You can encounter people who respond to your experiences inappropriately or in damaging ways while you go through your healing process. You might experience insecurity, embarrassment, or discouragement due to these responses, whether deliberate or not. You can feel scrutinized or ridiculed by them. Paolo Tabbi’s recent child sexual abuse book sheds light on the awareness of child abuse.

When you disclose your abuse, you could have a painful reaction that stops your healing process and makes you wonder if you should keep telling people about it.

Stigmas associated with child sexual abuse do not define you or dictate your experience as a survivor, no matter how hurtful some reactions may be.

What Is Stigma And Where Does It Come From?

“Stigma” is when a person or a group of people assign a negative onto another person or group of people based on a set of beliefs, perspectives, or biases.

Based on a set of beliefs, biases, or perspectives, when a person or a group of people assign a negative connotation to another person or group of people, it is “stigma.”

Several factors can influence someone's perspective on child sexual abuse. They might not have dealt with their own trauma experiences, not know how to react appropriately, or have been affected by other cultural myths. Even when someone reacts with the best of intentions, their actions may still be wrong and leave you feeling demoralized or even provoked.

It does not make you weak, shaky, or helpless to feel impacted by someone's response to your disclosure or other media or popular culture messages. It doesn't imply that you are unprepared or that your healing process has somehow stalled. You are powerful, competent, and tenacious; that much is true. Your bravery and fortitude are demonstrated by the fact that you have survived, are reading this, and are battling your demons. As you choose to acknowledge and come to terms with the trauma you have experienced, you are a role model for resilience and a formidable warrior.

But regardless of where you are in your recovery process, other people's ignorance can still hurt. This kind of incorrect information could be presented to you in responses from other people and in social media posts, news reports, dialogues in public, media depictions, etc. These offensive and upsetting comments are a result of long-standing stigmas associated with sexual abuse.

Such stigmas have given rise to cultural myths or out-of-date and incorrect perceptions. Sociologists and feminists initially addressed these societal misconceptions (such as "she was asking for it," "men's passions are uncontrollable," and "boys can't be sexually abused") and its detrimental knock-on effects in the 1970s. In 1975, several researchers proposed the theory that societal myths about sexual assault were used to excuse, minimize, and even support harmful acts.