8 ‘The sexual problems of adult victims of sexual abuse have been among the most researched and best established effects. Clinicians have reported that victimized clients often have an aversion to sex, flashbacks to the molestation experience, difficulty with arousal and orgasm, and vaginismus, as well as negative attitudes towards their sexuality and their bodies.’ [11] Finkelhor and Browne make the following remarks about the process of stigmatization which are pertinent to this case: ‘Other effects of sexual abuse seem naturally grouped in relation to the dynamic of stigmatization. Child victims often feel isolated, and may gravitate to various stigmatized levels of society. Thus they may get involved in drug or alcohol abuse, in criminal activity, or in prostitution. The effects of stigmatization may also reach extremes in forms of self-destructive behaviour and suicide attempts. The psychological impact of these problems has a number of related components. Many sexual abuse victims experience considerable guilt and shame as a result of their abuse. The guilt and shame seem logically associated with the dynamic of stigmatization, since they are a response to being blamed and encountering negative reactions from others regarding the abuse. Low selfesteem is another part of the pattern, as the victim concludes from the negative attitudes toward abuse victims that they are “spoiled merchandise”. Stigmatization also results in a sense of being different based on the (incorrect) belief that no one else has had such an experience and that others would reject a person who had.’ [12] Dr Herman is particularly enlightening on the aspects of self-knowledge, insight into responsibility for the acts of abuse and disclosure: ‘The child victim prefers to believe that the abuse did not occur. In the service of this wish, she tries to keep the abuse a secret from herself . . . Not all abused children have the ability to alter reality through dissociation. And even those who do have this ability cannot rely upon it all the time. When it is impossible to avoid the reality of abuse, the child must construct some system of meaning that