Sexual abuse
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Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another, when that force falls short of being a sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a molester or molestor or abuser or sexual abuser. The term also covers any behavior by any adult towards a child to stimulate either the adult or child sexually. When the victim is younger than the age of consent, it is referred to as child sexual abuse.
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[edit] Types of sexual abuse
There are many types of sexual abuse, including:
- Non-consensual, forced physical sexual behavior such as rape or sexual assault
- Sexual kissing, fondling, exposure of genitalia, and voyeurism.
- Exposing a child to pornography.
- Saying sexually suggestive statements towards a child.
- The use of a position of trust to compel otherwise unwanted sexual activity without physical force
- Incest, when it is coerced by force or emotional manipulation.
[edit] Spousal sexual abuse
Spousal sexual abuse is a form of domestic violence. When the abuse involves forced sex, it may constitute rape upon the other spouse, depending on the jurisdiction, and may also constitute an assault.
[edit] Positions of power
Sexual misconduct can occur where one person uses a position of authority to compel another person to engage in an otherwise unwanted sexual activity. For example, sexual harassment in the workplace might involve an employee may likewise be coerced in fear of being dismissed. Sexual harassment in education might involve a university student submitting to a professor's sexual advances in fear of being given a failing grade.
Several sexual abuse scandals have involved abuse of religious authority and often cover-up among non-abusers, including cases in the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[1] the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Orthodox Judaism,[2] and various cults.
[edit] Sexual abuse of children and minors
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which a child is abused for the sexual gratification of an adult or older adolescent.[3][4] In addition to direct sexual contact, child sexual abuse also occurs when an adult indecently exposes their genitalia to a child, asks or pressures a child to engage in sexual activities, displays pornography to a child, or uses a child to produce child pornography.[3][5][6]
Effects of child sexual abuse include guilt and self-blame, flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, fear of things associated with the abuse (including objects, smells, places, doctor's visits, etc.), self-esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, chronic pain, addiction, self-injury, suicidal ideation, somatic complaints, depression,[7] post-traumatic stress disorder,[8] anxiety,[9], other mental illnesses (including borderline personality disorder and dissociative identity disorder[citation needed]), propensity to re-victimization in adulthood,[10] and physical injury to the child, among other problems.[11]
Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest, and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest.[12]
Approximately 15% to 25% of women and 5% to 15% of men were sexually abused when they were children.[13][14][15][16][17] Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims; approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often fathers, uncles or cousins; around 60% are other acquaintances such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbors; strangers are the offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases. Most child sexual abuse is committed by men; women commit approximately 14% of offenses reported against boys and 6% of offenses reported against girls.[13] Most offenders who abuse pre-pubescent children are pedophiles,[18][19] however a small percentage do not meet the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia.[20]
[edit] Sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities
People with developmental disabilities are often victims of sexual abuse. According to research people with disabilities are at a greater risk for victimization of sexual assault or sexual abuse because of lack of understanding (Sobsey & Varnhagen, 1989). The rate of sexual abuse happening to people with disabilities is shocking, yet most of these cases will go unnoticed. About 20% of females and 10% of males are sexually abused in the US every year. The percentage is even higher among people with disabilities. According to research, more than 90% of people with developmental disabilities will experience some form of sexual abuse at some time in their lives. 49% will experience 10 or more abusive incidents (Valenti-Hein & Schwartz, 1995). Other studies suggest 68% of girls with developmental disabilities and 30% of boys with developmental disabilities will be sexually abused before their eighteenth birthday. According to research 15,000 to 19,000 of people with developmental disabilities are raped each year in the United States (Sobsey, 1994).
Sexual abuse is common among people with disabilities because the person being abused may not realize that sexual abuse can harm them and some individuals with disabilities may not be able to tell anyone that they were sexually abused. Typically people with disabilities learn not to question caregivers or others in authority. Sadly, it is the authority figures that are often committing the abuse. Research suggests that 97% to 99% of abusers are known and trusted by the victim who has the developmental disability (Baladerian, 1991).
Usually people with disabilities who have experienced sexual abuse are not provided with a way to “work through” their traumatic experience. Some of these victims severely lack communication skills that prevent them from even talking. Generally, the more severe the disability, the greater the difficulty in accessing services. The benefit of Psychotherapy or “talk therapy” among people with developmental disabilities is uncertain as well as whether or not sexual abuse impacts people with developmental disabilities as strongly as others without disabilities. However, everyone who experiences sexual abuse people with disabilities or people without disabilities are affected some way, and should be able to access treatment for sexual abuse. Human service workers must understand that people with developmental disabilities can benefit from counseling even if they are non verbal (Leigh Ann Reynolds).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Case Reports of the Mormon Alliance, Mormon Alliance
- ^ Abuse Scandal Plagues Hasidic Jews In Brooklyn by Barbara Bradley Hagerty. All Things Considered, National Public Radio. 2 Feb 2009.
- ^ a b "Child Sexual Abuse". Medline Plus. U.S. National Library of Medicine,. 2008-04-02. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childsexualabuse.html.
