Sexual abuse

What is sexual abuse?

This is about direct or indirect involvement in sexual activity without the person’s consent. This is also the inability to consent, or situations where there has been pressure or inducement to consent or take part. In safeguarding adults this will often be where mental capacity is impaired in some way.

Examples of sexual abuse include:

• Rape.

• Indecent exposure.

• Sexual harassment.

• Inappropriate looking or touching.

• Sexual teasing or innuendo.

• Sexual photography.

This form of abuse can also include subjecting someone to pornography, or witnessing sexual acts, indecent exposure or sexual assault.

Sexual abuse also includes sexual violence, which is often linked with domestic abuse but in fact is any sexual act (or attempt at a sexual act) obtained by using violence or coercion, regardless of the relationship to the victim.

Signs of sexual abuse

There are a number of physical signs to look out for:

• Cuts, bruises and marks – particularly to the thighs, buttocks, upper arms, and neck.

• Irritation, pain or bleeding in the genital area.

• Torn, stained, or bloody underclothing.

• Unprecedented difficulty walking or sitting.

• Infections, STDs, or unexplained genital discharges.

• Pregnancy (if the woman is unable to consent to sexual intercourse).

• Incontinence that’s not related to any medical diagnosis.

The factor that links all of these examples is that the person does not consent, or they felt pressured into consenting.

Sexual abuse can involve serial abusing in which the perpetrator seeks out and ‘grooms’ individuals. Grooming is defined as developing the trust of an individual at risk of abuse and/or his or her family in order to engage in illegal sexual conduct. There is no specific criminal law against the grooming of an adult, unlike children. However, there are offences which relate to adults at risk who have impaired capacity, and safeguarding interventions are possible outside of the criminal justice system.

This category includes adult sexual exploitation - exploitative situations and relationships where people receive 'something' (e.g. accommodation, alcohol, affection, money) as a result of them performing, or others performing on them, sexual activities. Anybody can be a victim of sexual exploitation.

Possible signs of adult sexual exploitation:

• evidence or suspicions of sexual assault

• self-harm or significant changes in emotional wellbeing

• developing inappropriate or unusual relationships or associations, including relationships with controlling or significantly older people

• displaying inappropriate sexualised behaviour, language or dress

• being isolated from peers and social networks

• unexplained absences, including persistently being late or going missing

• unexplained acquisition of money, clothes and mobile phones

• using more than one phone, especially if both are used to communicate with different people (for example, if one phone is used exclusively to communicate with a specific group of ‘friends’)

• receiving an excessive amount of texts or phone calls – these may be from multiple callers, some of whom may be unknown

In addition to these, there are some other, more subtle signs to look out for. For instance, a person might start using explicit sexual language. Or they might demonstrate significant changes in their behaviour and attitude towards sex. They might seem distant and listless. They may also develop sleeping problems.

Sometimes sexual abuse is an isolated incident. But in more extreme cases it can be an everyday part of a toxic culture or environment.