Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
Child Abuse Negl. 2023 Jun;140:106144. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106144. Epub 2023 Mar 23.
Empirical literature on child sexual abuse (CSA) has traditionally focused on the CSA of girls. Much less is known about the CSA of boys, specifically about the survivors' experiences. The current study was designed to examine the experiences and perceptions of male adult survivors who underwent CSA as boys.
Fifty-one written narratives were collected from survivors who experienced CSA as boys as part of the Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into CSA. A qualitative inductive thematic analysis guided the data analysis.
The findings highlighted CSA survivors' experiences of not understanding and confusion about the abuse while highlighting the context in which the abuse took place. The findings also emphasized the exploitation of power and the survivors' difficulty identifying being sexually abused during physical fights or public events. Moreover, the survivors referred to their surroundings' failure to notice the abuse and their struggle to establish their identity and overcome the abuse consequences, their loneliness and pain.
The present findings advance the literature on the CSA of boys by examining narratives written by male CSA survivors. They highlight the potentially destructive role of the heteronormative and conventional masculinity discourse for male CSA survivors, which often enabled the continuation of abuse and challenges that survivors continued to face throughout their lives. The findings also stress society's crucial role in CSA prevention and treatment and the need for public education to challenge societal perceptions regarding the CSA of boys.
儿童性虐待（CSA）的实证文献传统上侧重于对女孩的 CSA。对于男孩的 CSA，尤其是幸存者的经历，了解得要少得多。本研究旨在研究经历过 CSA 的男性成年幸存者的经历和看法。
作为对 CSA 的以色列独立公共调查的一部分，从经历过 CSA 的男孩中收集了 51 份书面叙述。定性归纳主题分析指导了数据分析。
研究结果突出了 CSA 幸存者对虐待的不理解和困惑，同时强调了虐待发生的背景。研究结果还强调了权力的滥用，以及幸存者在身体冲突或公共事件中难以识别被性虐待的情况。此外，幸存者提到了周围环境未能注意到虐待行为，以及他们在建立自己的身份和克服虐待后果、孤独和痛苦方面的挣扎。
本研究通过检查男性 CSA 幸存者撰写的叙述，推进了对男孩 CSA 的文献研究。他们强调了异性恋和传统男子气概话语对男性 CSA 幸存者的潜在破坏性作用，这种话语往往使虐待行为得以继续，并使幸存者在整个一生中继续面临挑战。研究结果还强调了社会在 CSA 预防和治疗中的关键作用，以及需要进行公众教育以挑战社会对男孩 CSA 的看法。
