The Myth Of The Internet Sex Predator
I’ve long felt that public fears (mostly among folks who aren’t particularly computer-literate) about internet sex predators were mostly press-fueled frenzy — the normal sensationalism that we get served with any new technology, where the press tries to “sell papers” (or whatever it is they are selling these days) by taking a tiny tiny handful of crimes that involve the new technology and turning that tiny handful into an endless parade of breathless handwringing and fear-mongering. All of which is eagerly devoured by the sort of casual Luddites who don’t much like the new technology and sort of wish it didn’t exist because then they wouldn’t have to deal with.
Well, it turns out I was right. Research by sociologists at the Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire in Durham has debunked several widely-believed myths:
Myth: Internet predators are driving up child sex crime rates.
Reality: Sex assaults on teens fell 52 percent from 1993 to 2005, according to the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey, the best measure of U.S. crime trends. “The Internet may not be as risky as a lot of other things that parents do without concern, such as driving kids to the mall and leaving them there for two hours,” Wolak said.
Myth: Internet predators are pedophiles.
Reality: Internet predators don’t hit on the prepubescent children whom pedophiles target. They target adolescents, who have more access to computers, more privacy and more interest in sex and romance, Wolak’s team determined from interviews with investigators.
Myth: Internet predators represent a new dimension of child sexual abuse.
Reality: The means of communication is new, according to Wolak, but most Internet-linked offenses are essentially statutory rape: nonforcible sex crimes against minors too young to consent to sexual relationships with adults.
Myth: Internet predators trick or abduct their victims.
Reality: Most victims meet online offenders face-to-face and go to those meetings expecting to engage in sex. Nearly three-quarters have sex with partners they met on the Internet more than once.
Myth: Internet predators meet their victims by posing online as other teens.
Reality: Only 5 percent of predators did that, according to the survey of investigators.
Myth: Online interactions with strangers are risky.
Reality: Many teens interact online all the time with people they don’t know. What’s risky, according to Wolak, is giving out names, phone numbers and pictures to strangers and talking online with them about sex.
Myth: Internet predators go after any child.
Reality: Usually their targets are adolescent girls or adolescent boys of uncertain sexual orientation, according to Wolak. Youths with histories of sexual abuse, sexual orientation concerns and patterns of off- and online risk-taking are especially at risk.
Thanks to Bruce Schneier for the link.
Shorter URL for sharing: https://www.erosblog.com/?p=2187
I can see the importance of disabusing myths about sexual predators on the internet, but the research does not allay all such fears.
I agree that fear-mongering and false information is harmful. At the same time implying that simply because an individual is an adolescent or has consented on some level means that the situation is free of abuse, manipulation or harm is also dangerous. Both on and off the internet, adolescents are often taken advantage of for their newfound intrigue into sexual activities and/or vulnerability due to previous life-experiences (or inexperience)
The internet is not a new danger. It is simply a new meeting ground for good and bad things which have been happening since the human race began. Pretending it is all okay and safe is as risky as pretending it is fraught with danger
“Pretending it is all okay and safe…”
I just want to point out the straw man argument there. Nobody here has “pretended” in such fashion. I’m arguing (really, mostly, just citing someone else’s data) that the press drumbeat of terror is vastly overblown. My point would be that the dangers are much much smaller than commonly believed, not that they don’t exist.
Not just that the dangers are mis-stated, but that we’re probably not focusing time, energy and funding on the Right ways to safe-guard children when online. I’m no expert on what those should be, but obviously when you have the Actual data from the people who chase the crooks, and not just some political advisor’s vague notions, you’ve made a better start.
Here in Australia the government made a whole television ad campaign about “help to protect our children online”, that basically played up to those fears, the paedophile posing as a child, and pretty much gave the impression that within minutes of a child going online a dozen sex criminals will be beating the door down, which is utter rubbish. They also wanted to force all ISPs to block all “adult” content (i’d still like them to give me a concrete definition of that) from all computers, and make it so that if a person wants to view that content they have to specifically register in order to do so, to protect the poor kiddies from the mind warping trauma of seeing a nipple or a willy on the computer.
What it comes down to is that if a parent/guardian feels a child is doing unsafe things on the internet or looking at inappropriate material, it is up to THEM to stop it, not some shadowy government, ISPs, or anyone else. They are the foremost protection for their child, it’s their job, not everyone else’s. Maybe they shouldn’t give their kids unlimited, unsupervised access to the web, rather than expecting the web to be 100% G-Rated just for them.
