Aftonbladet debate: 22,000 young people in Sweden may have been victims of paid abuse

Press release 2022 01 27

Opinion piece: 22,000 young people in Sweden may have been victims of paid abuse

Debaters: Children are tricked with manipulation, threats or promises of easy money

22,000 children and young people across Sweden may have been victims of paid abuse, according to a new study. This would mean that these children and young people are in the equivalent of every class in year 9 and upper secondary school. A national awareness-raising campaign on the commercial sexual exploitation of children and young people is now needed.

Commercial sexual exploitation means receiving remuneration in exchange for performing sexual acts. For example, another young person or an older adult may have paid for a nude photo, a live broadcast or may have physically met the victim to commit paid abuse. Victims of commercial sexual exploitation are at a much higher risk of further violence and abuse, and as with all forms of sexual violence, it is girls who are most affected.

In total, four percent of 15 to 19 year olds have experienced this type of victimization. This is according to the Sifo survey conducted on behalf of Child10. Furthermore, six percent of girls and two percent of boys say that perpetrators have given them money in exchange for performing sexual acts. Of these, half have met their perpetrator(s) in person and half have been victimized online.

This kind of abuse is largely hidden from the adult world, while it is increasingly becoming a natural part of children and young people’s upbringing. Last autumn, Ecpat released a report showing that a majority of girls and one in five boys aged 13 to 17 said they had been offered online payment in exchange for nude photos. Children and young people are lured into this form of exploitation through manipulation, threats or promises of easy money. It can also be done through embellishments, such as sugar dating, where the perpetrator operates under the illusion that it is dating, and not paid abuse.

For many, being a victim of commercial sexual exploitation is an incredible trauma that most people never even get help to process, and the chances of redress in a court where a perpetrator is convicted are vanishingly small. Even daring to tell someone about your victimization is a big step associated with fear of not being believed or blamed.

Unfortunately, it is a fear that is justified.

Many of the children who have talked about their experiences, for example in connection with meetings within the care and support system or in connection with a police report, testify that they have not been taken seriously or blamed for what has happened. They testify to an adult world that signals that the exploitation was their responsibility or that they have consented to the exploitation because they have received some form of compensation. This in turn creates an even stronger sense of guilt, while there are few opportunities for care, support and restoration.

Therefore, there is a need to increase knowledge about commercial sexual exploitation and how to deal with vulnerable children.

This can be done by the government taking the initiative for a comprehensive national knowledge initiative on commercial sexual exploitation of children that includes schools, social services, health care and the judicial system. A starting point in this work must be that exploitation is always violence and that it is never the child’s fault if he or she is exposed.

The blame belongs in only one place and that is with the perpetrator.

These children have the right to be met by an adult world that sees them, believes in them and acts forcefully. A prerequisite for doing so is that adults have knowledge of what the child is exposed to.

Jacob Flärdh, Secretary General Child10
Saga Brodersen, survivor of commercial sexual exploitation as a child and board member of #Intedinhora
Cassandra Hedberg, survivor of commercial sexual exploitation as a child and Chair of #Intedinhora
Mathilda Hofling, survivor of commercial sexual exploitation as a child and member of #Intedinhora

Read the publication of the article here.