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7 Ways Friends & Family Revictimize Sexual Abuse Survivors

7 Ways Friends & Family Revictimize Sexual Abuse Survivors

[A version of this article was published in PsychCentral in 2017. It has been edited, expanded, and reposted to the Second Wound Blog.]

Twenty-five years ago when I first disclosed that I had been sexually abused as a child, I could not have known it would mark the beginning of a long, confusing struggle that would leave me feeling dismissed, rejected, and punished for choosing to face my abuse and the ways it has impacted me.

The responses didn’t start this way. Initially, loved ones acknowledged my experiences and expressed sorrow for my pain. But as I continued to heal and explore the abuse further, some in my inner circle began to push back in ways that felt profoundly wounding. And it only got worse as time went on.

Disclosure of sexual abuse can be the beginning of a whole second set of problems for survivors when important people in our lives respond in ways that add new pain to old wounds. Healing from past abuse is made more difficult when one is emotionally injured again in the present, repeatedly, and with no guarantee that things will improve. Adding to this pain, invalidating responses often mirror aspects of the abuse itself, leading survivors to feel overpowered, silenced, blamed, and shamed. And they may carry this pain alone, unaware that their experience is tragically common.

Here are seven ways that friends, family members, and others revictimize survivors:

1. Denying or minimizing the abuse

Many survivors never receive an acknowledgment that they were abused. The very people they turn to for support may accuse them of lying, exaggerating, looking for attention, and having false memories. This negation of a survivor’s reality only adds insult to emotional injury as it reaffirms past experiences of being unheard, unprotected, and overpowered.

One might assume, therefore that recognition of the abuse would go a long way toward helping survivors move forward with important people in their lives. That is one potential outcome. However, acknowledgment does not necessarily mean that people in the survivor’s life understand, or are willing to recognize the impact of sexual abuse. Even when survivors are believed, they are often pressured not to bring up the abuse and criticized when they do. All too often, they are actively discouraged from holding perpetrators and enablers accountable for the pain they caused. 

2. Blaming and shaming the victim

Placing blame on the survivor, whether overt or subtle, is a disturbingly common response. People ask victims ignorant questions such as why they did not speak up sooner or why they didn’t fight back. Some outright accuse survivors of participating in their abuse. (This is a black-and-white issue in the case of minors who cannot legally consent to sexual activities.) 

Victim-blaming shifts the focus onto the survivor’s behavior instead of where it belongs, on the perpetrators and their crimes. Embedded in societal attitudes, victim-blaming can be used as a way to keep survivors quiet. Because sexual abuse victims tend to carry deeply embedded shame and self-blame, they are more easily wounded by these responses.

Instead of blame and shame, survivors need assurance that no one deserves to be abused. It takes courage to disclose abuse to friends and family. Survivors should be reminded that they are courageous for facing their traumatic experiences and choosing to actively heal from abuse.

3. Telling survivors to “move on” and “stop focusing on the past”

These messages are destructive and backward. Survivors need to be supported as they explore their trauma, examine its effects, and work through the emotional impact. Only by dealing with the abuse does the past begin to lose some of its power, allowing survivors to move forward. Pressuring them to “let it go” and “think positive” is another way that people in their lives try to avoid the harsh realities of abuse at the cost of a survivor’s emotional needs.

4. Shutting down their voices

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I had a recurring dream in which I tried to make a phone call but couldn’t get a dial tone, connect the call, or croak out audible words. These dreams diminished once I began to consistently speak up for myself and felt heard by people in my life who supported my healing.

Sadly, those closest to survivors frequently reject or ignore their reports of abuse and dismiss their needs. Survivors are accused of treating the family or group badly when they continue to address abuse, express their hurt and anger, or assert boundaries in ways they never could as children. They are treated like troublemakers for disclosing sexual abuse while perpetrators are left alone and even embraced. These attitudes are unhealthy and wrong-headed. They leave survivors feeling understandably confused, hurt, angry, and alone.

5. Ostracizing & smearing survivors

Survivors may find themselves with a diminished role in their family or support system as a consequence of speaking up. They are disrespected and treated like lesser members of the group. They get left out of special events and social gatherings, even while abusers are included. 