We parents tend to be skittish; if only one in a million kids gets abducted, or gets hit on by a pedophile (and I’ll use the loose colloquial definition, where the victim can be up to, say, 16 years old), that’s enough for us, we’re digging the moat and putting up the barbed wire. We know the media love to exaggerate things, but an exaggerated threat is not the same as a non-existent threat. Maybe only a few creeps are hot for my 9-year-old; that doesn’t mean I’m going to relax about my 14-year-old. I’d rather fault myself for being overprotective than the opposite.
ok, first off, I expect a lot of grief and flames from this. But I think there is a difference between “protecting” and “educating”. When we “protect” the children by outright banning this or that, or by getting in a huff, we usually cause the “streisand effect”. Wheras the more something is condemned, the louder the sword-clashing, the more popular it is among the very people we are trying to protect. Education would be a far better avenue. Teach kids what EVERYTHING is. Don’t be shy. Is something is common, there is less chance that they will do anything behind your back. I have often wondered, these kids, are they from morally uptight families? How many of them actually had nudist colony parents that were open. Kids are resourceful, and resilient creatures. They will find ways around roadblocks that parents can only dream of. The joke (really need to find that cartoon again that had it) is so true where the parent is standing behind the kid saying “I just bought this security program, it will block all predators and all harmful sites, *can you install it for me?*” That is society today. Crime has always been there. The 80’s was riff with “watch out for drug dealer, don’t talk to strangers, yet never quite the hysteria we see today from these politician and so-called experts who supposedly invented the internet, yet can’t even find the escape key. How many with kids anymore actually have a serious talk about the “bird and the bees” BEFORE the kid sees something that makes them ask you, or someone else. The kids will see it, that is a guarantee. The kids will be taught it, that is also a guarantee. The kids can be protected by the bad avenues of it, but only through education. The choice is, who talks about it first, the parents or hollywood. Who teaches it first, the parents or schools or friends or complete strangers.
see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil also blocks everyone from seeing good, hearing good, and speaking good.
When I was a young teenager I was totally all about the internet sex. One handed typing was my thing. This was 1993 and my parents I don’t think even realized that there was anything risque on the computer to worry about. They didn’t use the internet at all.
However, I kind of knew all by myself that maybe meeting these people would be a terrible idea and that giving out my personal information took away my complete control of the situation.
However, I credit that time for fostering my interest in all kinds of ideas about sex that I don’t know how I would have been introduced to otherwise. I think I learned a LOT about what sex was and what I liked and what other’s liked. It was, as far as I was concerned the interactive version of the porn I was stealing from my parents anyway.
So, not to say that this should be a goal for 13 y/o’s everywhere, but I think that in general, the risk is mostly to those who don’t separate internet world from real life properly. If you can convince your kids that they shouldn’t give out info, they will probably be fine.
As a victim of childhood sexual abuse, I appreciate this post in which these myths are pointed out. Although Dateline NBC did an excellent job of exposing the dangers of online predators, I always felt that people were overlooking the fact that these were usually situations of where a minor planned to hook up with an older adult. Truth be told, as teenage minors, we all knew right from wrong when we it came down to sexual acts. The real fear that people should have about predators usually lie right in their homes. Most innocent victims of child sexual abuse, receive it at the hands of people whom they know, not the dirty old man on the other end of the computer. This is the reality that most of us have experienced. Child sexual abuse has been occurring since the beginning of time, but internet predators is only a means for curious kids to hook up with predatory adults who should know better.
I grew up in a one parent (my father) home since as far back as I can remember. I’m 19 now but my father has always been very open with me about everything. Not open to the point he runs around the house naked, but I learned about sex when I was 10. I wanted to go see Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me with my next door neighbors. Dad asked me if I knew what shagging was and it went from there. I suppose because of this I tend to think education plays a huge part in protecting children from the potential risk. I also remember dad walking in on me giving head to my boyfriend when I was 16. He wasn’t happy at the time, it being an awkward situation, and he told us to stop, however my boyfriend had been invited over for dinner and after the invitation still stood. I think this also helped me not be so embarrassed that I felt I needed to sneak around about sex. However that isn’t to say that some precautions shouldn’t be taken of course. I just think that education, as johnsonjb said, is more important than restriction.