On its website, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, formerly known as Massachusetts Department of Social Services defines Sexual Abuse as follows:

Sexual Abuse occurs when a child has any sexual contact with an adult. This can happen through intercourse, which is considered rape under Massachusetts law. It includes any oral, genital or anal penetration. Sexual exploitation and molestation are also considered abuse. They're defined as contacts or interactions with a child that are used to satisfy an adult's sexual needs and desires. This includes any verbally enticing language as well as fondling, masturbating or exposure of sexual organs by the adult. Sex between an adult and child is never consensual.

Victims of sexual abuse are both male and female and come from all age groups, socioeconomic and education levels, and come from rural and urban areas.

Touching a child's private parts for sexual pleasure, playing sexual games, putting objects or body parts in a child's mouth, anus, or vagina for sexual pleasure, and making a child touch someone else's private parts are examples of sexual abuse that involving touching. This kind of sexual abuse can involve fondling, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, or intercourse.

Showing pornography to a child, exposing private parts to a child for sexual gratification, seeking sexual gratification by watching a child use the toilet, allowing a child to watch or participate in sexual acts, exploiting a child for pornographic purposes, or prostituting a child are all examples of sexual abuse.

Victims of sexual abuse range in age from infancy to adulthood, but most victims are school aged. Perpetrators will often prey on the child who appears lonely, depressed, or in some other way vulnerable.

The majority of incidents of sexual abuse occur in home settings, but a small percentage occur in foster care and day care settings. Sometimes the perpetrators are other children or adolescents, some of whom are in clinical settings.

Most perpetrators of child sexual abuse are known to the victims and their families. Retrospective surveys indicate that only 10-30% of the perpetrators are strangers to the child.

The vast majority of perpetrators – 90% – are male. Boys are more likely than girls to be abused by a female.

A child may have physical signs, such as pain or redness in the genital area, that could indicate he or she has been the victim of abuse. Or, he or she may begin to exhibit unusual aggression, nervousness, hostility, or other behaviors.

Physical signs of possible sexual abuse can include:

Behavioral changes that indicate that a child may have been sexually abused include:

The behavioral signs and many of the physical signs may be red flags to many other issues or problems. They are only indicators that sexual abuse may have occurred and should be considered, but are not in and of themselves positive proof that sexual abuse has occurred.

Children may be too frightened to tell that something has happened to them, or may have been told by the perpetrator that nobody will believe them if they tell, or people will think they are bad. It is important to assure the child victims that they are never to blame for the assault.

*Much of this material is taken or adapted from Prevent Child Abuse America