Sexual Abuse

Some authors, such as those of the book Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Sharing the Responsibility, will argue that defining sexual abuse is many times fraught with intricacies such as culture and time, depending on the values and orientations of the communities at that particular place or era. This is true for those cultures where it is normal for incestuous relationships to happen within the family and where it is even morally accepted. It is in these instances that one cannot clearly define what is, and what is not sexual abuse. Many will argue, though, that abuse is largely defined as such when the victim feels they have been violated in some way. Sometimes for many it seems more traumatic than incidences of sexual abuse is the physical abuse of fathers on mothers, as well as the verbal and emotional abuse one can experience from parents. Many children witness their father would physically beat up their mothers and go to the extreme of pointing a gun at their mothers face. Such events all would greatly contribute to children’s attitude of constant fear while growing up. Thus, family environment may considerably breed or make the children more prone to sexual abuse. The journal article entitled Family Environmental Characteristics as Risk Factors for Childhood Sexual Abuse states that "a number of family environment characteristics that appear to be associated with CSA: social isolation from siblings and friends; parental unavailability, most notably paternal absence, maternal employment, and having an emotionally or physically distressed parent; presence of a stepfather during childhood; reporting a poor relationship with one's parents and a poor marital relationship between parents; and growing up in a family with an authoritarian family structure and conservative values."