What is Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault?

Sometimes it can be hard to know exactly what constitutes sexual violence and sexual assault. Legally speaking, the definition of these terms certainly varies from country to country, and even from region to region in those countries!

1) What is sexual violence?

Sexual violence is considered to be any aggressive or violent action that is done in a sexual manner or for sexual purposes. It is nonconsensualand is therefore unwanted by the person who is being targeted by these violentactions.

2) What is sexual assault?

"Sexual Assaultis defined as an assault of a sexual nature that violates the sexual integrity of the victim." [1]Sexual assault can depend on many factors such as:

1. The part of the body being touched
2. The nature of the contact
3. The situation in which the contact occurred
4. Words of gestures that accompany the act
5. Threats that may have accompanied the act
6. Other circumstances under which the act occurred.
[1]

This means that sexual assault can be anything from a nonconsensual touch of a sexual nature to something such as rape.

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If you feel that you have been a victim of sexual violence or sexual assault, please feel free to connect with a listener for a 1-on-1 chat or please look at the resources section of this forum category to get the help and support that you need now.

For more information on sexual assault or sexual violence, or if you would like information to be added to this article, please feel free to send a message to me, tranquilSong72, or to @vasishta.