The Connection Between Batterers and Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrators
This article outlines the overlap between domestic violence and child sexual abuse, and details specific behavioral patterns to assist in understanding the nature of both problems and how they can interact.
“Public misconceptions are similar between the two forms of abuse. Batterers and child molesters are perceived as mentally ill individuals from particularly disturbing childhoods; the public is always shocked when a man with a highly positive public image is exposed as a batterer or child molester. The nature of the abuse itself is similarly misunderstood; a batterer’s violence and an incest perpetrators sexual violations are just one aspect of their behavior problem. The overtly abusive behaviors are invariably accompanied by patterns of psychological abuse and manipulation that are often as damaging, or more so, than the overt physical or sexual abuse…”