The myth that sexual abuse as a child can cause that child to become homosexual is simply that – a myth, say many experts in the human sexuality field. According to the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization, experts do not believe premature sexual experiences play a significant role in late adolescent or adult sexual orientation. Rather, they say sexual orientation is a complex issue, and there is no single answer or theory that explains why someone identifies himself as homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual. Sexual abuse and assault victims often face severe consequences due to the traumatic incidents experienced at an early age, but the experience does not necessarily affect their sexual orientation

Homophobia does play a major role in creating a link between gay sexuality and sexual abuse, according to Dr. Paul Sussman, a San Diego licensed clinical psychologist and expert on male sexual survivors of child sexual abuse.

“I think it definitely plays a role in that it’s perceived often that boys, if they’re sexually abused by males, should have protected themselves or should have had more choice – they chose for it to happen,” he said. “Often [the victims] experience it or label it as a homosexual experience. They may not even label it as abuse. … They may not be ready to come out if they are in fact gay, and that may be another reason not to talk about it.”

Sussman has been running psychotherapy groups for male survivors of sexual abuse since 1989. He has heard a wide range of abuse stories from both heterosexual and homosexual patients, but said shame is a prominent underlying issue he has observed in all victims.

“Men feel victimized. It’s a role that is anti-male, anti-masculine, anti-macho. There’s a lot of shame around the homosexual aspect of it, because most of the time it’s a same-sex sexual experience,” Sussman said. “There’s a lot of reasons why boys don’t talk about it. They fear consequences, parents getting angry at them, feeling they’re to blame. They’re male, so they should have protected themselves in some way.”

The frequency of abuse is hard to quantify due to many victims not acknowledging the abuse has even occurred, Sussman explained. He said a safe estimate is that one in six males encounter some kind of sexual abuse before the age of 18. Researchers have also estimated that approximately 10 percent of boys and 25 percent of girls are sexually abused in the U.S.

“It’s thought and written about, without a lot of statistics, that it’s a bit higher in gay males, or gay males are overrepresented in the population of male sexual abuse survivors,” Sussman added.

Explaining why gay males may be a higher percentage of those abused is difficult to answer. Sussman said that many gay boys tend to feel isolated and vulnerable due to their burgeoning sexuality.

“They may experience less conflict about it since at least their orientation is toward the same sex, and they’re less likely to tell about it. So pedophiles pick out the more vulnerable boys and the ones particularly that are not going to tell,” said Sussman, who explained fantasies of many post-pubertal boys that are gay may involve sexual relations with older men.

“That might be a very exciting fantasy for a 14-year-old boy to imagine a 25-year-old man being sexual with him,” he said.

Perpetrators of sexual abuse can be anyone in the child’s life. According to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sexual abusers often know the child they abuse but are not related. The center says about 60 percent of perpetrators are acquaintances such as a friend of the family, babysitter or neighbor. About 30 percent of the perpetrators are relatives, such as fathers, uncles or cousins. Strangers are perpetrators in about 10 percent of child sexual abuse cases.

The National Center for PTSD also states men are found to be perpetrators in most cases, regardless of whether the victim is a boy or a girl. However, women are found to be perpetrators in about 14 percent of cases reported against boys and about 6 percent of cases reported against girls.

Consequences to the victim are complex and widespread, depending on a variety of different variables. Sussman said there are many factors that can affect consequences such as the age of the child, who committed the abuse, how long it occurred and how supportive their familial structure is.

Judi Schaim is a marriage and family therapist based in San Diego who has worked with many female victims of child sexual abuse. She said childhood sexual abuse leads to a multitude of complications and consequences in the victims’ adult lives.

“Sexually abused people – from the moment they are abused – their childhood is gone,” said Schaim. “It’s a horrendous crime because it’s the end of their childhood forever, never to be given back to them again.”

Schaim said repercussions for both male and female abuse survivors include emotional affects such as confusion, sadness, depression, anger, a sense of powerlessness, helplessness and betrayal. She has also seen eating disorders and self-injurious behavior exhibited in victims. “Minimizing” occurs, she said, where the victim tries to downplay the seriousness of the abuse, rationalize it and/or deny it.

Sexual relations later in life can also be affected by sexual abuse as a child. Schaim said some survivors’ actual sexual experiences may not be affected, but there may be a separation or distancing which occurs after the sexual action.

For more information about counseling related to sexual abuse, contact Dr. Paul Sussman at (619) 542-1335 or Judy Schaim at (619) 298-5536.