3.1: Introduction and Learning Objectives

Chapter 3: What is Child Abuse? – Sexual Abuse

Sexual Abuse against children has occurred for centuries, but still is one of the most unthinkable forms of abuse. With modern technology and the ability to easily travel the world, we have seen an increase in the occurrences of sexual abuse involving children. This chapter will discuss various types of sexual abuse and what each entails. This chapter also explores what might lead a person to sexually abuse a child, how this abuse might be discovered and reported, and how the surviving victim might be helped. This chapter examines both familial and extrafamilial abuse. Lastly, this chapter will explore ways that society can minimize future sexual abuse of children.

Chapter Learning Objectives

By the completion of this module, students should be able to:

Learning Objectives

• Identify, define and provide examples of types of sexual abuse.
• Identify outcomes of child sexual abuse.
• Identify risk factors for children becoming victims of sexual abuse.
• Describe what might lead individuals to sexually abuse a child.
• Describe how sexual abuse is detected and the role various professionals play in helping the child.

What is Sexual Abuse?

Child sexual abuse includes any sexual activity with a child under 18 years old that violates social taboos or laws. These activities may be contact or non-contact, and can involve grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Contact abuse includes physical contact, such as touching or kissing in a sexual manner, oral sex, or using a body part or other object to penetrate a child. Non-contact abuse includes activities such as pornography (whether the child is the model or is subjected to looking at pornography) or watching sexual activities. Child sexual abuse permeates families, organizations, institutions, the internet and communities. It affects children and adults from all socioeconomic levels, races, ethnicities, cultural groups, educational backgrounds and in both rural and urban areas. Child sexual abuse can happen anywhere.

Earlier in this text, the historical implications of child abuse, including sexual abuse, were discussed. In today’s world, most societies have laws and socially accepted taboos against early sexual involvement between adults and children. Researchers believe that children who are exposed to premature sexualization may have long-term negative effects; these may include physical injury, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and other problems. Children who are abused by a family member may experience more long-term psychological trauma.

A “child” is generally considered to be anyone under 18 years of age. Children are legally unable to make decisions on their own, enter contracts, drive a car, marry, or many other important life events. Research has shown that children are in no position to consent to relationships that carry so many implications as do sexual contact with adults. Although some states may have special considerations for consensual teenagers older than 16 (often known as the Romeo and Juliet law), having sex with a minor is illegal. In California, the age of consent is 18 years old. Any adult, 18 years or older, who engages in sexual activity with a minor (under the age of 18) can be charged with statutory rape. Statutory rape can be treated as either a misdemeanor (if sex is consensual and between close-in-age people) or as a felony (most other cases).

There are many terms used when referring to sexual abuse. Sexual assault refers to any act in which one person intentionally sexually touches another without that person’s consent, or coerces or forces a person to engage in any sexual act against his/her will. Sexual assault is often referred to as sexual violence, and is a preventable act. (www.cdc.gov) Child sexual abuse refers to the use of a child for the sexual gratification of an adult or other person. Other terms which may be interchanged include: sexual assault, molestation, victimization, sexual exploitation, rape, and child rape. Although the term “rape” usually brings to mind sexual intertext with violence, many states defined child rape as “the intrusion of any part of the perpetrator's body into an orifice of the child’s body.“ (Crosson-Tower, p. 124)

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Child pornography is also viewed as a form of child sexual abuse, as it uses children to produce sexually explicit material (pictures, videos, etc.) for the enjoyment of adults. Child pornography often stimulates perpetrators to commit sexually abusive acts.

Sexual harassment refers to any un-welcome verbal or physical sexual behavior that can make someone feel upset, scared, offended or humiliated. It also includes gender-based harassment or bullying. It may include inappropriate or lewd comments, saying bad things about someone based on gender identity/appearance/sexuality, jokes related to sex or gender, flashing/mooning, requests for sexual favors, inappropriate touching, pornography and more. When sexual harassment is experienced by a child, it becomes a form of child sexual abuse. Sexual harassment may be perpetrated and experienced by children or adults, and must be considered inappropriate and stopped.