The Impact of Child Sexual Abuse: Definition
Initial consideration of a definition of CSA may seem straight forward. For example, the anal rape of a three year old elicits highly emotive feelings, and most would not hesitate to label this as CSA. However, the problems with definition appear to lie more in the periphery. Details such as the age of the victim, the age of the perpetrator, the type of contact or non-contact, and the situation/environment (for example, culture, religion) in which the alleged abuse occurs, all contribute to the inconsistencies in CSA definition (Kuyken, 1995; Webster, 2001). While it is widely accepted that a sexual relationship between an adult and a young child is abusive (Kuyken, 1995) — due to the child’s inability to give informed, voluntary consent, and the abuse of the adult’s auth... »
