Eros defiled: Sexual exploitation of female clients by their female therapists

Albrecht, J. M. (2002). Eros defiled: Sexual exploitation of female clients by their female therapists. (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2002). UMI no. 3060750

The silence surrounding sexual violation in therapy has been broken. Lawsuits and published narratives speak of these rampant abuses of power. But a strange pocket of silence surrounds this phenomenon when the violation occurs between female therapists and female clients. The assumption that it is so rare or happens not at all has filled in the spaces of silence. However, statistics reveal that approximately 4% of female therapists sexually exploit their clients. Society's homophobia makes it shameful for victims of same-sex abuse to give voice to their wounds, thus generating even more silence. Does this homophobia obscure the ability to detect same-sex abuses of power in therapy? This study's purpose was to bring voice to this silence, and to better understand the complex experience of women who have been sexually exploited by their female therapists. This intentionality was one of making conscious what has been largely banished into the cultural shadow, where the idealization of motherhood and the legacy of Freud's assignment of women as sexually passive, rather than as sexual agents, creates difficulty in accepting the reality of women as sexual perpetrators. This study examined the tremendous power of the transference and the sacred element of eros in the therapeutic relationship, making visible the asymmetrical relationship created in therapy. Further research examines homophobia, and culturally sanctioned heterosexist beliefs that render survivors of same-sex sexual abuse further stigmatized and shamed. Four women were interviewed, ranging in age from 41 to 52. Individual portraits were then created from these open-ended, informal interviews, revealing singular and shared themes. The women's articulation of longings misused and eros defiled, as well as the reenactment of previous wounds, attest to the powerful effect of sexual-boundary violations. Equally powerful was the tug towards wholeness that all of these women exhibited as they reclaimed their own selves after enormous betrayal and loss. Through art, further therapy, and spirituality, these women have continued the path of healing that was derailed by their offending female therapists. Only through breaking silence around such misuses of power can we better learn to respond to those who have suffered this violation.