Sexual abuse is a relative cultural term used to describe sexual relations and behavior between two or more parties which are considered criminally and/or morally offensive. Different types of sexual abuse involve: Abuse is a general term for the misuse of a person or thing, causing harm to the person or thing, to the abuser, or to someone else. ... Sexual behavior is a form of physical intimacy that may be directed to reproduction (one possible goal of sexual intercourse) and/or to the enjoyment of activity involving sexual gratification. ... A crime in a broad sense is an act that violates a political or moral law of any one person or social grouping. ...

• Non-consensual, forced physical sexual behavior such as rape or sexual assault
• Psychological forms of abuse, such as verbal sexual behavior or stalking.

This article needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... In mathematics, stalk usually refers to the idea of the stalk of a sheaf. ...

The issue of consent

In the majority of cultures and countries, sex is legal and acceptable only if both parties give informed consent. In most western countries, the term "informed consent" is doubled as a legal term as well, one which applies to mainstream ideals. Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon an appreciation and understanding of the facts and implications of any actions. ...

In some cases, some forms of sexual behavior are still considered illegal even though both parties are able to give informed consent, such as specific practices involved with BDSM (due to it being legally defined as assault, regardless of informed consent). A collar is a common symbol of BDSM. BDSM is a term which describes a number of related patterns of human sexual behaviour. ...

Most societies have strict laws, edict, and moral beliefs as to who may consent to sex. In most jurisdictions, disadvantaged classes of people such as minors and mentally retarded people have limited or no rights to give legal, informed consent, even though the parties involved may truly be consenting and willing to such actions. The debate about who can truly consent to sex is a controversial subject which crosses borders of law and culture. For this reason, many of the terms and phrases used can be blurred between the two as to what is truly abusive sexual behavior and what isn't. Mental retardation (also called mental handicap and, as defined by the UK Mental Health Act 1983, mental impairment and severe mental impairment) is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as... Law (a loanword from Old Norse lagu), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, intended to provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments of/for those who...

Spousal sexual abuse

Main article: spousal abuse

Spousal abuse is the term applied to the specific form of domestic violence, where physical or sexual abuse is perpetuated by one spouse upon another. This is typically perpetuated by a male upon a female in a heterosexual relationship, although females and homosexuals are also known to inflict abuse (see battered woman syndrome). Spousal abuse is a specific form of domestic violence where physical or sexual abuse is perpetuated by one spouse upon another. ... Domestic violence broadly defined, is violence within a home. ... Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause pain, injury, or other physical suffering or harm. ... Marriage is a relationship that plays a key role in the definition of many families. ... Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love or sexual desire exclusively for members of the opposite sex or gender, contrasted with homosexuality and distinguished from bisexuality and asexuality. ... Since its inception, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... Battered wife syndrome is a recognised psychological condition to describe a woman who, because of constant and severe domestic violence sometimes involving physical abuse by a male partner, becomes depressed and unable to take any independent action that would allow her to escape the abuse. ...

Student and patient sexual exploitation

Students are sometimes victims of sexual exploitation by teachers and professors, see Academic abuse. Even if the sexual contact is consented to (or even initiated) by the student, it may be considered a form of abuse on the presumption that the teacher or professor is apt to exploit his or her position of authority in a subtle form of psychological coercion. Whether this is a sound presumption in all cases may be disputed. This article discusses the economic concept of exploitation. ... Academic seduction is sometimes considered a type of sexual abuse, and refers to the phenomenon of college professors having sexual relations with their students. ...

For a famous example of a teacher-student relationship, see Mary Kay Letourneau. Mary Kay Letourneau (1962 -). Mary Kay Fualaau (born January 30, 1962), born Mary Katherine Schmitz, formerly Letourneau, is a former schoolteacher known for having a sexual relationship with an underage pupil. ...

Patients of psychotherapists are another common category of sexual exploitation; see Psychotherapist abuse.

Minor sexual abuse as it relates to law

Main article: Child sexual abuse

According to United States law, minors under the age of consent can only give "simple consent", but not informed consent, to sexual activity. State laws generally differentiate between an adult engaging in sexual activities with minors. Generally speaking, the two categorizations of charges faced are: The term child sexual abuse (CSA) is commonly defined in contemporary western culture as as any sexual acts engaged in by prepubescent minors and adults. ... In criminal law, the age of consent (AOC) is the age at which a person is considered to be capable of legally giving informed consent to sexual acts with another person. ... Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon an appreciation and understanding of the facts and implications of any actions. ...

• Sex between a minor child/prepubescent teen and an adult is "child sexual abuse".
• Sex between a minor adolescent/teen/youth and an adult is "statutory rape".

According to some state laws in the U.S., if two or more minors under the age of consent engage in sex with each other, they may both be (somewhat paradoxically) classified as victims of sexual abuse. Cases in which both participants are minors have historically not been prosecuted, although a shift in the direction of prosecuting minors for consensual sex with other minors seems to have occurred in the last several decades. (See Ethical Treatment for All Youth for examples.) A female child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... The term child sexual abuse (CSA) is commonly defined in contemporary western culture as as any sexual acts engaged in by prepubescent minors and adults. ... A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ... A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ... Popular use of the word youth refers to a person who is neither an adult nor a child, but somewhere in between, scientifically referred to as an adolescent and, in the United States, commonly referred to as a teen or teenager. ... The term statutory rape is sometimes used when national and/or regional governments, citing an interest in protecting minors, consider people under a certain age to be unable to give consent, and therefore consider sexual contact with them to be equivalent to rape regardless of the minors consent. ... In criminal law, the age of consent (AOC) is the age at which a person is considered to be capable of legally giving informed consent to sexual acts with another person. ...