to healing. Breaking through the secrecy can allow the abuse to stop and the healing to begin. Children must feel safe enough to talk about their experience and feel that they will be believed. Sometimes, a child may reveal abuse by accident. If a child is not ready to talk about the abuse, she or he may deny that anything happened. Time and a great deal of reassurance may be needed before the child is ready to provide more details. Children may make deliberate disclosures after receiving information about child sexual abuse through programs at school or on television.

More often, disclosures will be brought out by an adult who notices that a child appears distressed and asks what's wrong. In these cases, the child is often torn between wanting to tell in order to get help and wanting to protect the offender. Disclosing abuse is often a slow process. A child may tell the story in small pieces, testing the reactions to see if it is safe to tell more.

Children can usually pick up cues that they are not believed, even when an adult tells them differently. For a variety of reasons, children may recant, or take back, their story after they tell it. This does not mean that the child was lying. Sometimes children are pressured to deny their story by disbelieving or hostile parents. Sometimes they seek to protect others in the family. Sometimes the process that is set in motion after a disclosure is so painful and upsetting that the child takes back the story in order to bring it to an end.

By Children

False claims of childhood sexual abuse are demonstrably rare. The consensus of researchers is that two to eight per cent of reported cases involve false complaints by children. 39 It is in fact far more common for children to retract true complaints because of pressure from the perpetrator or their families. While there have been other multi-victim cases where the accusations were put into doubt, the Prescott case is notable for the extent of corroborating evidence for the children's stories, and the successful prosecution of the majority of perpetrators brought to court. In the overall tragedy of sexual abuse, false allegations play a very small role.

By Adults

Another concern that has been given some prominence in the media is purported false allegations by adults having recovered previously repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse. In the United States, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation has been created to push the idea that there is a psychological condition where a patient is convinced by her therapist that she was a victim of childhood sexual abuse that never happened. Foundation members do not believe that traumatic childhood memories can be repressed for as long as a decade or more. They believe that such memories can only be fictional implants by unscrupulous or unprofessional therapists. They claim these 'false memories" are then genuinely taken as true by the client.

The False Memory Foundation was founded by Pamela Freyd and her husband in reaction to alleged false accusations of sexual abuse by their daughter. Dr. Jennifer Freyd, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, has come forward recently to rebut the story promulgated by her parents and to expose the Foundation as an organization created by a family struggling with pain and denial, rather than a legitimate organization dedicated to scientific memory research. The "false memory syndrome" is not medically recognized.

As with false allegations by children, false memories by adults are also likely to be rare. In the only recent study directly addressing this question, it was found that out of 53 self-identified survivors of childhood sexual abuse, 74% were able to find independent corroborative evidence. 40 Furthermore, contrary to the belief of the Foundation, partial or complete repression of traumatic childhood memory is well-documented. In a follow-up study of 200 adults who had been treated as children for sexual abuse, Linda Mever Williams found that one in three did not recall the experiences that were on their hospital records 20 years before. 41

In 1992, the Supreme Court of Canada [in (K)M. v. (H)M.] accepted the notion of repressed memory in ruling for the plaintiff's long-repressed allegations of childhood sexual abuse. In view of all of the above, "false memory syndrome" would appear to be largely a false concern. While memories can become distorted in their details over time, traumatic memory tends to remain true to the basic incidents, and can be trusted.

A clear distinction must be drawn between an allegation that is false and one that is not proven in a court of law. As noted in Reachingfor Solutions: "Our justice system makes it difficult to prove abuse, in particular in a criminal case where the liberty of an individual is at stake. The fact that a person is not convicted in a criminal proceeding does not mean that abuse did not in fact occur." 42

Symptoms of child sexual abuse do not follow a set pattern, nor do all victims display the same kinds of behaviours. It is important for parents and people working with children to be aware of the behavioural indicators that to may indicate abuse. Because children have limited ways to tell adults that something is wrong, some of the following could be caused by problems other than sexual abuse. So, while the signs listed below do not absolutely indicate that a child is being sexually abused, they do suggest a need to find out what is disturbing the child.

• sexualized behaviour such as preoccupation with sexual matters, and atypical knowledge of sexual acts, exposure of genitals, seductive behaviour and sexual victimization of other children
• excessive rage
• withdrawal
• regressive behaviours such as bed-wetting, thumb-sucking and baby talk
• fear of separation and difficulty separating from key adults
• guilt, depression, anger and hostility, generalized anxiety and specific fears
• physical effects such as sleep and appetite disturbances, bruises, bleeding, pain and itching of the genitals and problems walking or sitting

In addition to the above:

• school-related problems such as learning difficulties and declining grades, difficulties with concentration and attention and poor peer relations
• acting-out behaviours such as delinquency, stealing, running away and substance abuse
• suicide attempts and obsessions

• In addition to the above:
• promiscuity and prostitution
• dropping out of school and truancy  43
• regressive or pseudomature behaviour

2. Rix Rogers, Reaching for Solutions. The Report of the Special Advisor to the Minister of National Health andWelfare on Child Sexual Abuse in Canada (Ottawa: Department of Supply and Services Canada, 1990), p. 18.

3. David Wolfe, "The Dimensions of Multiple Victim Child Sexual Abuse: Implications for Practice and Prevention," IPCA Research Connection, No.1, July, 1992 (Toronto: Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse), p. 1.

4. Rates based on adult reports probably underestimate the actual extent of abuse, since there are many men and women who were victimized as children but do not remember their experiences.

5. Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, Changing the Landscape: Ending Violence- Achieving Equality, ExecutiveSummary, National Action Plan (Ottawa: Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, 1993), p. 11.

6. Department of Health and Welfare, Child Sexual Abuse: Strengthening Community Response-Guidelines for Community Workers (Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1989), p. 23.

