Unprotected: How the Normalisation of Underage Sex Is Exposing Children and Young People to the Risk of Sexual Exploitation, Norman Wells

Beesley, Paula

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcx160

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…As Wells notes, an overly relaxed attitude to young people’s right to make their own decisions about sexual preferences has been flagged as both a failure in previous sex education policy and also a factor in placing children at future risk of harm from sexual abuse. While Beesley (2018) has criticised these assertions, it would be naïve to presume that practitioners working within this area are not influenced – knowingly or unknowingly – by either dominant media and government discourses or widely expressed public fears about young people’s sexuality.…”

Section: Context and Methods: Situating The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling practitioners’ understandings of child sexual exploitation: The risks of assuming otherwise?

Weston

Mythen

2021

Criminology & Criminal Justice

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This article reports findings from a qualitative study investigating the efficacy and the effects of a child sexual exploitation awareness raising intervention with young people. Drawing on in-depth interviews with members of a multi-agency team set up to prevent child sexual exploitation, we elucidate the way in which practitioners communicate the problem of child sexual exploitation and how risk registers are deployed to assess the dangerousness of young people’s behaviours. In examining practitioners’ understandings of child sexual exploitation, we illuminate the ways in which educative interventions in this domain are informed by a confluence of policy guidelines and personal/experiential perceptions. Unravelling the tensions arising between these two frames of interpretation, we illustrate that – despite routine recourse to embedded professional knowledge – underlying moral and cultural assumptions alongside anxieties about childhood sexuality influence practitioners’ understandings of the nature of risk, who is at risk and the context in which risks manifest themselves.

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Section: Context and Methods: Situating The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling practitioners’ understandings of child sexual exploitation: The risks of assuming otherwise?

Weston

Mythen

2021

Criminology & Criminal Justice

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Educating Young People about Vulnerability to Sexual Exploitation: Safeguarding Practitioners’ Standpoints at the Intersections of Gender, Sexuality and Risk

Mythen,

Weston

2023

The British Journal of Social Work

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This article discusses findings from a qualitative study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) awareness-raising programme targeted at young people. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with practitioners involved in a multi-agency team established to reduce vulnerability to CSE, we elucidate that, in addition to being directed by professional codes, practitioners’ perceptions and judgements were also influenced by gendered assumptions and underlying anxieties about childhood sexuality. The empirical data presented suggest that attitudes towards young people and intervention decisions are partially steered by cultural values that connect not only to personal morals but also influence decisions made in conjunction with professional risk analytic frameworks. Our analysis indicates that broader investigation of the commingling of personal and professional values in safeguarding contexts is required, alongside the creation of protected spaces for professional reflection and dialogue amongst practitioners to support decision-making.

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Unprotected: How the Normalisation of Underage Sex Is Exposing Children and Young People to the Risk of Sexual Exploitation, Norman Wells

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Disentangling practitioners’ understandings of child sexual exploitation: The risks of assuming otherwise?

Disentangling practitioners’ understandings of child sexual exploitation: The risks of assuming otherwise?

Educating Young People about Vulnerability to Sexual Exploitation: Safeguarding Practitioners’ Standpoints at the Intersections of Gender, Sexuality and Risk

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