Heal

What is Sexual Abuse?

According to the American Psychological Association, sexual abuse is unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent.

Sexual abuse has many formats including fondling, touching sexual organs, masturbation, and vaginal or anal penetration with self or objects. In addition, exposing a victim to pornography, indecent exposure and putting a child in a position to witness sexual relations also is considered a form of sexual abuse. 

Who are It’s Victims?

By the Numbers

• Adult retrospective studies show that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men were sexually abused before the age of 18 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). This means there are more than 42 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse in the U.S.
• 60% of sexual assaults are not reported to police.
• Children who had an experience of rape or attempted rape in their adolescent years were 13.7 times more likely to experience rape or attempted rape in their first year of college.
• The primary reason that the public is not sufficiently aware of child sexual abuse as a problem is that 73% of child survivors do not tell anyone about the abuse for at least a year. 45% of survivors do not tell anyone for at least 5 years. Some never disclose the abuse they experienced. (Smith et al., 2000; Broman-Fulks et al., 2007)