Sexual Exploitation

Sexual exploitation is defined as any nonconsensual or unwanted sexual act that leads to an abuser’s personal gain or profit. Perpetrators threaten, manipulate, and force vulnerable individuals into sexual acts to gratify their own sexual desires or for financial gain. Sexual abuse and exploitation of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) or developmental disabities (DD) may consist of direct and ongoing sexual abuse, with oral, manual, or genital contact ranging from forced touching to penetration of different orifices. Some persons are unwillingly exposed to the sexual acts of others or to pornography, and some are forced to participate in the creation of pornographic images. Individuals may experience one-time verbal or physical sexual assaults, or they may be chronically abused by persons known to them. In addition, ...