Rape, sexual abuse, and its victims.

Despite controversy about the impact of sexual abuse on victims, accumulating evidence indicates that sexual abuse is a serious mental health problem. Rape falls under the larger category of sexual abuse, which includes molestation of children by adults in which overt coercion is not necessarily involved as it is in rape. The eradication of rape is contingent on educating our society to the meaning of the crime. Innovative and empathetic services to victims will serve as a deterrent by facilitating reporting, apprehension, and prosecution of assailants.