Is It Sexual Abuse
So what is sexual abuse? What do we mean by being molested?
Sexual abuse (it’s also called molesting and some kids call it pe
rving or sexing a kid) is anything sexual that happens between a kid and someone older. The older person may not be a grown up; sometimes its an older kid. It may include touching, or it may not.
Sometimes it’s obvious that it’s sexual. Like if the older person touches or kisses a child in private places, like where your bathing suit goes (your penis, your vagina, your breasts or your butt), or kisses them on the mouth, maybe using their tongue. Sometimes the older person makes the kid touch the older person’s private parts, or makes a kid touch their own body in front of the adult. Sometimes the grownup touches their own sexual parts in front of a kid.
But sometimes it isn’t touching. Sexual abuse also includes talking sexy to a kid or making a kid watch dirty videos or look at dirty pictures. Or maybe the older person watches the kid undress or take a bath.
Here’s what we want you to know: It is totally WRONG for anyone to do that to you!
We think the easiest way to say it is this: a kid usually thinks it feels ‘weird’ or ‘gross’ or ‘icky’, but the older person enjoys it. Trust your feelings. If you think what someone is doing to you is wrong, then it probably is.
*You can click here to see some kids’ descriptions of how they were sexually abused*