UNDERSTANDING SEXUAL TRAUMA 

​At the moment of threat, the child is biologically “wired” to see proximity to a parent figure for safety. However, for the child who does not have a secure attachment to her/his parents, these threats are 90 percent likely to emanate from the immediate family. Thus, the very person to whom the child would instinctively turn to at the moment of danger is, in fact, the source of danger, or the source of non-protection from danger (Fisher, 2003).

This relational scenario lays the groundwork for “disorganized attachment,” and can be found in children as young as one year of age whose parents are characterized by researcher observation as “frightening” (Fisher, 2003). In this attachment paradigm, the child demonstrates truncated and ambivalent proximity-seeking responses:
  • ​He/she turns toward the parent, but then stops, freezes, backs-up or turns away, often with a glazed or frightened look.
  • In the context of abusive or neglectful parenting, the attachment drive is intensified, but so are the survival responses to freeze or flight.
  • This disorganized attachment paradigm ultimately complicates all subsequent relationships, including that with the mental health professional.
PictureCLICK IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER
Courtesy of Prism Magazine, http://prism.wpengine.com/
​Most sex trafficked individuals come from either insecure-anxious and ambivalent family units, or insecure-disorganized family units.
​Consequences of Early Sexual Activity   
Early pregnancy:
  • Teenage mothers may drop out of school—forced to work with lower paying jobs,
  • experience greater job dissatisfaction, and
  • become dependent on government support
  • Stress and frustration that leads to neglect and abuse of the child
  • If they marry, marital discord
  • Poor education