Childhood Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is fundamentally an act of violation, power and domination. The sexual abuser’s power, knowledge and resources are far greater than those of the child and the abuser exploits this power difference to take advantage of the child. Children are dependent upon adults, for their survival and for affection and understanding of the world. Every time a child is sexually abused there is coercion. Although violent sexual acts of children do occur, sexual abuse also involves more subtle forms of coercion.

  • According to police-reported data from 2007, 58 per cent of all sexual assault victims were under the age of 18; the majority (81 per cent) were female  (Ontario Women’s Directorate).
  • One quarter of police-reported sexual assaults in 2007 were committed against children under the age of 12 (Ontario Women’s Directorate)

What is Incest?

Incest is a type of sexual abuse where the abuser is a member of the child’s immediate family (a father, stepfather, grandfather, brother, uncle). What makes incest especially traumatic is that trust is abused in the most harmful and exploitative way. People who are supposed to nurture, love and protect the child from any harm are abusing their power to satisfy their whole physical and emotional development. The abuser uses his power further by forcing the child not to tell anyone. This message is often internalized so well that many survivors never talk to anyone; and try to forget by deadening their experiences to ease the pain.

Sexual Interference (against children under 16) – it is a crime if someone, for a sexual purpose, touches any part of the body of a child (under the age of 16).

Invitation to sexual touching (against children under 16) – it is a crime if someone, for a sexual purpose, encourages a child to touch him/her with any part of the child’s body or with an object. It is also a crime if someone, for a sexual purpose, encourages a child to touch his or her own body or the body of someone else.

Sexual exploitation (against children aged 16 to 17)  - it is a crime if someone who is in a position of trust or authority with whom the young person is in a relationship of dependency, commits the offences of “sexual interference” or “invitation to sexual touching” described above. A person in a position of authority can be a parent, step-parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, coach, babysitter, group-home worker or employer.

Incest – it is a crime if a blood relation has sexual intercourse knowing that the other person is a blood relation(e.g. parent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister or grandparent) .

Exposure – it is a crime if someone, for a sexual purpose, exposes his or her genitals to a person who is under the age of 16 (if this happens to someone over the age of 16, this is still against the law if it happens in a public place).
Offence in relation to juvenile prostitution – it is a crime if someone obtains or attempts to obtain the sexual services of a person who is under the age of 16.

Consequences

The post traumatic stress disorder most closely linked to child abuse is multiplicity. In research studies, over 90% of people with this diagnosis had been abused children. In clinical experience, people with severe multiplicity, with many different personality states, and complex memory barriers between the different personalities, have a 100% rate of childhood abuse.

A study in Toronto on adolescent runaways found that 75% of the females and 38% of the males had been sexually abused as children. Adult women molested as children are more likely than non-victims to manifest depression, self-destructive behaviour, anxiety, feelings of isolation and stigma, poor self-esteem, a tendency toward revictimization and substance abuse.

In a study of 93 women and 9 men who had been sexually abused as children, 60% of the women and almost 25% of the men had eating disorders. Two-thirds of the women said they never or rarely consulted a physician because they were terrified of the physical examination.

Substance abuse is unusually common among women who are victims of all forms of violence. Some studies have demonstrated significant relationships between histories of child physical and/or sexual abuse and substance abuse for women.