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The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#231
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently something similar happened when X-Rays started becoming routine. Doctors X-raying kids saw evidence that so many of them had a history of broken bones from abuse. It took a while for the medical community as a whole to acknowledge that widespread child abuse was actually occurring, and longer to wrangle with the idea that it was something that was within their mandate as doctors to do something about. http…

Dealing with abused children is unfortunately common in pediatric medicine and is a huge reason for burnout in the field, because a doctor will know about neglect happening that’s not “bad enough” to call someone about, or if they do, they know nothing will happen because even the services to get kids out of neglectful situations are themselves rife with abuse.

The veterinary field is the same way. I saw a TON of abused pets & animals when I was doing vet tech work. I ultimately decided not to pursue vet school.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife was summoned for jury duty, and the case had to do with sexual abuse. At jury selection time they ask if a prospective juror would have difficulty being impartial because of the nature of the case. If you were uncomfortable discussing the matter, you could ask to be taken aside to discuss without the others in the room hearing it. Out of a few dozen people, seven women left the room to explain why they could…

When I was in a jury pool for a murder trial, I remember being shocked at how many people raised their hand when the question of whether they had personal experience with murder was asked. I figured barely anyone would raise their hand, but so many people had either had a close family member murdered, or were themselves accused of murder at some point. I really realized how sheltered my life has been.

People lie to get out of jury duty especially trials expected to be long and/or shocking.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#233

I find this to be the most telling stat: "In a few cases (N So roughly 5% (<5 of 84) of the control group were discovered to have themselves been abused and needed to be dropped from the study. I was once in a law lecture on medical ethics. We were discussing genetic testing of newborns and how this could detect incest/abuse. A medical doctor in the class was dead against such testing. In his experience, amongst preg…

"In a few cases (N I think you are misinterpreting. First, they say: "...information was obtained about any possible unwanted sexual experiences of the comparison females or other family members " So interpreting it as 5 of 84 women is incorrect. It's min 5 people of 84 families . Given a mean family size of perhaps 3.5 (if by "family" they mean "nuclear family", though I bet they include anyone you know about really…

> I haven't read it in detail and won't because my spidey senses say it's not worth it based on what I've seen skimming.

Wow thanks for this extremely well researched and authoritative opinion

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#234

[trigger warning] I'm a woman. I was physically and sexually abused by my father as a child. The impact it's had on me is painful to describe. I was working as a software engineer in the tech industry and was constantly experiencing PTSD symptoms being surrounded by men -- though by no fault of their own, it was totally because of what my father did to me. It's been a frustrating journey. The sexual abuse happened to…

The Body Keeps the Score is honestly a must-read, but it can be deeply challenging. Reading that book helped me uncover even more childhood trauma that I wasn't really actively processing or recognizing as abuse until then. So it was an extra challenge on top of the trauma I was already dealing with.

And for what it's worth, I also am a SWE, and I also struggle working around men. 90% of the time, the men I work with are awesome, supportive, nice, etc. But the trauma informs that 10% where I feel invalid, not seen, objectified... all that fun stuff. It's challenging and I don't think trauma has ever been brought up as a challenge in the workplace when there's no trauma directly in the workplace, if that makes sense. I certainly haven't directly connected it before this.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the whole concept of random citizens being pulled in for jury duty is idiotic. Jurors should be professionals who are trained in being jurors: who, for one thing, thoroughly understand topics in critical reasoning such as fallacies, and cognitive biases. They should be properly paid, and so are not sitting there on a Saturday morning, socking it to the defendant out of spite for being dragged out of their reg…

That system exists. They are called bench trials. No defendant is forced us submit to a jury. The defendant doesn't want a jury because he thinks that it will "sock it to him" on a Saturday. He wants a jury because he thinks that his fellow citizens will see that the government is improperly accusing him of a crime. The defendant has the right to a trial by people who are not part of the same government that has accu…

Among the small share and number of federal defendants who went to trial in fiscal 2018, those who opted for a bench trial – that is, one in which the verdict is handed down by a judge – fared better than those who opted for a jury trial. Around four-in-ten defendants who faced a bench trial (38%) were acquitted, compared with just 14% of those who faced a jury trial.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-f...

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#236
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife was summoned for jury duty, and the case had to do with sexual abuse. At jury selection time they ask if a prospective juror would have difficulty being impartial because of the nature of the case. If you were uncomfortable discussing the matter, you could ask to be taken aside to discuss without the others in the room hearing it. Out of a few dozen people, seven women left the room to explain why they could…

> This isn't something that I have to personally worry about if I'm by myself, but it's something that so many women do have to worry about all the time. I can't even imagine the burden that women must carry. Not just women, but children. I was aware that I could be sexually assaulted/harrassed and what to do about it by the time I was 5, and I started getting uncomfortable comments in person around age 11. I'm also…

There's a considerable asymmetry here between men and women. I'm really curious about sussing it out and understanding how it develops.

At an early age, about 5 or so I was exposed to sex, with peers, male/female. Later I was raped through coercion by two older children at 10-ish, male/female. Additionally none of this was ever reported until adulthood.

As a male I've repeatedly been put in positions that I could describe as uncomfortable (though I don't, usually), pressured intimacy, catcalling, sexually forward girls/men...

