Published empirical research on the repression of memories of childhood sexual abuse is limited at the present time, and the quality and usefulness of the research varies with the methodology, research design, statistical analyses, and researcher bias. This literature review discusses at length a 1987 study by J. H. Herman and E. Schatzow and 1994 studies by L. M. Williams; E. F. Loftus, S. Polonsky, and M. T. Fullilove; and discusses more briefly 5 other studies. The current research substantiates the prevailing clinical belief that a sizable minority of individuals who were abused sexually as children do forget this abuse for a period of time. Research also indicates that this "forgetting" is different from normal forgetting and is clinically tied to the theoretical concepts of repression and dissociation. Researchers agree that further research is needed and that this research must be contextually congruent with the broader foundations of research into human memory. Contains 77 references. (EAJ)