What constitutes child sexual abuse?
Sexual abuse is any contact or interaction (physical, visual, verbal or psychological) between a child/adolescent and an adult when the child/adolescent is being used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or any other person.
Sexual abuse may be committed by a person under the age of eighteen when that person is either significantly older than the victim or when the abuser is in a position of power or control over the victimized child/adolescent. When sexual abuse is perpetrated by an adult or older child who is a blood or legal relative, this is incest.
Some people may believe that because their abuse wasn't as extensive compared to others, they have no right to speak out or should not have any reason to suffer long-term emotional, psychological or physical effects. This is simply not true. Abuse is abuse..
**I would also like to note that it was brought to my attention by another SA survivor that abuse can occur between people of similar ages, i.e. two nine-year-olds, a ten-year-old and an eleven-year-old, a twenty-two-year old and another adult of whatever age....you get my drift. If a person is physically or psychologically much stronger than
another person, abuse can take place and short-term and long-term damage can happen.** For example, as a child, there were neighborhood boys who would always tease me via sexual inuendos and trying to touch parts of my body. They were my age, but the affect of what they were doing still lingers and added to the more perverse sexual abuse in my life. (This is a minor example; there can be and are much more severe cases.)
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