What is Child Sexual Abuse

Q. Sometimes, I think that what happened to me was abuse, and sometimes I’m not sure. This might sound like a silly questions, but what is the definition of ‘child abuse?’
A. Child abusers often work very hard to convince their victims that they are not being abused. What an abuser may pretend is “only discipline,” “harmless touching,” or “showing my love” may, in fact, be child abuse. The short answer is that any sexual touching of a child by an adult is abuse. Likewise, any voluntary conduct by an adult that causes physical or serious mental injury to a child is child abuse. A demand for secrecy almost always indicates wrongdoing.