Sexual harassment has touched the lives of many children across the nation. For example, a close friend of mine was molested at the age of three by one of the employees at the day care center he stayed at every day while his single mother went to work. Furthermore, another dear friend of mine was touched and spoken to in a sexual manner on numerous occasions by his middle-aged boss at a local fast food restaurant. These children and teenagers are only a spec in the enormous number of kids that get sexually molested and abused every day. Yet, our government hides its eyes. It is a known statistic that sexual abuse is by far the least reported abuse of any kind because it is the most degrading and embarrassing for the victim. It is often called t

children to be put into day care centers and less direct parenting is taking place. In addition, more parents are divorcing and remarrying, bringing stepfamilies together in much greater numbers.

Although child sexual abuse is the least reported of any type of mistreatment, some statistics are still known. It has been discovered that one in every five girls as well as one in every seven boys have been sexually molested as a child. In addition, the average age of a sexual abuse victim is between seven and thirteen, but children far

Many activities and programs have been used in teaching children how to prevent sexual harassment from happening and what to do if it does. Some organizations such as the Bubblyonian Encounter and Touch choose to present their ideas through drama groups. These short, usually comical plays work well because people are able to talk to the kids face to face and children can relate better to humor. Another approach is through literature such as picture books, pamphlets or booklets. A few examples of well-written books that deal with child sexual molestation are Something Happened To Me and My Very Own Special Body Book. Both novels are sensitive towards small children and use lots of appropriate pictures. Some popular booklets are No One Knew My secret 'til One Day and Red Flag, Green Flag. In addition, many elementary school teachers are encouraged to read these books, make up stories of their own or show videos to their classes that involve the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse (Hyde 63).

sexual abuse is to educate the public. Parents and children alike need to be taught how to avoid sexual harassment and what to do if they or someone they know are harassed. More importantly, the many myths about child sexual abuse must be destroyed.

Other, even smaller groups include rape and abuse crisis centers located across the country as well as the Illusion Theatre and the Hennepin County Prevention Project in

Child sexual abuse is defined as "the rape, and in cases of caretaker or interfamilial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children" as well as "the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct." (Rein 64) In other words, any type of sexual exploitation of a minor for the gratification of an adult can be considered sexual abuse. Furthermore, familial abuse, or incest involves a family member- someone who is of blood relation and too close to marry. On the other hand, extra familial abuse involves a person outside of the family. These offenders may be strangers, but they are more likely a person in a position of trust, such as friends of the family, teachers, neighbors, acquaintances or religious advisors. In addition, forms of sexual abuse include exhibitionism, or the showing of private body parts directly or through a photograph, the touching or fondling of private areas on a child or the forcing of the victim to touch the offender either on top of or under the clothes and the taking of photographs of an exposed child. The most commonly known forms of molestation include rape or forced intercourse, incest and sodomy. These acts may occur over an extended period of time or they may be a one-time incident.

Although some efforts have been put into lessening the number of child sexual molestation victims, it is not enough. The amount of victims is rising every year, however the numbers of associations formed to fight child sexual abuse are remaining the same or even decreasing. With the growth of the Internet and the number of remarriages in a year, chi

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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)