Sexual exploitation!
Child sexual exploitation is a form of sexual abuse and occurs when a child or young person is being 'groomed' or tricked into believing that they are in a loving relationship or have a great friendship.
The person or people who want to abuse you will try to befriend you, build up a relationship with you and get you to trust them.
You might meet them through family, friends, school, when you’re hanging out with friends, or via chatrooms or social media.
When a young person is being exploited, they are often given gifts such as money, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, or other expensive items like clothing or mobile phones. This usually ends up being in exchange for performing sexual activities.
In some cases, children and young people are made to feel that they have no other choice. For example, someone may lend them large amounts of money that they know can’t be repaid or use other ways to control them.
They might try to get you to have sex with them or other people, to look at sexual images or films, or to send sexual pictures of yourself. Sometimes a perpetrator tries to blackmail a young person by threatening to share a video or tell their friends and family about them having sex.
A lot of the time, the child or young person trusts their abuser and doesn’t realise that they are being abused. This is because the perpetrator has worked to form a friendship or be someone that you might look up to. Perpetrators can be male or female, older or the same age as you. Perpetrators can target young people in person or online, through gaming like Minecraft.
In some cases, they use children and young people who have been exploited to find other children and young people who can also be exploited. These children and young people may not realise what they are doing.
It can be very exciting to have a new girlfriend, boyfriend, or partner. In the beginning they may make you feel special, and the relationship can feel amazing. Sometimes a relationship can start off as good but then change and become more confusing.
They might try to isolate you from family and friends because it’s easier to control you if you have nobody to talk to. As they gain more power and control over you, they might threaten to hurt you or your family and friends if you don’t do what they want.
It can happen to anyone – but it’s important to remember that it’s never, ever your fault.