“Maybe what happened is actually OK?” Child sexual abuse by authority figures in the ultra-orthodox community in Israel: Survivors' perceptions of their relationships with the perpetrator

Abstract

BackgroundChild sexual abuse (CSA) by authority figures in a religious community (AFRCs) has been studied extensively among the Catholic clergy, and to a limited extent among Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States and Australia. However, less attention has been devoted to the phenomenon within the Israeli context. ObjectiveThis article examines the perceptions of survivors within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel of their relationships with authority figures in the community who sexually abused them. Methods21 in-depth interviews were conducted with men who were abused by authority figures within ultra-Orthodox institutions, which were analyzed based on a thematic approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). ResultsThe results indicated that in childhood, almost none of the participants recognized that they were sexually abused. Their relationships with the authority figures were instead perceived as one of four variations: (1) normative-educative; (2) mutual; (3) an episode in a hypersexual routine; or (4) abusive punitive. Perceptions later shifted, mostly in adulthood, towards a recognition of the sexual abuse and its personal consequences. ConclusionsThe findings stress the importance of contextual factors (such as perceptions of sexuality, community structures, and cultural norms) in how ultra-Orthodox children experience abuse by authority figures in the community and its aftermath, with implications for successful prevention and intervention efforts.