Читать книгу Faith Born of Seduction - Jennifer L Manlowe - Страница 21

Who could abuse a child? A sexual offender is someone in a position of power or authority who exploits that power by manipulating, by seducing, and by sexually invading one less powerful than him or herself. This violating of boundaries and trust can wreak havoc on a child’s perception of herself and her world. When a child is given the message that the older people who know her will love her and protect her, and then instead an older, trusted member of her family abuses her and no adult validates the reality of this assault, the child’s sense of reality becomes distorted. Such a distortion is narcissistically and socially wounding. A feeling of powerlessness ensues because no one will hear or protect her from the ongoing abuse. The child who has been sexually abused is harmed further if she tells someone and is not believed. She is doubly wounded if she is encouraged to trust in God for her safety. (See more about the devastating role of paternalistic theology in chapters 5 and 6.)

The child who is being sexually assaulted is trapped in a private, impossibly confusing world that gives no validation to the crime of the incest experience. The incestuous intruder into the child’s private world is “like a monster that inhabits her closet: He threatens her only when she is alone, and she must find her own ways of coping with his overpowering presence.”⁴⁴