Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse is sexual conduct harmful to childrens' mental, emotional or physical welfare. This includes failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child, compelling or encouraging the child to engage in sexual conduct, or causing or permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known the result would be obscene.

Sexually abused children can feel "I am powerless", "I can't trust anybody" or "I am bad". These children often blame themselves: "I didn't say no!" or "I love the person who abused me".

Examples of sexual abuse includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling, kissing or the touching of a child's genitals, making a child fondle the adult's genitals, penetration, intercourse, oral sex, incest, rape, sodomy, touching of breasts, indecent exposure and exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

Some other forms of sexual abuse include exposing a child to adult sexuality in many forms, such as showing sex organs to a child, forced observation of sexual acts, showing pornographic materials, telling "dirty stories", and group sex including a child. Privacy violations are also considered sexual abuse, such as forcing the child to undress in uncomfortable situations and spying on a child in the bathroom or bedroom.

Technology and the internet have also opened other manifestations of child abuse, such as enticing children to pornographic sites or material on the internet and luring children through the internet to meet for sexual liaisons.