Sexual Abuse: Sexual Abuse is “unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent (American Psychological Association).” Sexual abuse includes “someone touching your private parts (e.g., breasts, vagina, penis, anus) or making you touch theirs. It can also include rape (e.g., putting a penis or another part of their body into your vagina, anus, or mouth) or other things that make you feel uncomfortable (e.g., making sexual comments about you or ‘perving’ at you in a sexual way, making you watch them masturbate, rubbing their body against you in a sexual way, trying to tongue kiss you, or making you look at sexual pictures or videos) (Bursting the Bubble).”
Child Sexual Abuse: “Child sexual abuse happens when a child or young person is forced or enticed to take part in sexual activities. No matter the level of violence, and regardless of the child’s awareness or agreement to what’s happening, it is sexual abuse (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)).”
Some of the acts involved in child sexual abuse are:
- Physical contact, such as touching a child’s genitals or private parts for the abuser’s sexual pleasure, making a child touch someone else’s genitals, playing sexual games, or having sex by putting objects or body parts inside the mouth, anus, or vagina of a child.
- Non-physical contact, such as showing child pornography, encouraging a child to take part in the making of sexual images, watching sexual acts, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways. (NSPCC)