How might a child become involved in prostitution? Once involved, what are some of the real dangers a child will face? According to the video on the Public Broadcasting Service, a young girl can become involved because she is desperate and has no where else to turn; she may be abused at home, perhaps her father is in prison, her mother is on drugs, she is being abused by her boyfriend, or her older brother is into drug dealing on the streets. The narrator on the PBS program estimates that as many as 300,000 "children" are on the streets every day looking for money through prostitution. They also get hooked up to paying customers through the Internet.
Child Psychological & Sexual Issues
How might a child become involved in prostitution? Once involved, what are some of the real dangers a child will face? According to the video on the Public Broadcasting Service, a young girl can become involved because she is desperate and has no where else to turn; she may be abused at home, perhaps her father is in prison, her mother is on drugs, she is being abused by her boyfriend, or her older brother is into drug dealing on the streets. The narrator on the PBS program estimates that as many as 300,000 "children" are on the streets every day looking for money through prostitution. They also get hooked up to paying customers through the Internet.
The mayor of Atlanta is Shirley Franklin, and she put a public service announcement on television to warn adults not to become part of the crime of prostitution. Teenage girls in the video said that Moco-Space, Facebook, Craigslist and other Internet sites are places where underage girls can make themselves available to adult men seeking sex. The dangers that a child face when getting into a car with a "john" vary from just being hurt or kidnapped, to being abducted and taken across state lines to be put forcibly into a child prostitute ring -- to actually being raped and killed.
Mayor Franklin says there are about 300 sites on the Internet that are part of the sex trade involving young girls. The narrator of the PBS documentary notes that the Internet is "…just one aspect of the hyper-sexualized cultural landscape that modern kids, rich and poor, live in" (PBS). As an example of that "hyper-sexualized" landscape, the PBS documentary pointed out that the 2006 Academy Award for best song (that was linked to a movie) was "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," it simply pointed out what those close to the industry know: the hip hop and other pop culture aspects make it seem "glamorous" on children, and hence, those who are abused or neglected or have no active parents are likely candidates for child prostitution.
Children and the Internet: Alicia's story is the classic case of a young girl (13) that was charmed by an older man pretending to be someone he wasn't. She was kidnapped, taken out of state, and chained to a predator's bedside for several days. Parents need to be absolutely certain their very young children have blocking on their computers, and moreover, good communication between parents and adolescents can prevent the child from being lured into danger online.
What is the difference between boys' involvement in prostitution and girls' involvement? An article in the peer-reviewed Child Abuse Review explains that in many ways boys and girls get involved for the same reasons: a) escaping from situations where they are "vulnerable to abuse"; b) they were abused sexually in their homes but did not report it to police; c) sex work was an alternative to low paid jobs (or no jobs); and d) both boys and girls had negative self-image issues (Lillywhite, et al., 2006, p. 352-53). For boys according to this article, their sex work also included these differences from girls' sex work: a) they often had drug dependency issues; b) "all [are] currently or previously had been, involved in other criminal activities; c) boys feel they are expected to "be strong and in control" and "know how to look after themselves" so they don't accept help as many girls would given their arrest the revelation of their lifestyles (Lillywhite, 354-55).
Psychological abuse and psychological neglect: Neglect is the "failure to protect a child from exposure to any kind of danger," according to Sneddon, et al., in Child Abuse Review (2010). Emotional / psychological neglect involves the persistent emotional "ill-treatment or rejection of a child," Sneddon explains. It involves the "…failure to provide for a child's needs" by, for example, being "emotionally unresponsive or passive in the presence of a child" (Sneddon, 41). Psychological / emotional abuse on the other hand is the rejection of a child, or the emotional ill-treatment of a child, carried out in "the sustained repetitive, inappropriate emotional response to the child's experience" (Sneddon, 41). A child that is being psychologically abused is told things like, "you're stupid" and "you're lazy and no good" and "you are ugly"; that same child may also be subjected to a "withdrawal of affection" and experience "humiliation" and "degradation" psychologically (Sneddon, 41).
My own definition of psychological neglect is the deliberate verbal harassment in a household of a child that is told he can't have what the other children have, because he is no good and will never amount to anything. Psychological neglect: a child's need for love and nurturing is rejected, and he is made to go to his room if he speaks out of turn.
A profile of a psychologically maltreated child: the child is belittled at every chance the parents and older siblings have; he doesn't feel loved; his self-esteem is very low; mother and father call him "worthless" and tell him he will "…never amount to anything…"
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