The Search for Autonomous Intimacy

The Author: M. Sue Crowley is Associate Professor of Human Development at Binghamton University. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Crowley has published articles in professional journals focusing on the impacts of sexual abuse, feminist pedagogy, and men's role in families.

"Through M. Sue Crowley's skillful interviewing, three young women give voice to their painful secrets of incest. Across social class, ethnicity, location, and circumstance, their stories reveal their struggles to survive, to find autonomy, and ultimately to achieve a successful adulthood with intimacy, in a world that during their earlier years 'didn't make sense'. Crowley's keen analysis of their psychological, cognitive, and social developmental processes helps us understand the interplay of individual strategies with external forces such as racism, sexism, and social class. She develops a valuable dialectic model to help other researchers and practitioners frame the developmental process of coping with abuse, while honoring the choices and courage of each person. In a society filled with messages about helping children, the experiences of these young women are powerful reminders that some children still hold terrifying secrets, and that too many adults still act in ways that prevent those secrets from being revealed." (Kathryn Quina, Professor of Psychology & Women's Studies, University of Rhode Island; Fellow of the American Psychological Association)