Older Woman Essay -- essays research papers

Older Women - Hidden Sexual Abuse Victims Although other forms of violence within the family have received increasing attention from professionals and the media over recent years, including the physical abuse and neglect of children, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence, elder abuse remains relatively hidden. This is especially true of sexual abuse of older persons. While there are some references to stranger rapes of older women, the topic of elder sexual abuse within the family is rarely addressed in the professional literature, and seldom confronted by social workers, medical personnel or advocates. This is partly true because sexuality is usually associated with younger people. Yet, if sexual abuse is a function of power and control, frail older persons, who often have little power and may be dependent on others for care, can be extremely vulnerable to sexual mistreatment. Elder sexual abuse is defined as coercing an older person, through force, trickery, threats, or other means, into sexual contact against her or his will. It often begins with covert activities such as inappropriate remarks and threats, and escalates to more severe types of mistreatment, including: the offender forcing the victim to view pornography or to listen to explicit sexual accounts; sexualized kissing and fondling; oral-genital contact; digital penetration; vaginal rape; anal rape; rape by objects; exploitation (e.g., prostituting or swapping the victim); sadistic acts, and ritualistic abuse.1 The prevalence of elder sexual abuse is not known because no systemic study has been done to determine how widespread the problem is. Where it is uncovered, it is usually by adult protective services workers who are called to intervene in other types of mistreatment of older persons, such as physical abuse, neglect or financial exploitation. In the first study of its kind, Holly Ramsey-Klawsnik, Ph.D. in 1991 examined twenty-eight (28) Massachusetts cases in which sexual abuse was identified by elder abuse case workers. All the victims resided in the community (not in nursing homes or other institutional facilities). All were female, ranging in age from 65 to 101, while all but one of the offenders was male. Four out of five of the offenders were care givers to the victims, the vast majority of whom had significant impairments which made them totally dependent on others for dai... ...e services will reduce the victim's dependence on the abuser and will also reduce her isolation, both of which contribute significantly to vulnerability to abuse. The rape crisis center and local adult protective services programs should cooperate on other interventions such as legal remedies in order to avoid duplication of effort and to reduce the confusion to the client. Vulnerable older persons need and deserve the skilled attention of all those with whom they come into contact in order to reduce their vulnerability to sexual abuse. Work Cited 1 Ramsey-Klawsnik, Holly, Ph.D. "Elder Sexual Abuse: Preliminary Findings." Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect. Vol. 3(3), 1991. 2 Ibid. 3 Holt, Malcolm G., CSS "Elder Sexual Abuse in Britain: Preliminary Findings." Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect. Vol.5(2), 1993. 4 Russell, Diane E. Rape in Marriage. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990. 5 Ramsey-Klawsnik. 6 Illinois Department on Aging, Elder Abuse and Neglect Program: FY 1995 Annual Report. Springfield, Illinois, 1996. 7 Groth, A.N., "The Older Rape Victim and Her Assailant." Geriatric Psychiatry, 203-215, 1978, as cited in Ramsey-Klawsnik. 8 Ramsey-Klawsnik