Our precious Sister Melissa shares her painful journey overcoming childhood sexual abuse and has become an advocate to help those who have suffered similar trauma to erase the pain that comes with such violations.
CHILD SEX ABUSE IS:
1. Any sexual contact between an adult and child, defined as:
touching, with the intention of sexually arousing the child or providing sexual arousal for the offending party, kissing, by one whose purpose is like touching fondling of genitals or other parts of the body in a sexual or prolonged manner
overt sexual contact, such as oral-genital contact, or manual stimulation of genitals or intercourse.
2. Any behavior that is intended to stimulate the child sexually, or to sexually stimulate the abusing person through the use of the child, including showing the child erotic materials, photographing the child in a sexual manner or talking sexually to the child.
3. Sexual contact by a person that is in an older developmental stage than the child. Even children in the same developmental stage can experience the act as abusive if physical, emotional, harm is inflicted or used as coercion.
These are not legal definitions and those can vary from state to state. Contact your local police department if you are unsure if sexual abuse has occurred.
