Tonight at the sexual asault survivors support group that I facilitate, the topic of covert sexual abuse came up. The women shared stories of those subtle, or not so subtle, forms of sexual abuse that leave the victim feeling like, “Wait a minute…I know that was wrong, but I’m not sure.”

The women talked about everything from exposure to dad’s pornography collection to comments about their developing breasts and included innuendo about their sexuality by male relatives. The women talked about how damaging this type of emotional sexual abuse was just as damaging as actual rapes and molestation. They shared about how crazy it made them feel and how it made them doubt themselves.

I am curious about whether others have had this experience and if there are any resources on this topic I can share with my group.