One Stop Erotica Shop!

I've been having a very hard time with this, and I'd appreciate any input you might have.

I have this erotica novel I've been working on. In it, I have two characters whose back-story is a bit disturbing. My main character was molested at about 13 or 14, and when it happened, she gathered evidence of it, presented it to the police, and had her molester convicted. Her molester hung himself, but that event was really a strong trigger to her adulthood. She became an investigative journalist, dedicated to ferreting out sexual perverts and exposing them. While I mentioned it in the prologue and told the story of her "sting" operation against her molester, I did NOT in any way go into detail, glorify, or otherwise encourage what happened to her. In fact, I went out of my way to make sure that there were TERRIBLE consequences for her abusers. The only reference to it is "...she knew that what he did was wrong..." and "...she was raped severely, and this time beaten as well..." It's not like it's a graphic description.

One of my strong supporting characters is a girl named Hunter, and she was physically (but not sexually) abused as a child. That's a long story, but the basic handling is almost identical to the main character's thing: the bad guys go to jail and suffer severe punishment, and the good guys emerge stronger and more determined than before.

Now here's my problem: Every publisher says absolutely, under no circumstances, NO underage sex--not even in passing. I can understand the reason for that, because obviously I wouldn't want to read anything that seemed to condone that. But I'm really so confused right now. The allusions to the sex and physical abuse are nothing that I have not seen in mainstream publishers for decades--nothing graphic, and completely integral to the plot. The characters simply do not work without it. Without it, you're left wondering why in the heck the main character is so vindictive and cruel, but with it, you're left admiring her strength and determination.

I guess what I'm asking is, what is the meaning of the "no rape or child abuse" proviso? Would my novel be rejected outright because of the allusion to it as an event in the past of my characters? And if so, any ideas on how to keep my character from being seen as the Wicked B**** of the West when/if I take that part out?

Thanks in advance. I'm new to the genre of erotica, so I'm still trying to figure out what the rules are.