As with other forms of abuse, CSA is characterized by the complex manipulation and coercion of the perpetrator and the unbalanced and power-based relationship that is established by leveraging and exploiting vulnerability.
Childhood sexual abuse includes sexually connotated physical contact or non-contact activities. The former includes intercourse, attempted intercourse, or oral-genital contact with the penis, fingers, or any object; masturbation; and fondling the genitals or other erogenous areas through the clothing or directly. The latter entails forcing a child to participate in adult sexual pleasure (such as sexual harassment and prostitution) or exposing a child to adult sexual activities, such as pornography, voyeurism, and exhibitionism (Putnam, 2003; Slep et al., 2015).
Childhood sexual abuse alters the normal developmental trajectories that are necessary for healthy socioemotional function (Langevin et al., 2016; Clayton et al., 2018), increasing the likelihood of a child experiencing sociorelational difficulties, cognitive dysfunction, depression, anxiety, internalization and externalization of problems, sexualized behaviors, and post-traumatic symptoms (Saywitz et al., 2000). These negative outcomes are exacerbated by the cumulative impact of several types of victimization, to which the child is commonly exposed in his or her family (Putnam et al., 2013; Ford and Delker, 2018; Goodman et al., 2020).
A large body of research has documented that the negative effects of CSA can persist until adulthood. Associations between CSA and a wide range of psychiatric outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, conversion disorder, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression, have been described (Hailes et al., 2019). Further, CSA has been linked to a greater risk for substance abuse (Halpern et al., 2018), suicidal ideation and suicide-related behavior (Afifi et al., 2014; Devries et al., 2014), and adult victimization (Aakvaag et al., 2017).
Notably, as in other forms of childhood maltreatment, children who are exposed to SA are likely to become abusive parents (Assink et al., 2018), supporting the existence of intergenerational transmission of abuse. Specifically, this phenomenon appears to be mediated by the construction of disorganized attachment in the child (Madigan et al., 2006; Cyr et al., 2010).
Beyond being at high risk for lifelong mental disturbances, individuals with CSA are also vulnerable to disruptions in physical health. These individuals often develop a wide variety of symptoms that are often medically unexplained, including chronic pain; sleep problems; adult-onset arthritis; fibromyalgia; long-term fatigue; diabetes; and circulatory, digestive, respiratory, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and neurological problems (Sigurdardottir and Halldorsdottir, 2018).
Several changes in physiological functions have been described as a consequence of CSA. Considering that such effects might be particularly relevant because they are involved in the modulation of CSA-induced psychological and physical disturbances, this minireview will summarize research on the short-term and long-term sequelae of CSA, focusing on the dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the effects on the immune system, and the changes to DNA through altered methylation. Also, the literature on dysfunctional cellular processes, such as DNA telomere erosion and oxidative stress markers as a sign of CSA, will be presented. We will conclude with recent evidence on the pathways through which CSA might be transmitted to offspring.
Jessica Michaels suffered abuse from Jeffery Epstein in 1991 (the year Robert Maxwell died). She was 22 when she was raped by him. Not a child, but, like many similarly harmed women, has suffered PTSD ever since.
She has learned survival skills over her life, and intends to help others. Educating herself she has explored findings from neuroscience research.
She found the highest percentage of PTSD is experienced by females who have suffered sexual abuse:
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Flashbacks, nightmares, and hyperarousal are common in survivors where their body and brain are constantly on high alert for danger, even when none exists.
Anxiety. Persistent feelings of fear, worry, and panic often emerge as a result of the abuse.
Depression. Feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and disconnection from others.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD). Some survivors develop symptoms of BPD, including intense emotions, unstable relationships, and difficulty maintaining a stable sense of self.
These conditions are often interconnected and exacerbate one another, creating a complex web of psychological challenges.
The global problem must build institutional changes to ensure protection and empathy, and create safe environments .
Child survivors require robust legal protections to prevent re-trafficking, ensuring justice and enforcement of laws treat minors involved in sex trafficking as victims, not criminals. Advocacy should focus on establishing policies that provide safe housing, access to healthcare, and family reunification programs where appropriate. Juvenile justice systems require training to recognize trafficked children and connect them with supportive resources.
Sarah Kellen and Ghislaine MaxwellPatrick McMullan
Jeffrey Epstein maintained his financial empire — and his perverted sideline of preying on underage girls for sex — with the aid of an army of alleged enablers, many of whom he kept in one Upper East Side building and lavished with perks.
All sex traffickers around the world spot their victims and draw them into their criminal network using degrading techniques of coercion. The victims lose all sense of who they were or who they might have become. Jessica Michaels says they suffer ‘soul death’ and a ‘crushed spirit’.
She believes perpetrators are free to operate as culturally no-one dares speak out against them. Police interrogate victims with no training, no understanding of the psychologically damaged person before them. They inflict more damage. And all legal processes make the victim relive their trauma so that the pain often becomes so great they may commit suicide.
The perpetrators must be punished and their place in society be exposed, rather than continually punish the victim as cultures do through social media and aggressive reporting.
There is enough neuroscience evidence to underpin court evidence of the injury to victims.
The use of innocents to lure targeted individuals into situations resulting in blackmail, has been around a long time, for example in the US:
Introducing the Mob:
See YouTube
the U.S. alone, the CIA operated numerous sexual blackmail operations throughout the country, employing prostitutes to target foreign diplomats in what the Washington Post once nicknamed the CIA’s “love traps.” If one goes even farther back into the U.S. historical record it becomes apparent that these tactics and their use against powerful political and influential figures significantly predate the CIA and even its precursor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In fact, they were pioneered years earlier by none other than the American Mafia.
In the course of this investigation, MintPress discovered that a handful of figures who were influential in American organized crime during and after Prohibition were directly engaged in sexual blackmail operations that they used for their own, often dark, purposes.
In Part I of this exclusive investigation, MintPress will examine how a mob-linked businessman with deep ties to notorious gangster Meyer Lansky developed close ties with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) while also running a sexual blackmail operation for decades, which later became a covert part of the anti-communist crusade of the 1950s led by Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI), himself known throughout Washington for having a habit of drunkenly groping underage teenaged girls.
Yet, it would be one of McCarthy’s closest aides who would take over the ring in later years, trafficking minors and expanding this sexual blackmail operation at the same time he expanded his own political influence, putting him in close contact with prominent figures including former President Ronald Reagan and a man who would later become president, Donald Trump.
As will be revealed in Part II, after this figure’s death, the blackmail operation continued under various successors in different cities and there is strong evidence that Jeffrey Epstein became one of them
There must be numerous blackmail/sex slave operations which must be busted, like this one in NY State, run by a descendant of the Bronfman mob linked family:
We must rally behind survivors of rape and sexual abuse and work to end sex abuse online activities.
It is time the intelligence agencies ceased their use of innocents to entrap their targets.
Mobsters who continue this sordid exploitation must be exposed and their lingering in society, ended.
There is a mountainous challenge here, but we can use the focus on the Epstein- Maxwell case to heighten our stimulus to change the culture in which they flourished and profited. Let this be the beginning of the end for such foul people who have integrated their criminal networks into societies across the world.
And watch this great, articulate British woman clearly diagnosing what kind of ‘violent toward women’ characters are supporting the Far Right in the UK when they riot:
For 25 years, the State Department has had an office tracking the scope of human trafficking and working to combat it. In 2023, more than 133,000 victims were identified globally, leading to more than 18,000 prosecutions. Last week, the Trump administration drastically cut that office’s staff. John Yang discussed more with Cindy Dyer, the former ambassador to monitor and combat trafficking.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
borderslynn 
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