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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: This article is based on a study analysing survivors' testimonies (n = 870) about child sexual abuse (CSA) within the family. The context of the study is the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany (IICSA). The Inquiry's work is based on the concept of witnessing and supporting mainly survivors of CSA to share their stories. Since 2016 the Inquiry has collected more than 2000 written and oral reports.
OBJECTIVE: The article explores the challenges of working through and coming to terms with past and present aspects of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the private space of the family. The main focus here is on findings from the statistical analysis on perpetrators and bystanders. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The study involved an evaluation of 870 reports by survivors and third parties.
METHODS: Descriptive analysis was carried out on mentions of perpetrators, strategies of perpretators, climate in the family, bystanders in the family.
RESULTS: Significantly more female than male survivors have contacted the Inquiry. The youngest people who approached the Inquiry were adolescents and young adults between 16 and 21 years of age. The oldest people were between 76 and 80 years old (for reasons of secure pseudonymisation, spans of five years are given). The results pointed to insights about male and female perpetrators and the situation of the affected children in the family. In 47 % of the mentions of perpetrators, fathers and stepfathers were named, in 9 % it was the mother or stepmother, and in 11 % biological siblings were named. There is a proportion of cases in which more than one perpetrator is mentioned.
CONCLUSIONS: One aim was to identify common characteristics in the actions of perpetrators within families as well as insights into the structures in families that promote child sexual abuse. The discussion shed light on the importance of the third party and the possibilities for the perpetrators to shape the environment of the family as a whole. Witnessing by survivors is an important epistemological, ethical, and political instrument for creating knowledge.
Language: en |