Abuse Obscured in Chaotic Families<\/strong><\/p>\nSibling sexual abuse victims often live in dysfunctional family environments that subtly foster incestuous behaviors and are not conducive to disclosing the secret. Sibling incest appears more likely to occur in large families characterized by physical and emotional violence, marital discord, explicit and implicit sexual tensions, and blurred intrafamilial boundaries. Emotionally and\/or physically absent parents may empower older siblings to assume parental roles. In short, these families are chaotic and unlikely to recognize the significance of behaviors occurring between siblings. If sexual behaviors are noticed, they are likely to be minimized and misinterpreted as a normal aspect of childhood development. Lack of adequate parental supervision provides perpetrators with ongoing opportunities to offend and protects the secret, leaving the victim vulnerable to continuing abuse (Asherman & Safier, 1990; Caffaro & Conn-Caffaro, 2005).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In the cautionary tale Gothard published, the young offender placed part of the blame on\u00a0being asked to babysit and change his sister\u2019s diapers. Here, the professional literature on sibling sexual abuse points to lack of parental supervision, emotionally or physically absent parents, and older siblings assuming parental roles as contributing factors. I suspect that this may have been what the youthful offender was trying to reach for, albeit inadequately, and it went over Gothard\u2019s head completely.<\/p>\n
Nowhere in his list of guidelines\u00a0for parents does Gothard talk about the importance of parental supervision. Nowhere does he advise\u00a0ensuring that older siblings are not forced to assume\u00a0parental roles. Nowhere does he mention the role played by\u00a0physical violence (such as more severe\u00a0forms of corporal punishment), marital discord (such as the\u00a0underlying and unaddressed tensions common in families that believe in wifely submission), or implicit or explicit sexual tensions (such as the belief that normal\u00a0sexual thoughts and age-appropriate masturbation are sin).<\/p>\n
In the end, it is incredibly clear that Gothard has no idea what he\u2019s talking about when it comes to minor child sexual offenders, or sexual abuse in general. From his victim blaming to his complete ignorance of the factors that contribute to such abuse, Gothard is unable to effectively grapple with these problems or support victims.<\/p>\n
This is why it is so troubling that Josh and his victims appear to have received counseling and treatment in-house, whether\u00a0from their parents or\u00a0through their like-minded church or various ATI seminars or conferences\u2014and this is why professional counseling and treatment is so important.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is why it is so troubling that Josh and his victims appear to have received counseling and treatment in-house, whether from their parents or through their like-minded church or various ATI seminars or conferences. This is why professional counseling and treatment is so important. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[196,398,181,158],"class_list":["post-25638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","tag-bill-gothard","tag-duggars","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-the-duggars"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n