In the name of protection: youth prostitution policy reforms in England and Wales

The Illusions and Juxtapositions of Commercial Sexual Exploitation among Youth: Identifying Effective Street-Outreach Strategies

“…Although involvement with or control by a pimp is less common among sexually exploited boys (Saewyc et al, 2008;Dennis, 2008), this is not the case for girls, many of whom are involved with a pimp, who recruits them and then exploits them while using either violence and intimidation, or charm and emotional manipulation (Kennedy et al, 2007;Phoenix, 2002). Pimps are often effective in manipulating girls by feigning love and affection to convince them to become involved in or to stay involved in prostitution (Kennedy, et al, 2007).…”

Child Protection and Social Inequality: Understanding Child Prostitution in Malawi

“…The result is an equation between child prostitution and child sexual abuse (Pearce 2006;Brown and Barrett 2013). The children's rights perspective has moved perceptions of children involved in prostitution from being seen as delinquent (Phoenix 2002), to being seen as victims of child sexual exploitation in need of protection (Van Meeuwen et al 1998;Hounmenou 2016;Montgomery 2001;Pearce 2014;Phoenix 2007). However, this has led to a generalised perception that children must have been forced into prostitution (Stacey 2009;ECPAT 2011), supported by vivid imagery of living conditions characterised by abuse and exploitation including being chained in brothels, drugged, raped/gang raped and trafficked (Pearce, Hynes and Bovarnick 2013).…”

“…Just as social structures influence individual agency, with awareness of those structures, individual agency can influence social structures. Drawing attention to the importance of structural specificities and human agency, a structure/agency perspective has the potential to develop further understanding of (child) prostitution, focusing on how individual actors engage with particular structures to make particular decisions (Phoenix 2002;O'Connell Davidson 2005;Montgomery 2001). As Hwang and Bedford (2003) demonstrate, despite some similarities of circumstances surrounding children's involvement in prostitution, specific conditions and motivations for joining, continuing or leaving prostitution differ widely within and between countries.…”

Participation and young people involved in prostitution

“…There is a considerable body of literature about young people involved in prostitution (Barratt, 1997;Melrose et al, 1999;Pearce et al, 2002;Phoenix, 2002). There is a separate body of literature about young people's representation within welfare initiatives (Frost, 2004), yet very little that specifically addresses how these issues relate.…”

“…It is often argued that the use of the word prostitution to describe the experiences of young people is unhelpful, as it reinforces the view that young people freely choose to sell sex (van Meeuwen and Swann, 1998). Phoenix (2002) prefers the term, 'young people involved in prostitution', in order to avoid the 'rhetoric of victimhood' that she argues does not acknowledge the social and material conditions that drive young people into prostitution. Young people rarely use the term 'sexual exploitation' to define their experiences; and are often unfamiliar with this term.…”