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‘I do not want to think about it’ is an oft-heard phrase. In societies where silence is accepted, and even encouraged, as a way of dealing with trying circumstances, attempting to ‘forget’ one’s traumatic experiences in order to move on is the only path one can take.
In the wide and complex spectrum that is the field of sexual abuse, various forms of sexual assault are often ‘forgotten’ or blocked out — the survivor’s way of coping with the distress. This is part of the phenomenon of repressed memory, in the language of Freudian theory.
The pain that a survivor of child sexual abuse (CSA) experiences is all too real; after decades of sweeping the reality of CSA under the carpet, the disclosures of survivors must be dealt with sensitively and responsibly. Having said that, thorough research demands that every possible side to the truth be examined. Some claims of CSA by children have turned out to be suspect, even untrue. Many of these disclosures occurred from being made to recall repressed memories. In 1982, Kern County residents, Debbie and Alvin McCuan and Brenda and Scott Kniffen, were imprisoned on charges of having sexually abused their children. While the McCuans’ elder daughter initially alleged that her grandfather had touched her inappropriately, insistent police questioning pressured her testimony, together with her sister’s, into becoming progressively elaborate. It is necessary to begin with believing children when they speak of abuse, but the possibility that they may not always be telling the truth must be considered, however hard that may be.
Children may lie about sexual abuse out of a sense of being in a powerful, important position where subsequent actions may be determined by what they say. It is not an uncommon or unjustified feeling, especially in societies where the word of the adult rules the child. The McCuan girls were praised for every incriminating statement, and may have enjoyed it and responded to the prompting. Coercive questioning, too, leads to suspect testimonies. While the girls spoke at the behest of their step-grandmother, Mary Ann Barbour, the Kniffen boys revealed that they made incriminating statements because they had been promised that they’d be allowed to go home. Ironically, feelings of both power and powerlessness can produce invented memories. The independent CSA researcher, Mirna Guha, says, “Many children may not fully comprehend the consequences of their invented disclosures. They are often dangerously manipulated by adults like Mary Ann. The hysteria surrounding sexual abuse often leads to pointing fingers without really searching for the truth. Thus, the child is harmed along with innocent people.”
One might argue that children cannot possess the depths of knowledge about sex that they often display when disclosing abuse. However, it is presumptuous to think that there is only so much that a child can know. Who are we to assume the limits of a child’s knowledge? While children’s disclosures of sexual abuse are never to be treated lightly, it is necessary to want to know the truth, above everything else.
