>>12796296>In the absence of physical harm, does child sexual abuse actually lead to trauma or is it the panicking parents and cops or something that is only traumatic in retrospect when the child is old enough to understand what happened and how society sees it?Depends on the age group, really. CSE at a young age, is almost universally traumatic and not normal. Even insects know not to fuck the young. So any well-adjusted non-mentally ill person will look back on such events horror.
When you get older and a bit more cognisant, you get gray area. But the power difference in CSE often leads to exploitation of the child, which is where some of the trauma will stem from, and then you combine it with the acts of violation that they may have received in retrospect, it can be pretty damaging for the psyche. It's like a lot of the dumb things you did or were into as a teenager and look back on to cringe. Now imagine that cringe is a sweaty old man/woman that exploited your emotions to access your body for their own desires and not yours, it can be horrifying for a lot of people to look back on. Some especially precocious and mature teenagers may have been able to morally 'consent' before they were legally allowed, but our laws do not regard exceptions, only the majority, and teenagers are stupid.
