Sexual Violence, Psychological Effects of

Sexual violence is a coercive act that occurs when one or more individuals assert themselves in a sexually aggressive manner toward an unwilling and often unsuspecting victim, known or unknown to them, by use of physical force, verbal or nonverbal threat, and/or intimidation. Sexual violence is an umbrella term that includes various forms or types of perpetration and victimization, not all of which involve sexual penetration or even touch. Rape, childhood sexual abuse, pederasty (i.e., sexual relations between [Page 3145]an adult man and an adolescent boy), forced childhood marriage, female genital mutilation, forced prostitution, sex trafficking of minor children, and sexual exploitation are all types of sexual violence. Forced pregnancy and forced abortion, forced sterilization, incest, intimate partner sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, indecent exposure ...