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:
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![]() Courtesy of Prism Magazine, http://prism.wpengine.com/
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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:
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