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Who Is Victimized by CSAM?

The victims of CSAM are real children. Most are very young kids who deserve safety, dignity, and a future free from the trauma of sexual violence.

For survivors of child sexual abuse material or CSAM, the abuse doesn’t end when the recording stops. It continues every time the content is viewed, saved, shared, or sold.

The Vast Majority of CSAM Victims Are Very Young

According to ECPAT, a global child protection organization: 

  • 56.2% of CSAM victims are prepubescent children
  • 25.4% of CSAM victims are pubescent
  • 4.3% of CSAM victims are infants or toddlers
  • 84.2% of known CSAM involves severe abuse

The younger the child, the more likely the abuse is violent and degrading. (1)

Survivors of CSAM Face Serious, Lifelong Harm

RAINN’s work with survivors shows that CSAM can cause these long-term impacts:

  • Chronic anxiety, depression, or PTSD
  • Trust and relationship issues
  • Body image struggles and disordered eating
  • Fear of being “found” or exposed
  • Ongoing retraumatization when new versions of the material surface

In a survey of 150 CSAM survivors by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: 

  • 73% said they feared being recognized by someone who had seen the images
  • 88% said the ongoing availability of the content affected their recovery
  • Many called the experience “a life sentence” (2)

Most Victims Never Even Know They Were Targeted

According to ECPAT’s global research, over half of all victims in known CSAM material remain unidentified. (1) That means their abuse is being shared without any intervention, without support, and without justice.

The children victimized by CSAM are not statistics. They are sons, daughters, students, and siblings. And they are being harmed at a scale the world has never seen before.

Read Next: Who Creates & Distributes CSAM?

SOURCES

  1. ECPAT International. (2018). Towards a global indicator on unidentified victims in child sexual exploitation material: Summary report. http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TOWARDS-A-GLOBAL-INDICATOR-ON-UNIDENTIFIED-VICTIMS-IN-CHILD-SEXUAL-EXPLOITATION-MATERIAL-Summary-Report.pdf
  2. Canadian Centre for Child Protection. (2017). Survivors’ survey: Executive summary. https://protectchildren.ca/pdfs/C3P_SurvivorsSurveyExecutiveSummary2017_en.pdf

Last updated: July 21, 2025
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