Child sexual abuse has become a common occurrence in the society. This has become a high risk problem for the victims or survivours. The social media is filled with incidents of sexual abuse of young children by adults within the family and without. Incest committed by fathers, other relations and people known to the victims are on the increase in countries of the world. Sexual abuse has made young children to be unsafe in their communities and this portends ills for these children especially the girl child. This paper therefore takes a look at the overview of child sexual abuse, survivors and perpetrators of sexual abuse, girl child and sexual abuse, consequences of child sexual abuse and the way forward to curbing child sexual abuse in the society. The way forward to curbing it include prompt reporting of incidents of sexual abuse to appropriate authorities for adequate intervention, policy instruments and laws forbidding the evil act and indicating sanctions against perpetrators, medical and psychological treatment/counseling for survivors, public enlightenment against acts of child sexual abuse among others. The study utilized secondary data drawn from existing literature, journals, books and libraries.
Keywords: Child Sexual Abuse, Consequences, way forward
