Sexual abuse

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Sexual abuse (also referred to as molestation) is defined by the forcing of undesired sexual acts by one person to another.

Different types of sexual abuse involve:

Non-consensual, forced physical sexual behavior such as rape or sexual assault
Psychological forms of abuse, such as verbal sexual behavior or stalking.
The use of a position of trust for sexual purposes.

1 Spousal sexual abuse
2 Students and sexual harassment
3 Sexual abuse of minors
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Spousal sexual abuse

Main article: spousal abuse

Spousal abuse is the term applied to the specific form of domestic violence, where physical or sexual abuse is perpetrated by one spouse upon another. Frequently this involves forced sex (spousal rape), sexual humiliation and degradation.

[edit] Students and sexual harassment

Students may be the victims of unwanted sexual attention by teachers and professors, see Sexual harassment by teachers.

Because students and faculty members have unequal power and authority, flirtatious and sexual behavior by a faculty member toward a student is often classified as a misuse of power, and may carry serious consequences such as the filing of charges of sexual harassment and/or termination of employment.

For a famous example of a teacher-student statutory rape, see Mary Kay Letourneau.

[edit] Sexual abuse of minors

Main article: Child sexual abuse

In the majority of cultures and countries, sex is legal and acceptable only if both parties give consent.

The age of consent, that is, the age at which the law presumes a person has the physical, emotional and sexual maturity to make an informed adult decision to enter into sexual activity, differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, from a low teenage in Italy and Spain to a mid to high teens age elsewhere, for example 16 in the United Kingdom, 17 in Ireland. (Some states also provide different ages of consent for homosexual boys as against heterosexual boys and girls.) Yet separately the law may specify a different age where a teenager ceases to be a child and becomes an adult. As a result, where a difference exists, it may be perfectly legal to have sex with a child where the individual, though still deemed a child in law, is above the age of consent specified in local legislation. In most cases, the age of consent and statutory rape laws aim at protecting children and teenagers from exploitation, particularly physical or psychological exploitation involving sexual behavior.

[edit] Further reading

Aba, C. (1992). Sexual Assaults on Students. London: Harper and Row.
Billie Wright Dzeich and Linda Weiner, 1984 (2nd ed. 1990). The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus. Boston: Beacon Press.
Doris Van Stone, (1990). No Place to Cry: The Hurt and Healing of Sexual Abuse. Moody Publishers.