Smear campaigns are a common way to discredit survivors by spreading false information about them. People in their lives may claim they are mentally ill, lying, exaggerating their experiences, or all of the above. Assertions like these protect the image of the group and the perpetrator at the expense of the victim. They serve to punish survivors for speaking the uncomfortable truth and effectively reduce their chances of being believed and supported.

These tactics are extremely hurtful and only add to a survivor’s lasting pain and trauma.

6. Refusing to “take sides”

Some people claim they don’t want to take sides between survivor and perpetrator. But staying neutral when one person has inflicted damage on another is choosing to be passive in the face of wrongdoing. Survivors need and deserve to be supported as they work to heal from abuse, hold abusers accountable, and try to protect themselves and others from further harm. People in their lives should be reminded that abusers committed wrongful acts against survivors, and therefore ‘neutrality’ is not an appropriate stance. 

In the words of Nobel Peace Price winner Elie Wiesel, “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” 

7. Pressuring survivors to make up with the perpetrator

Far too often, survivors are expected to be friendly to the person who abused them. They are encouraged to act as if abuse is merely water under the bridge or a ‘mistake’ that needs to be forgiven. 

No one should ask a survivor to even be in the presence of a perpetrator, especially for the sake of brushing child sexual abuse under the rug. Pressuring survivors this way is a repeat of the abuse of power exerted upon them when they were violated. It is destructive and inexcusable and it ignores the dangers that abusers may pose to others. 

Reasons why

There are many reasons why individuals, families, and other institutions respond to sexual abuse survivors in harmful ways. Behind all of them lies a desire (conscious or not) to maintain denial about sexual abuse. Common reasons include concern about the family or organization looking bad, awe or fear of the perpetrator, unwillingness to give up rewards and/or status they get from the perpetrator, and the threat of being ostracized from the group if they stand with the survivor. Guilt for not recognizing the abuse at the time, or for failing to stop it, also contributes to denial. Some individuals have a history of being victimized themselves and they are not able, or willing to address it. Finally, some individuals who lash out at survivors are perpetrators themselves.

The desire to maintain power structures within families, groups, and society as a whole is another significant motivator that cannot be understated. 

Final Thoughts

Most people choose to look the other way in the face of child sexual abuse rather than listen to survivors and hold abusers accountable. As Dr. Judith Herman states in her groundbreaking book Trauma and Recovery, “It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering.”

We have a collective moral obligation to address the social justice problem that is sexual violence. We do this by listening to survivors without bias, recognizing their very real trauma, and taking steps to hold offenders accountable and prevent them from causing further harm. If more people and organizations took this approach, we would see a significant reduction in the rates of sexual crimes. Just as important, this type of support by the community could serve as a corrective emotional experience for individual survivors who have been isolated and shamed by the experience of sexual abuse and assault.  

Takeaways 

Faced with a backlash for speaking up about sexual crimes, survivors may be tempted to give in to pressure so they can put an end to these repercussions and avoid the risk of being rejected completely. And yet, they will continue to be affected by these unhealthy dynamics whether they fight against them or not. The way I see it, the pain of backlash from family and friends is rarely as high a cost as the sacrifice of a survivor’s truth.

I know firsthand how painful this “second wound” can be. Had I been better prepared for what lay ahead after my disclosure I might have been spared years of sadness, frustration, and struggle against unchanging group dynamics. Fortunately, I have learned never to compromise what I know to be true or what I deserve. And that is to be heard, believed, and respected, not only for what I’ve been through but also for the person I have worked so hard to become. 

Comments(10)

  1. REPLY
    E McG says

    In my experience sexual abuse is proliferated in shame based families, perfectionism, control particularly control via shaming and grandiosity often are the dysfunctional ways these families deal with everything shame based they experience including the abuse. At the extremes of these coping mechanisms narcissistic personality traits develop. It is extremely common for sexual abuse to occur in narcissistic families. That is what survivors are faced with, the narcissists that perpetuate the abuse are surrounded by narcissists who sweep the abuse under the rug. It is a whole second level of abuse survivors face.

  2. REPLY
    Jenni says

    I think all of their reasons for not doing the right thing all boil down to selfishness. When I look it it objectively, it does make sense that the members of a crappy family would act in ways that are crappy. I just wish society as a whole would stop pretending that all families are loving.

