The Search for Autonomous Intimacy: Sexual Abuse and Young Women’s Identity Development

At the center of this book are the stories of three very different young women who share their experiences of sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence. Drawing on research from both clinical and developmental psychology, it explores the formation of a separate, yet social self, as well as the ways in which sexual abuse may disrupt that process. The young women’s narratives become a lens through which to examine how their identities are linked to self and social constructions of gender, power, sex, and abuse.