RUNNING HEAD: Sexual Exploitation of Youth

Susceptibility of Youth

RUNNING HEAD: Sexual Exploitation of Youth

Susceptibility of Sexual Exploitation of Youth on Social Networking Sites

Michael Cohen – 100317740

For: Patrick Olsson

Youth Cultures SSCI 2025U

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

November 9, 2009

Introduction and Research question(s)

According to research conducted in North America, “teenagers are often viewed as the house ‘guru’ for using the internet and computer”( (Fleming, Greentree, Cocotti-Muller, Elias, & Morrison, 2006)). It has also been reported that parents are pleased with this arrangement, and are content to allow youths to allow long hours spent in front of the computer, rather than the television. This acceptance by parents has contributed to the internet becoming the fastest growing communications medium in the world. ( (Berson, 2003)) in light of this trend, social networking sites are becoming increasingly popular for activities such as social voyeurism to deal with the ‘bordem’ of youth. (Boyd, Why youth love social network sites: the role of networked publics in teenage social life, 2008) Although the internet can provide an exciting world of exploration and information, the internet has also “created a new context for sexual exploitation and victimization” ( (Berson, 2003)), specifically in regard to youth. While the majority of online social network users have innocent intentions, some online sexual predators are using social networking sites to interact with vulnerable youths. In recent years, several news reports have illustrated instances where predators have propositioned youths over online social networks. (Guo, 2008)

This research paper is concerned with the risks associated with online social communities and networks as they continue to increase in popularity amongst the youth population in North America.Specifically, this paper is concerned with the question of whether developments in online communications have contributed to the susceptibility of youth to online predators. In this paper it is contended that the online phenomenon of social networking sites poses serious risks to a subculture of online youths because these sites allow unmonitored ‘members’ to enter the youths ‘local’ social network unimpeded and interact with this population. In addition, youth also become complacent and desensitized to information sharing as a result of their prolonged use of these social networking sites which leads to the publication of personal and potentially dangerous demographic information including their; geographic location, school, age, or interests.The personalization of public profiles is a tool which allows online predators to shape their profiles to entice interaction with specific youths. ( (Guo, 2008))

Methodology

The literature in this research piece was collected using various online academic databases. The articles originated from various sociological and technological journals. The data collection process took place between October 24th, 2009, and November 7th, 2009.

Factors leading to the Rise of Internet-Based Social Networks

The increasing popularity of the internet is continuing to attract youthful users especially given the expansions in communications technologies in recent years. Specifically, the invention and mainstream response to Smartphones, and social networking sites has created new avenues for predators to stalk victims. The invention of Smartphones has made the internet accessible from virtually anywhere and with people getting cellular phones at young and younger ages, the unsupervised access that the youth have to the internet is unprecedented. Adding to this is the lack oftechnological knowledge that many parents possess which forces them to rely on their children to take the appropriate measures to remain safe while online. This generational gap of knowledge has left some youth unprotected, vulnerable and accessible to potential predators.(Berson, 2003) In the early 2000’s online social networking sitesbecame a global phenomenon. “By 2005, online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace became common destinations for young people in the United States, and by 2006, many considered participation on the key social networking sites as key to being seen as cool at school” (Boyd, 2008)Youth view these sites as an outlet for them to express themselves creatively while maintaining current and social connections and creating new ones inside their peer group. Through the creation of friends’ lists and personalized profiles, users frequently contact people that they would not otherwise have met thereby expanding their social networks. (Boyd, 2008) (Guo, 2008)((Boyd & Ellison, Social network sites: definintion, history and scholarship, 2007)Additionally, youth could also participate because they can participate in something that is emotionally satisfying and a means towards and identity and sense of community. (Tyyska, 2009)

One sociological explanation of the growing popularity of social networking sites among youths is known as the “Threshold Model of Collective Behaviour” (Granovetter, 1978). In this model of collective behaviour people are viewed in a situation as having the ability to make two mutually exclusive decisions; in this case they can attempt to be popular by using social networking sites, or they can accept their role as an outsider. In this model, the significant issue is threshold. Threshold refers to the “number or proportion of others who must make one decision before a given actor does so; this is the point where net benefits begin to exceed net costs for that particular actor” (Granovetter, 1978). Basically this theory holds that if most members of a group make the same behavioral decision; to join a social networking site, then they will ended up sharing the same norms or beliefs about the situation, whether or not they did so at the beginning (Granovetter, 1978) causing them to engage in online social activities. Different social networks dominate different geographical regions. (Boyd & Ellison, Social network sites: definintion, history and scholarship, 2007)The two largest social networks in North America are MySpace and Facebook. MySpace has an estimated active user base of 115 million and is currently the most visited website in the United States, while Facebook has an estimated membership of sixty million. (Guo, 2008) As a result of their large participation and their foundational roots in university and high school networks, it is only fitting that youth subcultures would flock to this interactive online community.

