Online Sexual Grooming of Minors: Contributions to its Knowledge and Prevention

The growing use of the Internet and of social media by children and young people has spurred the conditions for the development of sexual grooming, a process that facilitates the perpetration of sexual crimes, as it allows an easier access to a high number of potential victims, increases the opportunities to perpetrate both online and personal contact with minors, and facilitates the identification of vulnerabilities in the victims. This is a growing phenomenon and it is urgent to know it, in order to develop effective strategies to promote the safety of children and young people on the Internet and to prevent the harm resulting from this type of abuse. In order to do it we developed a qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews and document analysis, submitted to a content analysis (a categorical semantic analysis). The sample consisted of 4 male offenders, 2 face-to-face interviewees and 2 involved in online sexualized dialogues with minors, and 1 female victim, who was also interviewed. The results allowed to distinguish two distinct approaches, one very direct, with the almost immediate introduction of sexual themes, and another approach in which the subject adopt a set of strategies that are based on the creation and maintenance of a relational bond, being consistent with what is considered the core strategies of the grooming process. While in the most direct approach the offender seems to take advantage of the typical sexual curiosity of the developmental period, in the second approach the subject uses a relational bond to get the involvement of the minor and avoid disclosure. Although grooming appears in the literature as a major component of online sexual interactions with minors, we found in our research that grooming is not necessary for achieving sexual contacts or child sexual abuse.