SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION
Child sexual abuse is the adult (or older child) exploitation of the normal childhood development process, through the use of sexual activity. Examples of the types of sexual activity might include touching, kissing, fondling, manipulations of the genitals with the fingers, and actual sexual intercourse (Stovall, 1981).
In examining patterns of sexual abuse and exploitation, it is important to keep in mind that the knowledge base is changing rapidly. While earlier belief was that sexual abuse perpetrators were almost always men, McCarty (1986) studied female perpetrators and found both accomplices who aided male perpetrators, and independent abusers, who had come from a background of bad childhoods, unhappy marriages and earlier sexual victimization. Within the last decade it has been acknowledged that male children are also sexually victimized and are at great risk (Bolton, Morris, & MacEachron, 1989). It currently appears that female children are more likely to be sexually abused in an incestuous situation, while more male children are sexually abused outside the home.