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Sibling Sexual Abuse: Answering Reader Questions
Following the publication of my blog post Sibling Sexual Abuse: Breaking the Silence, I received several insightful queries from readers seeking clarity and further information. Here is a straightforward Q&A addressing your queries. I was interested to find the answers too so thank you for asking: Q: Where does the research go after publication? A: Research often remains within academic journals, accessible primarily to researchers and institutions with subscriptions. While some findings inform policies or programs, a significant portion of research does not extend beyond academic circles unless there’s a direct effort to translate it into practice. This is a recognised issue in academia, often called the “research-to-practice gap.” Q:…
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You Are Part of This Too, Mom
The child doesn’t know it, since you can’t miss what you’re not familiar with, but the child is actually experiencing abandonment by the mom. When you say ‘that wouldn’t have washed,’ what you’re really saying is your mother had no way of hearing your root feelings. We don’t tend to think of that as wounding, but it is a deeper wound than anything else.
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Sibling Sexual Abuse: Breaking the Silence
Over the past two weeks, I attended two conferences focused on child sexual abuse (CSA) and harmful sexual behaviour (HSB): Reshaping the Conversation with the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse in Brisbane, and the Kids First Australia National CSA and HSB Conference in Melbourne. Across both events, which featured a wide range of expert speakers, practitioners, and advocates, one thing stood out to me—they don’t say sibling sexual abuse (SSA) much, do they? It felt so at odds with the international peer support groups and advocacy organisations I contribute to. One specifically for SSA survivor peer support created by EmpowerSurvivors has around 1000 members, and we know…
