Nonetheless, there appears to be growing recognition of male sexual abuse as a serious problem with potentially numerous debilitating consequences, and the clinical and research literature contains several articles on issues pertaining to males who have experienced sexual abuse during childhood. The authors review some of the recent literature on short-term and long-term effects commonly found among sexually abused males. These effects, which include depression, self-blame, low self-esteem, anger, anxiety, and sexuality problems, are also compared with findings commonly reported among sexually abused females. In addition to sexual abuse effects, the authors review a number of important sexual abuse characteristics, such as age of abuse onset, duration of abuse, and nature of the sexual activity. They also consider the relationship of these characteristics to later psychological functioning and explore gender similarities and differences. Implications of the research findings with regard to treatment interventions are briefly discussed. 87 references