Sexual Disconnect - Term Paper Example

She also notes that any sexual involvement between a minor, any person below the age of 18, also referred as a child, and an individual five or more years older, then there is a high likelihood that the child or minor is being exploited. This is to mean there is an imbalance of power between the victim and the abuser in terms of physical size and strength, age and the kind of emotional relational relationship they are involved in. she further notes that the perpetrators are not usually strangers necessarily, most of the reported cases have been acquaintances of these children and even people these children trust and have a deep relationship with such as family members.

Sexual abuse takes several forms. They will involve both use of contact which is physical and non-physical acts. Physical abuse include actions such as fondling, kissing done in a sexual way, contact with the private parts which include breasts, vagina, penis and buttocks, inserting objects into the genitals, rubbing of abuser’s genitals against the genitals of the child or even the child’s clothing and intercourse. . There will be behavioural change within the child which can easily be noted by those caring for the child such as the parents and the teachers.

Response to sexual abuse is different for different children in respect to the age of the child, the severity or extent of the abuse, duration of the abuse as well as the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. A guardian, care giver or teacher interacting with the child will know of child abuse through certain projections such as pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, bruises in part like the mouth, difficulty when walking or sitting, discharge in the genitals, difficulty in sleeping such as nightmares, anxiety, depression, self-injurious acts such as cutting or suicidal attempts, explicit sexual knowledge for a child of an inappropriate age or even withdrawal of a child from other people (Child Sexual Fact Sheet, 2009).

The children’s actions cannot therefore be termed as sexual abuse. This is because the students being in the same class are likely to be of similar ages therefore indicating no imbalance of power in terms of age or physical size and strength. Being the first instance for the occurrence, it is difficult to determine whether the two had been engaging in such actions for some time. When the teacher walks in to check on the boys, she finds both of the laughing. Sexual abuse does not occur for the mutual excitement of both participants but it acts to victimize the individual being abused while only exciting the perpetrator.

A five year old child may also not be aware of issues to do with sexual intimacy; the boys were probably experimenting to quest inquisitive nature. Sexual orientation refers to the sex of those who are sexually attracted. Individuals attracted to