katiekitten:
Even assuming the child can talk, can it know the words to describe what has happened? Does it know what has happened and whether it was appropriate or not?
This is very important to emphasize. It wasn't until I was a married woman in my 20s that I recognized an incident that occurred to me when I was about 8 years old. I knew I wasn't comfortable with what happened at the time (frottage) but the molester had distracted me with some other activity that allowed him to stand directly behind me, with my parents, siblings and his entire family enjoying the music we were playing. At that age, I didn't know what an erection was, let alone know what one felt like pressing against my backside. I did not have the language to be able to verbalize what happened. All I knew to do at the time was to stay away from him as much as I possibly could.
Imagine poor Mr Scully, trying to be affectionate with his new bride, only to have me freak out hysterically due to triggering that incident.