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One in four girls are sexually abused by the age of eighteen and one in six boys are sexually abused by the age of eighteen. Seven out of ten times the victims know their abuser. Once a victim is sexually abused they are more likely to experience more sexual abuse. Teenagers account for half of all reported sexual abuse victims. Sexual abuse can happen to anyone. You might think that it will never happen to you or if someone tries to abuse you then you’ll fight back, but in most sexual abuse cases the victim freezes and doesn’t know what to do. **Sexual abuse is usually done in secrecy. In most cases there are no witnesses. There are very few times when sexual abuse is done with witnesses watching. When sexual abuse happens to someone it is important to say something. So in order to stop the victim from telling that they were sexually abused, the abuser will tell the victim lies or put the blame on them. Some things that an abuser might say to the victim is that if they tell anyone then they will kill their family or that they will kill them. Sometimes the abuser won’t even make a **threat because they know that the victim will be too embarrassed or to scared to say that they were sexually abused. In those cases the abuser is very smart and is also very careful to make sure that the victims will keep it a secret. In some cause when the abuser does make a threat it might mean that the abuse is sorry for what they did and they hope that it won’t come out in the open.  **When sexual abuse occurs it is important to tell someone. **The abuser relies on the victim not to tell the secret. When a victim is sexual abused a lot of times they want to tell someone that they were sexually abused by someone, but a lot of times the victim is scared that if they tell then no one will believe them, sometimes the victim may not have someone that they trust or their abuser is the one that they trusted. Sometimes when the victim tells someone that they were abused, they don’t believe them. Sometimes they even put the blame on the victim for the abuse, sometimes they will even say that the victim “seduced” their abuser, and they don’t do anything about it. Usually when a victim is sexual abused their personality changes for the worst. A lot of times when the victim is usually happy and nice, they then become depressed or violent, that may be a sign they have been sexually abused. A personality changes happens to most victims because they feel that it is their fault that they got sexual abused or they feel that if they are nice again that someone will try to take advantage of them again. What happens when the victim tells? The person that the victim tells is required by law to tell the police or a social worker what happened. Every one of all ages has the right to be protected from sexual abuse, and the abuser needs to be stopped. The social worker or police officer will need to ask the victim some question about what happened to the victim. The victim should see a doctor just to make sure that the victim is okay. In most cases it is helpful to talk to a therapist and tell them what is bothering the victim. When the abuser is charged the victim may go to court to testify and sometimes it can take a long time. Most victims who have told someone about being sexually abused say that it was worth it because telling someone freed them from having to keep the secret about them being sexually abused. How to prevent sexual abuse? If you are ever in a situation where someone is trying to sexual abuse you there are ways to stop the abuser. Some ways that you can prevent yourself from becoming a victim is to never be alone. Whenever you are alone you could be at risk to become a victim of sexual abuse. If a predictor tells you to go with them or get in the car because if you don’t then they will kill you. It’s better if you just run away as fast as you can because would you rather get in the car with someone and have them rape or torture you whatever way they want or run and risk getting shot. In most cases they won't shoot because it would attract people. If you go with them you have a chance of being killed anyway. If you want to help out those who are victims of sexual abuse then you can donate your money to websites like [|www.stopitnow.org].