Narrating a Sense of (sexual) Well Being 11 Narrating a Sense of (sexual) Well Being

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is believed to be so (inevitably) damaging that its effects can be seen in adulthood. Within the therapeutic world of recovery women are told how to claim their right to a brighter future within which the desire for a fulfilling sex life is seen as a sign of healthy womanhood. Although we have come a long way from the idea, prevalent in the 1970s, that sexual abuse in childhood ruins young girls for sex with men when they grow up, sexual difficulties – too much sex or not enough, the wrong kind or with the wrong partner – are still seen as symptoms of CSA in the lives of adult women. In today’s world of recovery women might be told they ‘owe it to themselves’ not ‘to their man’ but they are still told that they have a problem if they do not fit neatly into prescribed roles of longing, desire and satisfaction.