The Legacy of Sexual Abuse

Childhood sexual abuse is the vilest of crimes committed against children. Not only does it violate their innocence, but it also marks the beginning of a plethora of issues that will arise later in life. Issues arise such as poor relationships in adulthood, sexual dysfunction, and various mental issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There are so many things in life that are affected as a result of sexual abuse. The ability to hold a job or the ability to deal with day-to-day issues can be affected. The list seems to be endless.

It is well known that 1 in 3 girls are sexually abused and the statistics for boys are somewhere around 1 in 6. Sometimes this abuse can last for years or maybe it has only happened one time, two times, or three times. Either way, abuse is abuse and there's different degrees and different variations of the abuse. Different people both male and female can be abusers and despite the rise in sexual abuse awareness, the statistics are not declining. It seems we are always hearing on the news of a person being arrested for sexually abusing their child, step child, niece, nephew, friend's child, or grandchild. So many people abuse children in so many different ways that the statistics are staggering.

Some are touched inappropriately and others are raped repeatedly. Some are forced to touch their abuser in inappropriate ways and others are victims of child pornography (photographs or forced sexual activity with another minor). We hear of different scenarios all of the time and what broadens the sadness of the situation is that childhood sexual abuse has been around for a long time.