7. Wolfe, 'The Dimensions of Multiple Victim Child Sexual Abuse,' p. 3.

8. Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery (New York: Basic Books, 1992), p. 35.

9. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p. 100.

10. Wolfe, 'The Dimensions of Multiple Victim Child Sexual Abuse," pp. 2-3.

11. Sandy Wurtele and Cindy Miller-Perrin, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Sharing the Responsibility (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992), p. 14.

12. Jan Hindman, Just Before Dawn (AlexAndria Associates, 1989), p. 10.

13. Material adapted from Put the Child First: A Handbook About Child Abuse for Volunteers and Youth Leaders (Ottawa: Canadian Council on Children and Youth, 1989), p. 13.

14. Mary Wells, Canada's Law on Child Sexual Abuse (Ottawa: Department of justice Canada, 1990), p. 14.

15. A survey by Chris Bagley of 500 randomly selected Calgary women found that 100 had been sexually victimized as children. In an intensive study of their functioning he found that those who had been abused were twice as likely to suffer from depression, substance abuse, or have an episode of psychiatric hospitalization or some type of mental health problem. A minority (20%) had acute problems. However, 50% of the women who had been victimized were functioning very well.

16. Books such as The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis (New York: Harper and Row, 1988 and subsequent editions) describe the path to healing that survivors take.

17. Jan Hindman has done extensive research on the evaluation of trauma caused by sexual abuse. Her work questions the validity of trauma assessment based solely on the 'Big Four' - consent, violence, penetration and frequency - guidelines devised by the legal profession, and concerned with determining the dangerousness of the offender, not the suffering of the victims. Just Before Dawn provides an innovative method of assessing trauma and planning for rehabilitation.

18. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p. 111.

19. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p. 114.

20. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p. 113.

21. High rates of childhood sexual abuse (between 73% and 90%) have been found among patients with multiple personality disorder. Among patients with borderline personality disorder, rates vary from 53% to 86%. Females with posttraumatic stress disorder also report high levels of childhood sexual abuse. (From Preventing Child SexualAbuse by Wurtele and Miller-Perrin, p. 8.)

22. A recent study by the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario found that women sexually abused as children were three times more likely than non-abused women to use medication to calm them and twice as likely to use drugs to help them sleep. 'ARF News Release," August 1989, cited in Rogers, p. 84.

23. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, p. 122.

24. Childhood sexual abuse has been reported by 52% to 73% of prostitutes. (From Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Wurtele and Miller-Perrin, p. 10).

25. A study done in Toronto on adolescent runaways found that 75% of the females and 38% of the males had been sexually abused as children. (From Adolescent Runaways: Causes and Consequences, D.C. Heath, 1987 by Mark-David Janus, Arlene McCormack, Ann Wolbert Burgess and Carol Hartman, p. 27.)

26. Wurtele and Miller-Perrin, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, p. 16.

27. David Finkelhor, 'New Myths About Child Sexual Abuse." An address presented at the Symposium on Child Sexual Abuse sponsored by RIFAS." Ottawa: May @25, 1987 (Ottawa: National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, 1989), p. 10.

28. Health and Welfare Canada, Child Sexual Abuse: Strengthening Community Response - Guidelines for CommunityWorkers (Ottawa: Department of Supply and Services Canada, 1989), p. 23.

29. National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Adolescent Sexual Offenders, p. 1.

30. Robin Badgley et al, Sexual Offences Against Children and Youth (Ottawa: Department of Supply and Services Canada, 1984), p. 847.

31. Wurtele and Miller-Perrin, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, p. 18.

32. National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Adolescent Sexual Offenders, p. 2.

33. Michele Elliott, Female Sexual Abuse of Children: The Ultimate Taboo (London: Longman, 1993).

34. Finkelhor, 'New Myths About Child Sexual Abuse," pp. 6-7.

35. Finkelhor, 'New Myths About Child Sexual Abuse,' p. 7.

36. Rogers, Reaching for Solutions, pp. 17-18.

37. From David Finkelhor, Child Sexual Abuse: New Theory and Research (New York. Free Press, 1984), pp. 12-13.

38. Louise Sas, Three Years After the Verdict: A Longitudinal Study of the Social and Psychological Adjustment of Child Witnesses Referred to the Child Witness Project (London: London Family Court Clinic, 1993).

39. Susan Vella, 'False Memory Syndrome. Therapists are the Targets in New Sexual Assault Defence Theory,' The National (Canadian Bar Association, January/February 1994), p. 37.

40. Vella, "False Memory Syndrome,' P. 37.

41. Vella, "False Memory Syndrome,' p. 37.

42. Rogers, Reaching for Solutions, p. 79.

43. Wurtele and Miller-Perrin, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, pp. 103-108.
 

Quotes

Page 14 - Reaching for Solutions. The Report of the Special Advisor to the Minister of National Health and Welfareon Child Sexual Abuse in Canada (Ottawa: Department of Supply and Services Canada, 1990), p. 18.

Page 15 -Judy Steed ,Our Little Secret: Confronting Child Sexual Abuse in Canada (Toronto: Random House, 1994) p.xi.

Page 16 - Jan Hindman, Just Before Dawn (AlexAndria Associates, 1989), p. 10.

Page 17 - Recollecting Our Lives: Women's Experience of Childhood Sexual Abuse (Vancouver: Press Gang, 1989),p.81.

Page 18 - Trauma and Recovery (New York: Basic Books, 1992), p. 96.

Page 21 - "New Myths About Child Sexual Abuse" (Ottawa: National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, 1989), pp. 6-7.

Page 22 - "New Myths About Child Sexual Abuse," p. 12.

Page 23 - Recollecting Our Lives, p. 106.

Page 24 - Reaching for Solutions, p. 79.

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