The Relationship betweenSocial Networking Sites and Dating

Because the popularized style of social networking sites derived from dating services, in addition to text, images, and video created by the member, the users profile also contains “material typical of those sites including; demographic details (age, sex, location, etc.), tastes (interests, favourite bands, etc.), a photograph, and an open-ended description of who the person would like to meet”(Boyd, 2008). As a result, popular networks like Facebook which are open and available to youths as young as thirteen years of age, contain these features well as that option to update relationship status including; single, available, or, in a relationship. (Guo, 2008)Building upon this is the notion held by many youths that their activities and interactions over the internet cannot be tracked. As a result they do not have the same moral reactions about their actions online as they would face to face. This has been observed with regard to violent fantasies, threats and sexual conduct. Following this, youth may seek romantic relationships online using these social networking sites. (Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2007)It has been noted that because of the lack of moral relativism online, youth sometimes don’t care if the person that they flirt with is an adult or a young person. Most youth see their online relationships with strangers as ‘pretend’, and sometimes play into them stating that they are older, more popular, smarter, tougher, and/or more experienced than in the real world. Sometimes Girls may even pretend to be boys, and boys may pretend to be girl. (Berson, 2003)

The internet is having a profound impact on both the socialization and the dating habits of today’s youth (Boyd & Ellison, 2007) as a result of these social communities. As a result of the lack of formal controls in these types of online environments, youth are exposed to material and information that they were not exposed to so readily in the past. This has caused a change in dating trends as there has become a lack of supervision and monitoring by adults allowing youth to engage in decreasing standards of sexual norms due to the availability of contraceptives and increase in sexually provocative images in the media. (Tyyska, 2009) In addition, peer influence appears to be a large factor in determining sexual standards for youths. It has been observed that exposure to sexual content has a negative effect with sexual standards in youth. As a result of the media and increase of information available, youth sexual standards are as low as ever and the internet decreases supervision which is a key determinant in the sexual activity of youth. (Tyyska, 2009)

Factors that Lead to the Increased Vulnerability of Youth to Online Predators

The internet is potentially dangerous outlet for a person of any age or intelligence. Chat rooms and social networking can be either be enjoyable and leisurely or dangerous and damaging. There are a number of reasons that youth in general are more susceptible to online predators than the general adult public. To start with, there is the excessive time that is spent on the internet by today’s youth for a variety of reasons including but not limited to entertainment, socializing, and homework. It is estimated that 85% of today’s youth are connected to the internet for a significant amount of time each day(Tyyska, 2009) and it is estimated that approximately“60% of parents thought that people worried too much about the possibility that their children would be taken advantage of by adults online”(Fleming et al., 2006). This reaction by parents means that collectively, they are not concerned about the online exploitation of youth and this further enhances their liklihood of being exploited since they will less likely have had conversations regarding internet safety or received adequate monitoring. (Fleming et al., 2006)

In addition to the excessive exposure that youth have with the internet and their fascination with social networking sites, there is also the ever long quest for popularity that cause youth to excessively add ‘friends’ to their network, even though they may not know many of them. Typically, teens will add friends and acquaintances in addition to people that they add because “it would be socially awkward to say no to them, because they make the individual look cool, or simply because it would be interesting to read their bulletin posts” (Boyd, 2008). Because Friends are displayed on an individual’s profile, they provide meaningful information about that person and can sometimes lead people to meet individuals that would not normally be in their social circles.

Another factor that leads to increased risk for youths online is the high number of concentration of minors using social networking services creating a target rich environment for predators. A recent study shows that almost 40% of teens allow anyone to view their online profiles (Guo, 2008) which gives predators valuable information used to lure youths. If predators can manage to infiltrate the networks set up for youth organizations and institutions that it creates and high risk of exploitation. (Guo, 2008)Sometimes, children are naïve and trusting enough of others to allow them to exploit them and this risk is compounded. This is likely due to their simultaneousneed for attention and affection. “This combination of traits contributes to an easy target to be enticed into illicit interactions with predators” (Berson, 2003).

