Under the consent of his more than questionable morals, the pedophile steals the innocence of the minor who surfs the net oblivious to what can happen to him: being a victim of "grooming". That is the term that defines a new technique used by abusers to contact children through the network (Messenger, Facebook, forums, chat ...), with the aim of gaining their trust and meet their sexual needs.
Currently, 80 percent of young Spaniards hang real personal data in cyberspace, which has turned grooming into a form of harassment on the rise, according to a study presented at the recent National Congress of Sexology held in Santiago de Compostela. "There is a significant increase in the emergence of child pornography exchange networks and harassers whose objective is to obtain photographs and videos of adolescents, as well as attempts at real physical contact with them," says the psychologist and vice president of the Galician Society of Sexology, Emilio López Bastos, author of the study.
The work, prepared together with members of the Computer Crimes team of the Civil Guard, is based on an exhaustive evaluation carried out after an informative talk on prevention of sexual abuse with these new technologies to more than 300 young people between 11 and 16 years old.
The study reveals that more than 60 percent of children between these ages have a computer in their room and, of them, 83 percent have access to the internet. In addition, they are the ones who are most at risk. "There is an important group of girls between 11 and 13 years old who have a computer with access to the network than boys, which implies a more elusive risk factor," says López Bastos.
According to psychologist and therapist Sara Escudero Núñez, director of the Sara Escudero Center, "pedophilia that affects girls is more than twice as frequent as that which affects boys, and the age of risk is lower in them, with the most frequent average age being between 8 and 12 years old."
Modus operandi
Usually the aggressor approaches the victim progressively and posing as someone his age. "First try to earn their trust by knowing facts about their life, phone, tastes, etc. He thus becomes a close person to the little one. Later, they begin to seduce him with the aim of sending him erotic images or pornographic nudes through the webcam, "adds Escudero.
The last rung on this scale of abuse is the use of extortion and blackmail to get a date in person and make your sexual fantasy real. "That is, they use all the data that the child has provided so that he gives in because of his fears of seeing the abuser, such as 'what will your mother say if I show him the photo you have sent me', "he says.
They even trick the photos of minors so that they appear in compromised situations and thus extort them. "When the child is immersed, he no longer knows how to leave and carries great emotional damage," says the sexologist.
The profile of the abuser is usually mostly heterosexual men with a seemingly normal life, married on many occasions. "The age at which these types of fantasies and acts are most carried out is usually between 30 and 50 years old, although more and more cases of abuse appear among adolescents themselves," clarifies Escudero.
The so-called primary pedophiles, who try to physically stay with the child, are the most serious, "since they are usually accompanied by cognitive distortions in terms of their degree of responsibility (they blame the victim for their behavior) and do not usually perceive the consequences of their actions." There are other types of abusers more "situational", that is, "their fantasies intensify in times of stress, social or work frustrations. They use abuse to forget their problems and feel good through immediate sexual gratification, either through images or in some cases carrying it out," concludes the therapist.
The best thing to protect children is to nip in the bud and remove the internet connection in the room. And also "negotiate the hours they connect, use the so-called parental controls and external servers, which track the pages they visit," advises López Bastos.
Source: La Razón
