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What is Child Sexual Abuse?

What is child sexual abuse?

Child sexual abuse or sexual molestation can include any kind of sexual act directed toward a child by an adult or by an older or more powerful child or any sexual act which involves a threat or violence.

Sexual acts may include the following:

• Touching of a child's genital by an adult;
• An adult telling the child to touch the adult's or another's genitals;
• Exposure of the genitals, including photographing the child's genitals or the child in a sexual position;
• An adult masturbating in front of a child;
• Rubbing (masturbating) against a child;
• Oral sex performed on a child or telling a child to perform oral sex;
• Any type of penetration of a child's vagina or anus, however slight, by a penis, finger, tongue or other object;
• Exposing a child to pornography or using a child in pornography;
• Talking, commenting and or teasing a child in sexual ways.

Signs and Symptoms of Child Sexual Abuse

• Physical signs of sexual abuse are not common, although redness, rashes or swelling in the genital area, urinary tract infections or other such symptoms should be carefully investigated. Also, physical problems associated with anxiety, such as chronic stomach pain or headaches, may occur.
• Emotional or behavioral signals are more common. These can run from “too perfect” behavior, to withdrawal and depression, to unexplained anger and rebellion.
• Sexual behavior and language that are not age-appropriate can be a red flag.
• Be aware that in some children there are no signs whatsoever.

If you find physical signs that you suspect as sexual abuse, have the child physically examined immediately by a professional who specializes in child sexual abuse.

A child advocacy center can guide you. To find a center near you, contact National Children’s Alliance at nca-online.org/members.html or call 1-800-239-9950. The opportunity to convict a child molester may depend on forensic evidence from an examination.

Resources on Child Sexual Abuse

Adult Responsibility for Child Sexual Abuse
Why adults are responsible for child sexual abuse and what adults can do to prevent child sexual abuse.

Child Sexual Abuse Statistics
Learn about the prevalence of child sexual abuse in society and the consequences of abuse. Child sexual abuse touches every life when it leads to losses of trust, decreases in self esteem, and development of shame, guilt and depression. Child sexual abuse can lead to eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, promiscuity/prostitution, and other psychobehavioral issues.

Questions and Answers about Child Sexual Abuse
Answers to frequently asked questions about child sexual abuse.

Child Sexual Abuse Reading List
Reading lists on various topics.

Child Sexual Abuse Articles
Featured articles on child sexual abuse and legislation.

Stories and Journeys through Child Sexual Abuse
Journeys that survivors took as a result of the sexual abuse that they had to endure as children.



From Darkness to Light

Word by Word

For years I could not say I was RAPED. I was KIDNAPPED. Yet, I was and just because it was my own father does not mean it was not a “real” rape or kidnapping. Saying what it is true heals. Verbalizing the truth, word by petrified word..

Sarah's Book

I am writing a book about my experiences of sexual abuse and incest and the path I have chosen of continuous healing. Please share your stories with me. I may include some in my book. My book is about the entire gamut of experience, my birth, that first molestation, all the way through to my awakening at 20 when I met my husband, learning to choose a healthy man, the transformation of my soul as I became a mother, breaking ties with the blood family, overcoming denial, choosing healthy ways of healing- like art and animals, my struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, panic Disorder, and my menagerie of other issues....as well as my darker journeys as an adolescent into drugs, unhealthy sex, and deep self destruction. My main message is that healing is possible, it is about conscious choice, being willing to have the courage to face what has happened to you, break ties if you need to, believing in your own light, ripping out that old family tree and planting your brand new one free of secrets and lies, learning how incest family dynamics work, and rediscovering how to love the child within. We are all born with what I call our little box of light, a gem that can NEVER be stolen or snuffed out. We are abused and tortured which shifts our perception of ourselves, we see ourselves distorted, energetically we absorb the projections of our abusers as the hurt us and we turn that against ourselves. We are porous, we absorb their shame, their dirtiness, their self hatred. We can give it back and rebirth our light. Our light is divine and unbreakable. We must return home to our own souls and find it, we have to fight for our light and teach and guide others to do the same.

Sexual Abuse Thrivers Of Rape and Incest

S)exual A) buse T)hrivers O)f R)ape and I)ncest

Healing the light we thought was lost

What exactly is my story, what am I going to name my experience? How can I bring my inner revolution, my renaissance into the world? How can I give meaning to my suffering and spread that healing to others? I can not be silent, I can not withhold. Writing a book for one. Art has been another way. Animals, music, children.
I have just experienced an awakening, total clarity. SATORI is my new baby, born of a need to express my story of victim, to survival, to thriving after many years of horrific abuse. SATORI is Sexual Abuse Thrivers Of Rape and Incest. My mentors Eve Ensler and Angela Shelton inspire me, and I wanted to find my own path. I am ready to share it.

In recent years, I have created a more intimate relationship with LIGHT. Transmutation of our darkness, our wounds, our self destructiveness through LIGHT. Light, I once at the age of 12 wrote an essay called MY LITTLE BOX OF LIGHT. Two years after I was raped by a family member, I wrote this essay. What a wonderful little girl, feeling her light even after such horror. Well, we all are, we all were, and we all can be again. We must fight for our light.

I believe that survival is not all there is. Thriving is the next step in healing our wounds and sending that healing to one another and into this world. The word Satori came to me as I was falling asleep. I knew the word from my studies of Buddhism and from a tee shirt my husband wore when we first met. (Meeting him was very much a satori moment.)

Satori roughly translates into individual Enlightenment, or a flash of sudden awareness. Satori is as well an intuitive experience. I also love it because I am all about where we can go beyond survivorhood. My personal journey has led me to this place, a whole new realm of awakening.
My favorite singer and musical mother happens to be TORI Amos as well, so Sarah, SA and TORI, well you get it!
I want to spread healing and solace to the world. Being HEAL-THY is about healing thyself. It's up to us. I long to comfort you who have been so hurt as I too have been. I have known that I had within me an essential drive to share my story, to scream in outrage, to release fury for all the suffering of so many of us as children, and to help others heal ....BEYOND survivorship, and transform into THRIVERS. The power of verbalization is immense, I believe transformation takes place only if we can tell the truth about what really happened to us. Repression is a coping mechanism we need as children, for the mind can not process such terror as children. But what serves us now is exhuming the remnants of our souls, facing the truth about those who hurt us, those who should have protected us, and crossing that river from victim, to survivor, to

th(river). Please join me in this project. It is the culmination of my own satori moment. This is my way of transmuting the terror that I have carried, of creating space for others to heal by speaking out, to empower everyone I can any way I can.

When I received this flash, this satori moment tonight, I jumped out of bed and began my work. I have been a survivor for years, a victim for years, and thriving for quite awhile. Lately, many things have brought me to this manifestation point. Tonight was different, a deeper awakening.

Having this experience, I no longer see the world in the same way. I have a different perception of life, of my life, of my abuse, of your abuse, of what it means to not only be victimized, to cross the river into survivorhood, but to THRIVE. And no I do not mean la la land, blissed out

24- 7 bullshit. I mean creating a healed life, crawling into the darkest caverns of pain and grief, rebirthing ourselves, finding our true essence, de-brainwashing ourselves from all the crap we absorbed from the abuse, and letting that inborn light we all have fill us again. This is the way it came to me. I am here to share it with you!



With Love, Sarah