Although sexual solicitations did declined in a longitudinal study between 2000 and 2005, youth were 1.7 times more likely to report being solicited online. Some of the key risk factors that they found included; being female, using chat rooms, using the Internet with a cell phone, talking with people met online, sending personal information to people met online, talking about sex online, and experiencing offline physical or sexual abuse. (Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2007)

Predatory Techniques

“An online sexual predator is someone who uses the internet to sexually exploit vulnerable individuals, typically under-aged youths” (Guo, 2008).It has been reported that online predators solicit one in every five youth. Generally, there is a method to the exploitation known as grooming which will be discussed next in greater detail, but there are other tactics used by online predators to stalk their prey. In general, public forums, chat rooms and social networks have suffered the unfortunate by-product of the increased presence of online sexual predators (Guo, 2008). When predators do enter youth based networks or make contact with a child, they will often prey on feelings of loneliness or emotional neediness and once the predator has developed an alliance with the child, they may begin the process of grooming with the intention to desensitize the child and validate adult-child sexual relations(Berson, 2003). Another tactic in which predators pursue is called impression management. This is where “through learning to make sense of others’ responses to our behavior, we can assess how well we have conveyed what we intended. We can then alter our performance accordingly”(Boyd, 2008). This technique has three stages, performance, interpretation, and adjustment. Impression management is a part of a larger process where people seek to define a situationthrough their behavior.(Boyd, 2008)Online predators do this by assuming a peer profile to that of the youth as a disguise. They will manipulate their profiles to appear to have similar interests and know similar people in order to gain trust and build a relationship. (Berson, 2003) (Boyd, 2008)

The Grooming Process

Much of the concern from commentators about some aspects of internet use by young people has focused on possible grooming by sexual predators.(Fleming et al., 2006) Traditionally, the grooming process required close physical proximity with children. Predators were visible on playgrounds, at children’s sports events, or other youth-oriented venues, (Berson, 2003) however, predators are increasingly targeting youth in social networking services. (Guo, 2008)

The process of grooming involves a complex process of manipulation. Generally, when first contact is made, it is a non-sexual approach which is used to encourage interaction in the future and build trust. vInformation is available online that can be used to initiate the grooming process. Once trust is established between the predator and the child through the sharing of information, the use of false identities, or even sending of gifts and pictures, and eventual desensitization to pornographic content, the goal is to arrange a meeting between the predator and the child., (Berson, 2003The goal of the grooming process is to lower the inhibitions of the child through active engagement, desensitization, power and control. The is process is often described as a slow and gradual process of learning about a child and building trust.(Fleming et al., 2006) This also contributes to the difficulty in detecting the activity. Predators become skilled at gaining the trust of a child before luring them into interactions. The close bond that predators build entices youths to be more forthcoming with regard to sexual advances. (Berson, 2003) This process has been used successfully by predators on school yards and playugrounds and online commiunities and social networks create greate advantages for these predators to hide. This process of grooming greatlycontributes to the susceptibility of online youths to sexual exploitation.

Concluding remarks

Overall, the growing popularity and increasing availability through expanding technology of social networks creates a real challenge for parents and police in the future. As a result of the sever risk factors discussed in this research paper including; free flowing information, public pictures, the ability for predators to hide amongst and interact with youth , the availability of online profiles and various other factors, social networking sites are potentially dangerous ‘hang-outs’ for the youth of tomorrow.

Bibliography

Berson, I. (n.d.). Grooming cyber victims. 9-17.

Boyd, D. (2008). Why youth love social network sites: the role of networked publics in teenage social life. Youth, Identity and Digital Media , 119-142.

Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. (2007). Social network sites: definintion, history and scholarship. Michigan: Michigan State University.

Fleming, M., Greentree, S., Cocotti-Muller, D., Elias, K., & Morrison, S. (2006). Safety in cyberspace: adolescents' safety and exposure online. Journal of Youth and Society , 135-154.

Granovetter, M. (1978). Threshold models of collective behavior. The American Journal of Sociology , 1420-1444.

Guo, R. (2008). Stranger danger and the online social network. Berkley Technology Law Journal , 617-644.

Mitchell, K., Finkelhor, D., & Wolak, J. (2007). Youth internet users at risk for the most serious online sexual aolicitations. American Journal of Preventive Medicine , 532- 540.

Tyyska, V. (2009). Youth and society: the long and winding road. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

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