THE FUSE

The conventional wisdom declares that child sex abuse (CSA) is so horrendous, so traumatic, so psychologically devastating that survivors, overwhelmingly women, develop long-term post-traumatic stress disorder and deep fears of partner sex, often avoiding it for years, sometimes for the rest of their lives. If CSA survivors manage to return to sex, the conventional wisdom holds that they do it just for their partners, don’t enjoy it, and suffer sex problems—difficulty becoming aroused and working up to orgasms.