Re: False memories

"She may have got it wrong about what children are really like with regards to masturbation but do you think that is the sole issue? Many children will not realise what is normal or abnormal in most families."

There could be much more - but this seems like the most likely explanation for why she associated sex with her "recovered" memories of abuse.

It is rare that children remember events before the age of three or four - their minds are simply unable to form persistent and detailed memories in most cases. It is therefore most likely that this lady's memories were formed later, and do not reflect what really happened.

General concepts, though - such as associating shame with sex - are more likely to persist, and from this lady's report of what her father said on Facebook it seems likely that "teaching her about sex at age three" consisted of teaching her that masturbation is shameful and very, very wrong.

Of course I am speculating, but taking cultural norms and her description into account, this sounds far more likely than her being sexually abused in other ways - which is to say, she was most likely sexually abused in the manner that is demanded by our culture, and in the manner which she demands children should be abused: by denying children their natural sexuality.