Other times it is because of the victim's feelings of shame, guilt, or embarrassment. Telling someone about the abuse can be especially difficult if the abuser is a trusted family member or family friend. In fact, over one-third of individuals who are sexually abused never reveal the abuse. Adults who have kept the secret of sexual abuse locked away for many years may find it too painful to re-open these wounds and acknowledge the abuse. For these reasons, it is difficult to determine how many people have actually been sexually abused.
Sexual abuse can occur both within and outside the family.
However, almost all sexual abuse victims know their abusers and oftentimes it is a male relative, such as a stepfather, uncle, grandfather or brother. Although less common, there are incidents in which the abuser is female. Although little is known about the characteristics of sexual abusers, we do know that many perpetrators, or abusers, have themselves been sexually abused as children. Also, many of these individuals suffer from alcoholism, drug abuse problems or a variety of other psychiatric disturbances. It is important that the perpetrators of sexual abuse seek help.