Sexual abuse in dating relationships

If you are in an intimate relationship with a person who was sexually abused as a child or teen, this booklet is for you. The information can help you whether you're male or female and whether you're in a gay, lesbian, or heterosexual relationship. For the purposes of this booklet we will be using the female pronoun. You and your partner are not alone. At least one in four women and one in six men were sexually abused as children. As adults talk more openly about abuse and how it has affected them, their partners will come to understand how the abuse impacts the relationship.

People who were sexually abused in childhood often engage in abusive relationships as adults. They might repeatedly find themselves in adult relationships where they are victimized, physically, emotionally, or sexually. If you are a victim of child abuse or know someone who might be, call or text the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at to speak with a professional crisis counselor. For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database. Some even become abusive themselves. The top ten reasons sexually abused children grow up to have abusive relationships in adulthood include the following. If the connection between abuse and "love" is made early in life, the feelings of shame and anger , which naturally happen as a consequence of the abuse, can become mixed up with sexual feelings, leading to confusion in the person who experienced the abuse.

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An intimate partner's initiation of forced sex may signal the escalation of tyranny in physically abusive relationships and failed plans to obtain mutual consent for sexual intercourse in dating relationships. Providers of obstetric and gynecologic care are in strategic positions for primary detection of and intervention in physical and sexual abuse. To assist nurses with the understanding of women's responses to abuse and to enhance implementation of interventions, this article describes the dynamics of and a process for intervening in such abuses.