Catherine ForstECE-2654/30/2014Sexual AbuseChildhood sexual abuse is a significant community health problem in the United States and around the world. In the United States, one in three women and one in five men were victims of sexual abuse before the age of 18. Unfortunately, sexual abuse is considered a moderately common experience in children's lives. Girls are twice as likely as boys to be sexually abused during childhood and eight times more likely during adolescence. Because significant physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and behavioral problems are linked to childhood trauma, the need to more effectively address the issue has become supreme. Common problems that arise after sexual abuse has occurred include the following: excessive sexual knowledge, self-centered thinking, feelings of guilt and fear, fear of reporting the incident, difficulty with sequential events, remembering details, low self-esteem, and depression, feelings of anger, concern about sexual play. Sexual abuse is a form of child abuse. It can be defined as “contact or interaction between a child and an adult in which the child is used for sexual purposes by an adult.” Sexual abuse encompasses a wide range of sexual activities, including non-violent and non-physical acts, such as self-disclosure to a child, along with physical and sometimes violent contact. This contact may include oral or genital contact, genital stimulation and penetration, and the exploitation of children through pornography and prostitution. In most cases, the attacker is known to the victim. After the child has suffered sexual abuse, many times the abuser bribes or threatens the victim. In one study, higher degrees of abuse were found among men raised in unha...... middle of paper...... no genital area. All of these symptoms can be caused by a multitude of other things, but they are warning signs and should not be ignored by a child care provider!2. If I suspected sexual abuse, what would be the next step? Report it to child protective services, and depending on who I thought might be the perpetrator, I would also talk to the parents about it. But this is not likely as I would not be sure that they would take the child from our care and that we would not help them further. What kind of activities would you suggest for children who are victims of sexual abuse? Seeking medical help can be a great help, counseling and doll play therapy are also helpful. Provide constant love and support to the child and reassure him that it was not his fault. Any other comments on sexual abuse? This is horrible, wrong and harmful!! I hate it!!!!