The Sexual Abuse of Women by Members of the Clergy

The sexual abuse and exploitation of women by members of the clergy is not a new issue. What is new is the public's growing understanding of what is involved when members of the clergy ignore or repeatedly fall short of legal and ethical requirements to adhere to the expected standards of conduct. This work is based on the author's study of 25 women from 11 states who were sexually abused by members of the clergy. A primary goal of the study was to help the violated women understand their experiences and make available to educators, practitioners and others concrete information about what it means to be sexually exploited by a trusted religious representative. The author also considers the viability of a trauma model to study the impact of such sexual abuse on women and on their relationships with others, and presents her findings that the participants did exhibit symptoms that strongly correspond with the classical and complex trauma criteria used.