- ^ Committee on Professional Practice and Standards (COPPS), Board of Professional Affairs (BPA), American Psychological Association (APA); Catherine Acuff, Ph.D.; Steven Bisbing, Ph.D.; Michael Gottlieb, Ph.D.; Lisa Grossman, Ph.D.; Jody Porter, Ph.D.; Richard Reichbart, Ph.D.; Steven Sparta, Ph.D.; and C. Eugene Walker, Ph.D (August 1999). "Guidelines for Psychological Evaluations in Child Protection Matters". American Psychologist 54 (8): 586–593. doi:. http://www.apa.org/practice/childprotection.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-07. Lay summary – APA PsycNET (2008-05-07). "Abuse, sexual (child): generally defined as contacts between a child and an adult or other person significantly older or in a position of power or control over the child, where the child is being used for sexual stimulation of the adult or other person.".
- ^ Martin, J., Anderson, J., Romans, S., et al. (1993). Asking about child sexual abuse: methodological implications of a two-stage survey, Child Abuse and Neglect, 17, 383-392.
- ^ Child sexual abuse definition from the NSPCC
- ^ Roosa M.W., Reinholtz C., Angelini P.J. (1999). "The relation of child sexual abuse and depression in young women: comparisons across four ethnic groups," Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 27(1):65-76.
- ^ Widom C.S. (1999). "Post-traumatic stress disorder in abused and neglected children grown up," American Journal of Psychiatry; 156(8):1223-1229.
- ^ Levitan, R. D., N. A. Rector, Sheldon, T., & Goering, P. (2003). "Childhood adversities associated with major depression and/or anxiety disorders in a community sample of Ontario: Issues of co-morbidity and specificity," Depression & Anxiety; 17, 34-42.
- ^ Terri L. Messman-Moore & Patricia J. Long, "Child Sexual Abuse and Revictimization in the Form of Adult Sexual Abuse, Adult Physical Abuse, and Adult Psychological Maltreatment," 15 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 489 (2000).
- ^ Dinwiddie S, Heath AC, Dunne MP, et al. (2000). "Early sexual abuse and lifetime psychopathology: a co-twin-control study." Psychological Medicine, 30:41–52
- ^ Courtois, Christine A. (1988). Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. p208. ISBN 0393313565.
- ^ a b Julia Whealin, Ph.D. (2007-05-22). "Child Sexual Abuse". National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, US Department of Veterans Affairs. http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/fs_child_sexual_abuse.html.
- ^ David Finkelhor (summer/fall 1994). "Current Information on the Scope and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse" (PDF). The Future of Children (1994) 4(2): 31-53. http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/VS75.pdf.
- ^ Crimes against Children Research Center
- ^ Family Research Laboratory
- ^ Kevin M. Gorey and Donald R. Leslie (1997). "The prevalence of child sexual abuse: Integrative review adjustment for potential response and measurement biases". Child Abuse & Neglect (Elsevier Science Ltd.) Volume 21, Issue 4, April 1997: pp391–398. doi:. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-3SWVJJ8-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3bf4125ab05f663f306a1ca792f43398.
- ^ Hall, MD, Ryan C.; Richard C. W. Hall, MD, PA.. "A Profile of Pedophilia: Definition, Characteristics of Offenders, Recidivism, Treatment Outcomes, and Forensic Issues" (PDF). Mayo Clin Proc (MAYO FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH) 82:457-471 2007. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/82/4/457.full.
- ^ Ames, A. & Houston, D. A. (1990). Legal, social, and biological definitions of pedophilia. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 19 (4), 333-342.
- ^ Laws, Dr. Richard; William T. O'Donohue (1997). Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment. Guilford Press. pp. p175-193. ISBN 1572302410.
[edit] Notes
- Sorenson, Susan B. (1997). Violence and Sexual Abuse at Home: Current Issues in Spousal Battering and Child Maltreatment, New York: Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56024-681-2.
- Leigh Ann Reynolds. "People with Mental Retardation & Sexual Abuse. The Arc Q & A", Arc National Headquarters, 1997
- Baladerian, N.(1991). "Sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities", Sexuality and Disability 9(4),323-335
- Sobsey, D.(1994). Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People With Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance? Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. ISBN 978-1557661487
- Sobsey D. and Varnhagen, C.(1989). "Sexual abuse and exploitation of people with disabilities: Toward Prevention and Treatment". In M. Csapo and L. Gougen (Eds) Special Education Across Canada (pp.199–218). Vancouver Centre for Human Developmental Research
- Valenti-Hien, D. and Schwartz, L.(1995). "The sexual abuse interview for those with developmental disabilities". James Stanfield Company, Santa Barbara: California.
[edit] External links
- Sexual abuse at the Open Directory Project
- Child Sexual Abuse at the National Institutes of Health
- The Survivors Trust, Official website of The Survivors Trust, the largest network of specialist support services for victims of rape, sexual violence or sexual abuse throughout the UK and Ireland.
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