Most at risk Sexual exploitation happens to children of any age, background, socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation and vulnerability. Offenders can be from an ethnic background; they can be women, men or other young people.
Any child is at risk of being groomed. And it's important to remember that both boys and girls can be groomed. Children who are groomed online could be abused by someone they know. They could also be abused by someone who commits a one-off act or a stranger who builds a relationship with them.
Even though research in this area is extremely limited, adolescents appear to be the age group most vulnerable to online grooming. Other vulnerabilities appear to be consistent with those associated with offline sexual abuse.
Grooming itself is a form of emotional and psychological abuse in and of itself. One of the keys to grooming is Trauma Bonding. The grooming behaviours will also often continue throughout the abusive relationship even after explicit sexual abuse has started.
Abusers Often Come on Strong
Intense romance can be a form of grooming, a predatory tactic that is meant to build a deep emotional connection. Abusers know exactly what they are doing.
Adult grooming
While grooming is most associated with child sexual abuse, it is also possible for adults, especially vulnerable adults to be groomed – or prepared – for abuse.
Grooming: when an individual (groomer), or group of people (“Grooming gangs”), builds an emotional connection with someone they've targeted to earn trust with the purpose of exploitation for their own motives: sexual abuse, financial, power kicks, even trafficking.
Grooming is a tool that predators use to gain the trust of a target, and ultimately manipulate that trust to gain sexual, monetary, or other advantages. You may have heard the term as it applies to children, but adults can also groom other adults.
Girls three times more at risk of being groomed than boys.
What Is the Meaning of Child Grooming? Adults who build stable and trusting relationships with a child under 18 for the purpose of sexually assaulting the minor are considered groomers. As such, you could face state and federal charges for child grooming if the alleged victim is under 15.
Anyone can be a victim.
No one is immune to grooming, though some are more susceptible than others — including minors, "because of their naiveté,” Marlowe Garrison says. “[Grooming] can occur at any age, and it has a great deal to do with gullibility, insecurity, religion, and culture. [...]
In public, abusers often appear charismatic, friendly, kind and even compassionate, while behind closed doors they are terrifying, unpredictable and calculating—think Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Most abusers work very hard to keep up a positive image outside of their home.
Abuse perpetrators are sometimes quick-tempered, have a history of being abused themselves, blame others for their problems, have low self-esteem and self-concept, and act controlling, impulsive, and highly jealous.
Specifically, the predator is looking for vulnerabilities such as physical or mental disabilities, single-parent families, low self-confidence, or emotional neediness. They will look in places with high concentrations of children – schools, malls, playgrounds etc.
Grooming Is A Form Of Gaslighting
You're suffering the consequences of someone else abusing you and that feels terrible, which is why it's so hard to admit the abuse is going on in the first place for most of us because the consequences are very dire.
Grooming disorders are relatively common. A recent survey of 1618 people from the United States found that one out of three people met the clinical diagnosis of at least one grooming disorder [2]. This is greater than the prevalence of depression, anxiety or alcohol abuse [3, 4].
Children who have been victimised and experienced grooming are likely to suffer from serious long-term mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts.