Child-on-child sexual abuse

Child-on-child sexual abuse is a form of child sexual abuse in which a prepubescent child is sexually abused by one or more other children or adolescents, and in which no adult is directly involved. While this includes one of the children using physical force, threats, trickery or emotional manipulation to elicit cooperation, it also can include non-coercive situations where the initiator proposes or starts a sexual act that the victim does not understand the nature of and simply goes along with, not comprehending its implications or what the consequences might be.[1]

Child-on-child sexual abuse is differentiated from normative sexual play or anatomical curiosity and exploration (e.g. "playing doctor") because child-on-child sexual abuse is an overt and deliberate action directed at sexual stimulation, including orgasm.[2] When sexual abuse is perpetrated by one sibling upon another, it is known as "inter-sibling abuse".[3] When victims of inter-sibling child-on-child sexual abuse grow up, they often have a distorted recollection of the act, such as thinking it was consensual or that they were the initiator.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference shaw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Loseke, Donileen R.; Gelles, Richard J.; Cavanaugh, Mary M. (2005). Current Controversies on Family Violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. ISBN 978-0-7619-2106-6.
  3. ^ John V. Caffaroa; Allison Conn-Caffaro (July–August 2005). "Treating sibling abuse families". Aggression and Violent Behavior. 10 (5): 604–623. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2004.12.001.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Carlson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).