The sexually assaulted child: a critical analysis exploring sexual abuse and its effects. This essay will aim to explore and evaluate sexual abuse and its possible harmful impacts on a child. Although there is no single-person evidence or data describing what causes child abuse and what sexual abuse is, there are four main types of child abuse: emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. (NSPCC 2010). The type of abuse that will be analyzed closely in this essay is sexual abuse. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term sexual abuse is defined as “continuous, unwanted sexual activity imposed on one person by another through coercion or threats.” A similar explanation is presented by Kempe. “Sexual abuse is defined as the involvement of dependent and developmentally immature children and adolescents in sexual activities that they do not fully understand, to which they are incapable of giving informed consent, or that violate the social taboos of family roles. » Although these explanations form the basis of what sexual abuse is with terms such as "dependent", "informed consent" and "immature development", they suggest that the true nature of sexual abuse is not However, this is not yet fully determined. This may be because sexual abuse takes many forms. (Kempe, 1978: 90) As abuse takes many forms, sexual abuse also has different forms, as suggested by Hansel et al (1998). Child sexual abuse can take the form of contact or non-contact offenses. Non-contact offenses include: exhibitionism, a term used to describe genital exposure, voyeurism, this is a form of obtaining sexual gratification by observing victims in a sexual manner, i.e. a child being to undress, verbal sexual abuse is where the child is spoken to...... middle of paper ......ctive and a better understanding will be accomplished. Government policies such as the 2011 Action Plan to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation have responded to the abuse of children and young people who have been raped. In this report, the needs and prevention strategies have been established to eliminate child sexual abuse. Reports have been prepared for practitioners to help them determine whether a child has been sexually exploited. Additionally, this plan implemented a stricter law on sex offenders, stating that "additional charges will be brought against them." Additionally, victims of child sexual abuse will “get the help they need and be supported at all times” (Department of Health 2013) stated that identification and immediate management of sexual abuse was essential to maintain security. As Talcott Parsons argues, “society must ensure an equal balance if it is to “function” properly and benefit all...