Child sexual abuse and exploitation

Sexual exploitation is someone taking advantage of your child sexually for their own benefit. It is a form of sexual abuse.

It can occur through:

• threats
• bribes
• violence
• humiliation

By telling a child that they love them, they will have the power to get the child to do sexual things for their own, or other people’s, benefit or enjoyment.They will seek to isolate the child from their family.

Sexual exploitation can also occur without physical contact, where children are groomed to post sexual images of themselves on the internet.

The abusers are very manipulative and often a young person will not recognise that they are being sexually exploited.

Sexual exploitation can happen to boys and young men as well as girls and young women. It can happen to a person of any background, race, ability, sexuality, age.