Sexual Abuse: Let's Talk About It [Library Binding]

Margaret O. Hyde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1991

Discusses the sexual abuse of children, how they can protect themselves, where they can seek help, the kinds of help available, and how to increase public awareness of this problem.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (October 1991)
• ISBN-10: 9991241876
• ISBN-13: 978-9991241876
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,105,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Keep Silent, February 10, 2012

By 

Bradley P. Hayton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sexual Abuse: Let's Talk About It (Hardcover)

Hyde's Sexual Abuse has been update and enlarged. This book is immensely practical and is very useful as a book to give to clients that the therapist suspects have been abused or are abusing their children. For the most part Hyde states simply what others also say, but her treatment is easier to read for the average reader. Like the above book, she plays on statistics to imply that almost every girl is sexually abused. She defines sexual abuse, dispels some of its myths, and does a superb job counseling parents in both recognizing the symptoms of abuse and giving them practical advice in helping the child disclose incidents of sexual abuse to others. She sensitively relates the stories of others to encourage parents and children to share their own stories. Play therapy and art therapy are recommended as forms of treatment. She gives sample hotline computerized messages, some advice on helping a child through court, and even some advice on different types of community education. She concludes with an excellent list of books, audiovisuals, and both national and regional child abuse organizations and centers.

Some might find some problems with her comments about the abuser. She cannot decide whether the abuser needs prison (punishment) or treatment. Although she leaves it an open question, she says, "There are really two victims in child sexual abuse: the child and the offender" (p. 41). Putting the abused and the abuser in the same category is like saying murderers, rapists, wife abusers, and the list goes on, are victims too. It lets everyone off the hook. Hyde also errs when she implies that the traditional family is the problem behind child sexual abuse. She believes, concurring with Albee, that rather than blaming poor functioning families, we need to train children to have more flexible, feminist sex-roles. When the man is primarily responsible for the family, child sexual abuse is the result. Therefore, both men and women need equal responsibility. Again, Hyde's solution could be part of the problem. Actually child sexual abuse is highly correlated with broken families where the father feels impotent and not in control, or occurs when an outside male comes into a female-dominated family.