  3. REPLY
    D. RUEHL says

    I wish this article focused on “abuse” period; not just “sexual abuse”. I was not sexually abused but physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially from both of my parents, my brother and eventually my ex-husband. I didn’t even know what a “narcissist, sociopath or a psychopath was. My entire family has reacted precisely as discussed above for the past 18 years when I began to finally realize what had happened to me. Even the slightest reference to abuse of any kind is met with cognitive dissonance. It is extremely painful and lonely. I would have liked to present this piece to a family member, but the singular reference to only “sexual abuse” prevents me for obvious reasons.

    • REPLY
      miranda.pacchiana says

      I hear you. These same dynamics definitely happen around other types of abuse. I’m so sorry you experienced abuse and revictimization.

  4. REPLY
    Kay says

    This is a brilliant, tragic analysis. All this has happened to me as I confronted an abuser in my family. I have seen people I have known for 30, 40 years act in ways, I never thought them capable of. Thanks for working to address this issue.

  5. REPLY
    Marian says

    Excellent article. I can relate to every word in it. A child victim revictimized as an adult. In hindsight, I wish I had never shared my abuse story with my youngest brother. I thank God that I have my husband who has been there to wipe my tears and has never ever told me to “get over it”.

  6. REPLY
    Rachel Woolf says

    I read this post and I feel like you took my words and feelings and put them on paper. The pain of losing my family (parents & siblings) while my brother stands tall with their support. It helps to know that I am not crazy, that my voice should be heard and I often think it would be easier to just let it go and as they said “if I just apologize” I’ll be back in the family. But my truth is more important to me. I might be able to live with them but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

  7. REPLY
    linda tripp says

    i tried my whole life to fit with a family but would not deny my truth so i was left out of convesations and basicly black balled by a family who were just as abused as me yet none of them will talk about it instead im crazy i spent years trying to keep them safe since my perpertrator was my father i thought i could keep an eye out for any unusual things going on i was wrong and like you said i spent many frustrating years when i should have walked away and not looked back . today i have little to no contact with my 5 siblings but spend time talking with a niece that my brother abused . she has tried everything to make him be accountable and been told to stay away from any family things even funerals while hes been embraced as the wronged one its just so screwed up on so many levels

  8. REPLY
    Lisa Wain says

    I have just come out of a 5 year legal battle against my uncle. the final verdict was handed down in the Federal Supreme Court in Canberra a couple of weeks ago. While the judge held “grave suspicions” that the allegations were true, the verdict was not-guilty.

    I cannot express how much of a blow this outcome has been and the impact on the way I view the world.

    My Aunt, his (adopted) younger sister was another of his victims, she battled along side me until 8 months before the case made it to court, when she took her own life. Another blow that I will never get over. Her case still went forward, alongside mine, but because she could not take the stand for cross examination by a brutal and disgusting defence lawyer, her count was impossible to win.

    The 2 week long court case was a harrowing experience. My original (female) prosecutor who had been working on the case for 18 months or so, took maternity leave 2 months before the trial. I had been feeling slightly confident up until that point. when the new (male) prosecutor took over, my confidence fell away and I believe that this changeover was one the determining factors of us loosing our case.

    The abuse happened 45 years ago (for me) and 55 years ago (for my Aunt). The enabling, the victim blaming, the sweeping it under the carpet, the “not taking sides”, the smear campaigns and the number of times I was told to “get over it” “let bygones be bygones” “forgiveness is healing” over the past 30 years since disclosure is unbelievable.

    At the moment I am unsure of what to do with it all. I am lucky to have a supportive husband, family and friends, and (from the outside) a pretty good life, but on the inside I wonder if I will ever experience true peace and joy.

    One thing I know for sure, there is not enough being done to prevent child sexual abuse, perpetrators are allowed to be free to continue to abuse, and the system and their supporters continue to enable it. Sadly, we are a long long way from making change!

    • REPLY
      miranda.pacchiana says

      I’m sorry it took me so long to see and approve this comment. Thank you for telling your story here. I can imagine the devastation that you feel after this unjust verdict and the many tragedies that led up to this point. You are not alone. You have my great admiration for facing and telling the truth through all these terrible twists and turns. I hope it gives you some peace to know you did everything you could. The truth does not change in the face of other people’s denial, pushback and dismissiveness. It’s still on your side.

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