Summary 

Child sexual abuse (CSA) describes a range of contact and non-contact sexual behaviors toward children, such as sexual assault or exposing a child to pornography. CSA often involves the perpetrator grooming the child for abuse by isolating them from protectors, desensitizing them to touch, or offering incentives for participation including physical, material, or emotional resources among other tactics. Different definitions of CSA exist in research and law, and vary based on considerations of a child's age (e.g., in different legal contexts, or relative to another child in instances of peer abuse), consent (which can be difficult to determine, and which some argue is impossible for children to give), what acts are deemed sexual (some behaviors are more clearly abusive than others, e.g., intercourse with a child versus a parent bathing with a child), and what acts are deemed abusive (which may vary by context and intent). There is no universally agreed upon list as to what sexual behaviors constitute CSA.

Defining Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse (CSA) describes a range of sexual behaviors toward children that includes both contact and non-contact acts. Examples of CSA include sexual assault, rape, incest, exposing children to pornography, taking sexual images of children (such as filming or photography), and making children engage in sexual acts with other children.

While there are many definitions of CSA, one example is that of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO defines CSA as:

The involvement of a child in sexual activity that [the child] does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or that violate the laws or social taboos of society. Child sexual abuse is evidenced by this activity between a child and an adult or another child who by age or development is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other person. This may include but is not limited to:

• The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity.
• The exploitative use of child in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices.
• The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.”1

Definitions of CSA vary in terms of scope, specificity, and terminology. Defining CSA requires consideration of multiple criteria, each of which are individually complex.2 These criteria include:

• Age of the child
• Consent
• What acts are sexual
• What acts constitute abuse

The concept of age requires us to determine who is a child. Usually a child is someone 18 years of age or younger, though definitions can vary in research and legal contexts, such as across different states or countries. An age difference of three to five years or so between the child and offender has been considered part of what defines abuse, although this can vary when manipulation, coercion, or force is used as part of the abuse. Abuse is characterized by a power differential that can be related to age, but also other factors such as size, maturity, or cognitive functioning.

A difference of power between individuals, such as in age, size, maturity, or cognitive functioning, distinguishes abuse from other behaviors.

Consent refers to an active agreement to engage in sexual activity.  It is generally thought that young children cannot give consent to sexual behavior regardless of the age difference. Older youth may be coerced, manipulated, or tricked thereby making consent meaningless. Consent can be difficult to determine due to the nature of grooming and conditioning (see Child Sexual Abuse Dynamics). Some have argued that a child can never give informed consent to sexual abuse because the child often does not understand what is being "consented" to and does not have the true power to say no.3

Determining what acts are sexual and abusive can be challenging in some situations. Abuse definitions are on a continuum ranging from where there is agreement that the act is sexually abusive (e.g., intercourse with a child) to less clear situations (e.g., a parent bathing with a child).4

Identifying abuse may or may not be difficult, depending on the context. 

There is no universally agreed upon list of sexually abusive behaviors, so awareness of the context and intent of the perpetrator is critical in determining what behaviors constitute sexual abuse. 

Sexual abuse can involve any of the following:

• Sex of any kind with a minor, including vaginal, oral, or anal
• Exhibitionism, or exposing oneself to a minor
• Repeatedly entering a bathroom or bedroom to view a child undressed or partly undressed
• Fondling
• Simulated intercourse (e.g., dry humping) 
• Masturbation in the presence of a child or forcing the minor to masturbate
• Sexually explicit or suggestive phone calls, text messages, or digital interaction
• Producing, owning, or sharing pornographic or sexual images or movies of children
• Sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation
• Any other sexual conduct that is harmful or frightening to a child including sexual harassment, flirting, commenting on the young person’s physical appearance, or discussing sexual experiences with the young person

Due to the wide range of abusive behaviors, CSA can be difficult to define and operationalize in different contexts (e.g., in research or legal settings). Further, variations between definitions of CSA have negative implications for research and knowledge formation, prevention efforts, policy responses, legal frameworks, and the establishment of social norms.2 A lack of agreement on what is and is not CSA inhibits movement forward to understand and prevent sexual abuse against children. 

Child Sexual Abuse Dynamics

Grooming is the process through which a more powerful and usually older person identifies, recruits, and maintains a person in a sexual abuse situation.

Grooming is a primary tool of abuse. 

Any of the following can be grooming behaviors:  

• Isolating the youth from protectors such as caring adults or peers
• Overcoming the youth’s internal resistance to become sexual
• Desensitizing the youth to touch
• Providing ongoing incentives for participation including physical, material, or emotional resources
• Conditioning confusion about the true nature of the relationship (e.g., this sexual behavior is appropriate, this is a “love” relationship, I am the only person who cares about you)

Often, but not always, sexually abusive behavior will start with non-sexual touch. Touches will gradually become more sexual. Perpetrators monitor the child’s reaction to stop and start the touching over time based on how the child is responding. The perpetrator avoids causing the child too much anxiety or awareness so that they stop the activity before the perpetrator’s goal has been reached. 
 
The perpetrator may say nothing as this process unfolds. On the other hand, some perpetrators will tell a series of lies to make the child believe a manipulative view of what is taking place, such as:

• “I care for you in a special way.”
• “Your parents will not understand but there is nothing wrong with touching bodies.”
• “I love you.”
• “If you tell, no one will believe you.”
• “If you tell, we will both get in trouble.”

Given that sexual abuse may develop gradually, especially in the early stages of the grooming process, youth may like aspects of the abuse, or feel that they gave consent becuase they did not say “no” in the beginning. Whether the touching feels good or the inducements are persuasive, abuse may not start off unpleasant. The grooming or conditioning process can be extremely powerful, impacting the youth’s perception of the abuse and ability to disclose their experience of abuse.

• 1. WHO Consultation on Child Abuse Prevention (1999). Report of the Consultation on Child Abuse Prevent, 29-31 March 1999. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. 
• 2. a. b. Mathews, B., & Collin-Vézina, D. (2019). Child sexual abuse: Toward a conceptual model and definition. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 20(2), 131-148.
• 3. Finkelhor, D. (1979). What's wrong with sex between adults and children? Ethics and the problem of sexual abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 49(4), 692-697.
• 4. Haugaard, Jeffrey J. (2000). The Challenge of Defining Child Sexual Abuse. The American Psychologist,55(3), 1036.