Having gotten feedback from female peers in adulthood, I've gotten to wondering about the way that society tends to articulate sex and rape to women. The summary of framing that I've gotten from one of my intimates, is that at an early age women are given the impression that sex is their single lever in a relationship or socially. Sex is the only way which a woman can gain approval. Which, to me, seems like it would drastically amplify the experience of rape. There's also the puritanical considerations of virginity and slut shaming, etc... But I don't know that it's really a running theme in individual women.

And then there's the proactive modality. At the time of my rapes, I was not informed on rape or consent, and so the context wasn't that of violence, but simply commonplace arm twisting, and because it was as such I only ever saw that it could be framed as a traumatic episode much later. On the obverse, having been informed of such things as detestable, as violent, as traumatic and serious and driven to reporting it, I could imagine that it would escalate my feelings, and I suspect so would dealing with it externally with strangers and institutions and perhaps having some artificial narrative constructed by interlopers either directly or indirectly. I mean, consider having to talk to parents, police, social workers and so on it's implies a considerable escalation from the day-to-day. Especially as a child. Of course this seldom happens. I wonder if it's a sort of funeral psychology where you feel compelled to cry and mourn because that's what's implied, even if you don't feel the need.

But as a male having gone through these situations, without the framework being described, but rather having the privilege to describe it myself, it simply never evolved into a trauma. And I think this might be borne out by the statistics wherein boys/men simply do not report rape, just beyond the fact that it may happen less frequently. But having direct perspective on it, I wonder if I'm an oddball, or if trauma resulting from female rape is sort of amplified by the way women are socialized and informed.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are removing all jurors who have been abused because they are 'not impartial', aren't we left with a collection of people who are totally ignorant? The jury has to judge how a reasonable person would act in a certain situation, who is lying and who is telling the truth. Off one end, we have victim blamind and rapists walking free, off another end, uk had "serial liar" who invented false rape allegations and sen…

> The jury has to judge how a reasonable person would act in a certain situation, who is lying and who is telling the truth. And they should do this by weighing the evidence impartially, not emotionally.

Exactly. The juror's ignorance or lack of direct experience with the alleged offense does not make him less able to evaluate the evidence. It is the prosecution's job to present the evidence with enough clarity to remove reasonable doubt.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the whole concept of random citizens being pulled in for jury duty is idiotic. Jurors should be professionals who are trained in being jurors: who, for one thing, thoroughly understand topics in critical reasoning such as fallacies, and cognitive biases. They should be properly paid, and so are not sitting there on a Saturday morning, socking it to the defendant out of spite for being dragged out of their reg…

That system exists. They are called bench trials. No defendant is forced us submit to a jury. The defendant doesn't want a jury because he thinks that it will "sock it to him" on a Saturday. He wants a jury because he thinks that his fellow citizens will see that the government is improperly accusing him of a crime. The defendant has the right to a trial by people who are not part of the same government that has accu…

> exactly what the defendant wants

Only if the defendant is a fool. People being the way people are, are just as likely to resent the defendant as the root cause of why they have to be there at all as the are to resent the system (and side with the defendant out of spite for the system).

The latter will likely only happen in a trial that is between the defendant and the system (i.e. the state).

In, say, a criminal trial in which the victim isn't the state, reluctant, resentful jurors will sock it to the defendant. If there is any uncertainty in the decision, that sentiment may sway it.

Resentment of the jury duty concept will predispose jurors to cave in to their social prejudices. Oh, he must have done it; he's a tattoo-covered, prematurely-aged chain smoker with three gold teeth. Everything about this guy says "criminal". Fuck this asshole for making me be here on a Saturday.

Time is an issue. People who are impatient and just want something to be over will not do a good job of sifting through things to get to the truth, which takes time and patience.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my philosophy professors was excluded from jury selection, and happened to run into the lawyer who excluded him shortly after in the bathroom, and asked why. The lawyer said it was because he wrote Philosophical Quarterly on his questionnaire, and that he routinely excludes people like my professor who are highly educated. Why? my professor asked. Because you don't listen to the lawyers or the judge, he was to…

I see what they mean, but still doesn't seem good. I would assume "big brained" witness especially defendants are told by their lawyers to shut up for similar reasons, too.

Defendants often don't testify at all, it's impossible for them to be impartial and generally they can only hurt themselves. They have the presumption of innocence and they don't have to say a word to establish that.

Re: The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longitudinal study

#240
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

same. My abuse was very early, which it tends to be for men. My abusers weren't removed from my life until I was six, and even then were brought back over and over again. I am 40. I became a successful software developer. Then I finally couldn't ignore what happened to me. It was a brutal 3 years of therapy and trying to find my way out of the emotional pain I felt. I am just now getting my career on track, but I am…

Thank you very much for sharing this. Me too. Like yours, mine occurred early. Like you, I was exposed to my abuser many times afterward. As a boy, I carried my shame in silence, and learned early to dislike and avoid extended family gatherings, masking my avoidance in a blanket of "family sucks/is boring" cynicism. As an early teen entering puberty, I grew increasingly disturbed about had happened. I tried to force…

Kidpower is my favorite resource for how to talk about personal safety with kids and teach them skills to help them stay safe with people. The Safety Comics are a good place to start:

https://www.kidpower.org/books/safety-comics/

And I also learned a lot and had some big mindset changes from reading the giant Kidpower Book for Caring Adults, which really goes in depth and is good at breaking things down into simple practices.

https://www.kidpower.org/books/kidpower-book/

I really like the mindset of teaching kids how to be safe in a positive way (i.e. without scaring them about potential dangers) and the serious-business approach to our responsibilities as adults.

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