The existence of sexual feelings toward family members, friends or acquaintances does not signify a problem. However, the act of focusing on and then reinforcing these feelings create a compulsion to carry out sexual contact with another, including children and negates one's sense of discipline and self-control. Thus, forming an arousal pattern. To act on this arousal pattern and the impulse the person has created, the person insidiously justifies his/her behavior to him/herself.
According to Finkelhor (Finkelhor, 1984; Araji and Finkelhor, 1985) there are four components that contribute, in differing degrees and forms, to the development of a child molester's behavior. To explain the diversity of behavior of sexual abusers, there are four factors in a complementary process. These four factors are sexual arousal, emotional congruence, blockage, and disinhibition:
Sexual arousal: In order for an adult to be aroused by a child, there has frequently been cultural or familial conditioning to sexual activity with children: such as corporal punishment and/or sexual child abuse. The most recent study reveals approximately 50% of all sex offenders were victims of sexual assault (Smith & Israel, 1987; Johnson, 1988; Longo, 1982; Seabrook, 1990). 70% of child sex offenders have between 1 and 9 victims; at least 20% have 10 to 40 victims. Serial child sex offenders may have as many as 400 victims in a lifetime. Elliott, M., Browne, K., & Kilcoyne, J. (1995). Child sexual abuse prevention: What offenders tell us. Child Abuse & Neglect, 5, 579-594.
In my work with sex offenders in recovery the statistics reveal 85% of sex offenders were sexually abused as children. Furthermore, corporal punishment triggers sexual stimulation, thus inducing sexual arousal. As adults these corporal punishment and/or sexual abuse survivors use sexual contact to ward off the internal emotional pain caused by the sexual and/or physical punishment. It is a case of doing to others what was done to them. The acorn does not fall far from the tree. This explanation merely explains the behavior not condone it.
Accurate sexual child abuse statistics are difficult to obtain. Different definitions of sexual abuse and incest will result in different statistics. Self-reporting is only accurate if the victim accepts the same definition as defined by the researcher. Even more frustrating is the fact that many survivors do not remember their abuse.
Furthermore the controversy regarding the phenomenon of whether a person can 'forget' something as significant as sexual activity has long been debated. The Betrayal trauma theory has most accurately identified the child's experience. "[The] Betrayal trauma theory suggests that psychogenic amnesia is an adaptive response to childhood abuse. When a parent or other powerful figure violates a fundamental ethic of human relationships, victims may need to remain unaware of the trauma not to reduce suffering but rather to promote survival. Amnesia enables the child to maintain an attachment with a figure vital to survival,
