Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime that evokes a strong emotional reaction because it is so hard to make sense of. What kind of adult would do that to a child? But it is also more common than often acknowledged: conservative estimates suggest 15% of girls and 5% of boys experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16, which makes it as common as physical and emotional abuse.
Every so often, stories about terrible scandals involving child sexual abuse – from grooming gangs to Jimmy Savile to football clubs – punctuate the public consciousness. But the reality that underpins the headlines is that child sexual abuse affects every community; abuse within the family is most common and social services pick up just a fraction of the abuse that happens, leaving hundreds of thousands of children to suffer alone.
