Childhood Abuse: Mother-Daughter Sexual Abuse

When most people think about a child abuser, they see a young to middle-age man abusing a girl between the ages of 8 and 13. Most people would not even consider one of the most secretive forms of abuse: mother-daughter sexual abuse. Mother-daughter sexual abuse is not a topic that most people even consider, much less discuss, so the victims of this form of abuse often suffer in silence.

In the United States, mothers are generally esteemed, viewed as the self-sacrificer who would rather die than harm her own child. While this is true about many, and likely even most, mothers, some violate their children in the most heinous of ways. Because few people are even aware that mother-daughter sexual abuse exists, they do not suspect that abuse is happening, even when there are telltale signs screaming out the child's truth.

Many women are now speaking out about their experiences with mother-daughter sexual abuse, even though they fear that nobody will believe them because "moms don't do that." Whether or not society expects mothers to abuse their children sexually, some do. The victims often hesitate to tell anyone out of fear of not being believed and also out of embarrassment and shame. Some hesitate to enter into therapy because they fear the therapist will assume they are "crazy" rather than believe the truth.

Fortunately, the Internet is helping some of these women to find their voices. There is a website dedicated to healing from mother-daughter sexual abuse, where women are able to come together and discuss what happened to them. Just knowing that others have suffered from the same form of abuse can be very healing to these women.