Signs of Sexual Abuse

Signs of Sexual Abuse:


Sexually-precocious or attempts to mask seductive behavior
Hides secondary sexual characteristics
Attempts to be unattractive
Abnormal sexual knowledge
*Radical mood swings
*Sense of danger where he/she lives
Change in eating habits (bulimia, anorexia, or compulsive eating)
Inappropriately seductive
Apparent boredom w/age peers and age appropriate activities
*Nightmares, insomnia, sleepwalking and other sleep disturbances
*Radical change in school performance for better or worse
Fearful about certain people
Over achievement
*Depression, crying episodes, etc.
Substance abuse/addiction
*Expression of "damaged goods" syndrome
*Angry, hostile or aggressive behavior
Fear of adult or adolescent
Fear of being photographed
*Anxiety reaction to authority figures
Fear of undressing or refusal to undress in gym class
Pseudo-mature/overly-compliant or accommodating
Regressive, babyish behavior
*Intense efforts to gain attention/affection from adults
*Spending inordinate amounts of time in game rooms, arcades. etc
Recruiting other children to become involved with an adult
*Suicidal thinking, gestures, and attempts
Hints regarding sexual behavior
*Fear of nurturing/withdrawal/impaired ability to trust
*Self-mutalative behavior
*Find reasons to not go home (helping teachers, etc.)
Neurological and verbal expressive delays
Killing/torturing domestic animals
*Self-hatred
Memory loss
*Runaway
*Fear of the dark
*Find reasons to not be with someone they used to spend time with (or any change of behavior toward a friend or family member)
*Unable to concentrate, daydreaming, 'spacing out', 'in a world of their own'
*Withdrawn, isolated, or excessively worried
Excessive or early masterbation
Starts sucking thumb or fingers (toddlers and young children)
Becomes a perpetrator, targeting a child, sibling, or friend
*Fear of parent leaving her.
Inappropriate kissing in young children.
Nervous or fearful around adults, in particular, men.
Not wanting someone, including a parent, to change his/her diaper or give him/her a bath.
Imaginary friend(s)
*The one major sign of sexual abuse we've encountered is bowel movement accidents in older toilet trained children.


*- Signs my daughter was showing during the time of her abuse.... signs I missed. Wait, I take that back- I saw all the signs, but believed it was something else... because her abuser convinced me it was something else. His ability to manipulate the people around him still baffles me.