People are sexually abused everyday and while the problem is extreme it is immensely  worse for children. About 28-33% of woman and 12-18% of men are sexually abused as children. (Hall,1) Sexual abuse is very common in the United States and other places around the world; however, many people do not speak up about what has happened to them. Various children around the world experience mental problems such as suicidal thoughts, in many victims and can cause trust issues within adults or figures of authority as a result of their sexual abuse. Often times sexual abuse is over looked which makes children afraid to report it.

Many people around the world have been experienced sexually abused as children. This can cause many mental problems that also last into adulthood. “While her mother worked at night, a man living with them would slip into her room and lift her clothes… Flores would bolt up and fight him off.” (Lah & Moya) Flores developed mental problems as she lost hope in herself; when she fought against him every night and lost because she was young and had less strength, and even although it was not her fault she felt shame would not see it that way because she fought, but he was still able to rape her.  In addition, “Correlation with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, and self blame.” (Zoldbrod These are all significant mental effects of sexuall trauma that can last long into adulthood.

High levels of depression can cause suicidal thoughts in many victims of sexual abuse. Similarly, “They damage adult sexuality by affecting the patient's feelings, associations and implicit memories about touch, trust, safety, power, and gender.” (Zoldbrod) Damage to a person's feelings can cause mental instability. This mental instability is often followed by depression and thoughts of suicide or self harm. In addition to the psychological problems created by sexual abuse, it can also cause trust issues with adults or figures of authority.

Another large problem associated with childhood sexual abuse is a growing lack of trust in figures of authority. “The abuse began when the girl confided in Armstrong that she was being bullied and he told her to meet him after school.” (Stanley) Situations like this can cause an apprehensiveness towards figures of authority which is why it is a major crime. “The rationale for criminalizing this conduct is that the capacity to consent is diminished by the authority that the teacher or other authority figure has over the student or other person.” (Baldwin)  Moreover, when a teacher uses his/her authority over a student to have sex it can damage that students trust in the teacher and in other figures of authority because they are afraid it may happen again. In the world  an estimated 1500 priest have been accused of having sexual relations with children under their care or authority. (Boston Globe, 36) When someone that is supposed to be showing you the word of God,  sexually assaults you it can cause significant trust issues in that person, and in other people of authority, and in God who the person was supposed to be an example of. Furthermore, “desperate and young people sought his help, Shanley was a sexual predator, a skilled manipulator who used his power and authority to prey on those who came to him for guidance and support. Therapy sessions became the setting for molest and rape.” (Boston Globe, 42) Shanley, a priest who children and adults trusted in, became a sexual predator. He used his place of power as a priest that was trusted to use and abuse children. Many people in a place of power have sexually abused children. Using their power to overcome a child is their way of gaining power and making themselves feel important by making a child feel used and hurt. While this is another horrible effect of childhood sexual abuse there are still more. Many sexuall abuse charges are never even filed.

There are a lot of sexual abuse charges every year, but what most people don't realize is that dozens if not more are never reported. “the girl said Armstrong often repeated this warning--that no one would believe her...he allegedly sexually assaulted her as often as five times a week.” (Stanley,) The girl talked about in this quote believed Armstrong, an 8th grade school teacher, and his warning because of this she waited two years before she turned Armstrong into the police and admitted to what had happened in his classroom after hours.  Not to mention,“The abuses were reported , but the reports fell on deaf ears.” (Boston Globe, 37)  In this case the abuses were actually reported but they were ignored. People didn’t believe what the children said and so they ignored what they said and did nothing to fix the problem. As a matter of fact, “Sexual abuse that does not include touch and other types of sexual abuse are reported less often, which means this number of individuals may actually be greater.” (Hall, 1) In other words certain types of sexual abuse are reported less often than other forms of abuse, such as harassing words. This means that the number of children who have had to endure sexual abuse may be much more than what people think it is because so many cases are never reported. In many cases children are too afraid to report sexual abuse because they are afraid no one will believe them or that it will get worse for them.

Thousands of children around the world experience sexuall abuse every year. This sexual abuse can cause mental problems ,such as suicidal thoughts, a lack of trust in adults and figures of authority, and is often overlooked and not reported because children are too afraid that it will get worse for them or that no one will believe them. In many cases sexual abuse is never reported. While people are abused every day sexuall abuse is one of the worst types and it can be even worse for children. This is because the majority of sexual abuse happens during childhood. (Hall,2)

Works Cited
Baldwin, Lauren. “Rape Laws, Defenses and Penalties.” NOLO, 2018, 
“Child Abuse.” Child Abuse, by Boston Globe, Thomson Gale, 2006, pp. 36–42.
“Child Abuse.” Child Abuse, by Greg Abbot, Thomson Gale, 2008, p. 33.
Hall, Melissa, and Joshua Hall. American Counseling Association, 2011.
Lah, Kyung, and Alberto Moya. “Women Seize on Their Past Abuse to Fuel Political Ambition.”
CNN Politics, 30 Mar. 2018.
Stanley, Deb. “Denver 7.” Denver 7, 15 May 2015.
Zoldbrod, Aline. U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, NCBI, 17 Dec.
2014.