They speak
of church cultures that
treated women's bodies as inherently problematic and seductive, that assigned a woman's worth to her
sexual purity or procreative prowess, that questioned women's ability to think rationally or make decisions without the leadership
of men, that blamed
victims of sexual abuse for inviting the
abuse or tempting the abuser, that shamed women who did not «joyfully submit» to their husband and find contentment in their roles as helpers and homemakers, and that effectively silenced
victims of abuse by telling women and
children that reporting the crime would reflect poorly on the church and thus damage the reputation
of Christ.
Now, the first large, longitudinal study to track how
victims of child abuse treat their own
children has found little evidence
of a cycle
of violence, but suggests that
sexual abuse and neglect may indeed be passed down the generations.