Sexual Violence Survey 2022 – Childhood Experiences

Details of childhood non-contact sexual violence

This chapter examines the details relating to the unwanted non-contact sexual violence experienced as a child. This covers experiences which occurred under the age of consent in Ireland (under 17 years) and is based on replies from those aged 18 and over.

Unwanted non-contact sexual violence experiences include being shown pornographic material, being asked to pose in a sexually suggestive manner for photographs, having someone expose themselves or someone masturbating in front of them when they were a child. These experiences are not described as “non-consensual” as these individuals were under the age of consent at the time, hence the use of the term “unwanted”. See the Background Notes for further details.

Please note that this chapter looks at child sexual violence experienced in the past by adults currently in Ireland – it does not provide insights on current levels of child sexual violence. It does not cover experiences between children which include any sexual experiences that they were comfortable with, for example, with a boyfriend or girlfriend who was a similar age to them at the time.

Please also note that people may have experienced multiple sexual violence experiences or with multiple perpetrators. In the case where the person experienced multiple sexual violence experiences, the person was asked to respond thinking about the experience that affected them most and to report the details for that particular experience. See the Background Notes for further details.

Further information on the relationship with the perpetrator of non-contact sexual violence experienced as a child was published in the Perpetrator of Sexual Violence chapter in the Sexual Violence Survey 2022 - Main Results publication.

In summary, more men (53%) than women (48%), who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that it happened once. Almost nine in 10 (91%) adults who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that the perpetrator was male. Overall, almost half of adults (48%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child identified the perpetrator was an adult (18 and older). The most prevalent location for non-contact sexual violence as a child was in a public place/outdoors, with 27% of men and 43% of women reporting this as a location of the experience.

Half of adults who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that it happened once

Key findings for those who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child by the occurrence of the experience:

• Half of adults (50%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that it happened once. Men experienced it once (53%) at a higher level than women (48%). See Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1.
• More women (47%) than men (42%), who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child, reported that it happened more than once.
• Those aged 45-54 who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported the highest level of experiencing it once (53%) compared with those aged 65 and over (48%).
• Those aged 18-24 and those aged 55-64 who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported the highest levels of experiencing it more than once (48%) compared with the lowest rate for those aged 65 and over (39%).

Almost one in five of those aged 18-24 who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child, reported that the perpetrator was female

Key findings for those who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child by the sex of the perpetrator:

• Almost one in five of those aged 18-24, who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child, reported that the perpetrator was female. This is five times the rate of those aged 65 and over (4%). See Table 5.2. This information was based on those cases where there was one perpetrator involved in the sexual violence experience – those where multiple perpetrators were present were not asked in the survey.
• Women who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that the perpetrator was male (97%) at a higher level than men (83%). Please note that the levels of non-contact sexual violence as a child were different for the sexes. In the Non-Contact Experiences chapter in this publication, women reported a level of non-contact sexual violence as a child at a higher rate (25%) than men (16%).
• Those aged 65 and over who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child were most likely to report that the perpetrator was male (96%) compared with those aged 18-24 (80%). Overall, no matter the age category, the perpetrator was more likely to be male.

Over half of women who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that an adult was the perpetrator

Key findings for those who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child by the age of the perpetrator:

• Over half of women (55%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that an adult (18 and older) was the perpetrator. The equivalent rate for men was 36%. See Table 5.3. This information was based on those cases where there was one perpetrator involved in the sexual violence experience – those where multiple perpetrators were present were not asked the age category of all the perpetrators in the survey.
• Almost four in 10 men (41%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child identified that the perpetrator was an adolescent (13-17 years old) compared with almost three in 10 women (28%).
• Older persons who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child were most likely to report that the perpetrator was an adult (18 and older) with 68% of those aged 65 and over reporting that the perpetrator was an adult compared with those aged 18-24 (20%).

Almost four in 10 adults who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that it began between the ages 10-14

Key findings for those who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child by the age when the experience first occurred:

• Almost four in 10 (39%) adults who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child reported that it first began between the ages 10-14. Men reported that this sexual violence began in this age group (42%) at a higher rate than women (37%). See Figure 5.3 and Table 5.4.
• Women who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child first experienced it aged 9 years and younger (21%) at a higher rate than men (13%).
• Younger adults aged 18-24 who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child were over twice as likely to experience it aged 15-16 (49%) compared with those aged 65 and over (23%).
• Adults aged 65 and older who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child experienced it aged 10-14 (43%) at a higher level than those aged 25-34 (32%).

Over a third of adults who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child experienced this in a public place/outdoors

Key findings for those who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child by the location of the experience:

• Over a third of adults (37%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child experienced it in a public place/outdoors. Women who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child identified that it happened in a public place/outdoors (43%) at a higher level compared with men (27%). See Figure 5.4 and Table 5.5.
• Older adults were more likely to have experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child in a public place/outdoors, with 49% of those aged 55-64 identifying this as the location compared with 25% of those aged 18-24.
• Men who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child identified that it happened at school (14%) at a higher rate than women (4%). In addition, younger persons reported that it occurred at school (15%) at three times the level of those aged 65 and over (5%).

One in 10 women who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child think it stopped because they told someone about it

Key findings for those who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child by the reasons they thought the experience stopped:

• One in 10 women (10%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child think it stopped because they told someone about it. This was twice the rate reported by men (5%). See Table 5.6.
• A quarter of adults (25%) who experienced non-contact sexual violence as a child do not know why it stopped, with men more likely to think this (32%) than women (20%). Younger adults aged 18-24 and 25-34 were most likely to identify that they do not know why the experience stopped (both 32%), compared with those aged 65 and over (16%).
• The perpetrator being investigated by the Gardaí was the least likely reason for why the sexual violence experience stopped - with 2% of adults reporting this.