It’s time to confront the sexual crime that few ever discuss

Sexual abuse by brothers and sisters is more common than we think

The Sunday Times

Sunday March 17 2024, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times

Today’s Magazine cover story is a troubling but important read about a difficult subject, sibling sexual abuse. Many people will never have given any thought to sexual abuse by siblings, in the belief that sexual abuse within families is often carried out by fathers, stepfathers, grandparents, uncles or cousins.

But sibling sexual abuse (SSA), defined by one expert as “sexual acts initiated by one sibling without the other’s consent, by use of force or coercion, or where there is a power differential between the siblings”, is much more common than we think. Children are between three and five times more likely to be abused by an older sibling than by a father or stepfather.

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https://e1799164e01ded538820b0b3a51f0b73.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html The article is pay-wall

Certain insights from the article

“Dynamics in the families where it occurs often include parental absence or lack of supervision, a family crisis such as parental illness, or parents asking their older children to babysit, oblivious to the risk. Poor sexual boundaries within the family, or exposure to pornography or domestic violcence, increase the risk, reports the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity that works to prevent child sexual abuse. Jealousy and resentment within step-families can also lead to “SSA” – Sibling Sex Abuse. But it can and does occur in any kind of home. Most of the adult survivors interviewed for this piece that if I had lived next door, I’d have thought theirs was a loving, happy family”

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“Nancy Morris, a Canadian SSA survivor, 61, presents the #SibligsToo podcast. She argues that SSA should be treated as a public health rather than criminal justice issue. Early intervention and intensive family therapy, the child protection officer agrees, can be highly effective. “But families often have to wait months, even a year, for a referral, and then things can get to the point of beyond repair. We need more resources”.

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“Stuart Allardyce is Britain’s leading SSA research academic: he is director of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Chairman of the National Organisation for the treatment of abuse. “Thin aboutsleeping arrangements in your household…….he does not want to create a moral panic

20 years ago…Denial, Deceit, Fear … meant articles of this nature just did not appear.

Check out

5WAVES.org. The Scottish charity Thriving Survivors; Radio 4 has a broadcast documentary, Sibling Abuse, The Last Taboo? The first international #SiblingsToo Day took place last year, the next is on April 15th

Having read the hard copy: Thank you to the people who detailed their own experiences of Sibling Sexual Abuse