Sexual Online Grooming of Children

Dr. Laura F. Kuhle; Daniela Stelzmann M.A.

doi:10.5771/9783748903291

Summary

Sexual grooming has always been an integral part of the sexual victimization of children. Even before the advent of the Internet, it was described as a deliberate process of preparing a child for sexual abuse. With the digital age, Sexual Online Grooming (SOG) has gained increasing significance. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon, examines the characteristics of both affected children and offenders, and explores strategies for prevention and law enforcement. Furthermore, it discusses scientific and practical implications, offering an in-depth understanding of SOG and the challenges it presents in the digital sphere.With contributions byKlaus M. Beier | Sebastian Büchner | Jenny Felser | Stefanie Fächner | Zeev Hille | Maria Ioannou | Katharina Kärgel | Birgit Kimmel | Laura F. Kuhle | Dirk Labudde | Janina Neutze | Svenja Preuß | Stefanie Rack | Martin Rettenberger | Halina Schmid | Alexander F. Schmidt | Petya Schuhmann | Miriam Schuler | Anja Schulz | Michael Spranger | Daniela Stelzmann | John Synnott | Frederic Vobbe | Jennifer Vogel | Julia von Weiler

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2025
ISBN-Print: 978-3-8487-6213-2
ISBN-Online: 978-3-7489-0329-1
Publisher: Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series: Sexualität, Gesundheit und Gesellschaft. Sexuality, Health and Society
Volume: 2
Language: English
Pages: 304
Product type: Edited Book

Titelei/InhaltsverzeichnisPages 1 - 14 Download chapter (PDF)
1. Zeev Hille, Daniela Stelzmann, Laura F. Kuhle Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Online child sexual exploitation – online sexual solicitation – sexual online grooming
    2. Commonalities and differences in defining grooming in online vs. offline environments
    3. Prevalence of sexual online grooming
    4. Characteristics of victims
    5. Characteristics of offenders
  2. Preventive efforts
  3. Conclusion
1. Julia von Weiler Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Prevalence of sexual online grooming among children and juveniles
    2. Vulnerabilities of children and juveniles to become victims of sexual online grooming
    3. Sexual offenders against children using digital media
  2. 1. Background information
    2. Consultation – Anna’s parents alone
    3. Consultation – Anna alone
    4. Consultation – Anna and her parents
    5. Analyzing the sexual online grooming process
    6. Further course
  3. Reflection and practical implications
  4. Ethical approval
2. Maria Ioannou, John Synnott Download chapter (PDF)
  1. Introduction
  2. 1. Age
    2. Gender
    3. Disability
    4. Socioeconomic status
    5. Personality and personal traits
    6. Risky and sexual behaviour
    7. Offline vulnerability
    8. Time spent online
  3. Conclusion
3. Halina Schmid, Janina Neutze Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. 1. Problematic online sexual interactions
      2. Choosing an accurate definition
    2. Voluntary nature
    3. The present study
  2. 1. Procedure
    2. Participants
    3. Measures
  3. 1. Online sexual interactions of German adolescents
    2. Online sexual conversation
    3. Exchanging nude and erotic images
    4. Digression: Confrontation with pornographic contents
    5. Online sex
    6. Meeting offline
  4. 1. Limitations
  5. Ethical approval
4. Jennifer Vogel Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Strategies of children
    2. Prevention
    3. The present study
  2. 1. Participants
    2. Procedure
    3. Measures
    4. Analysis
  3. 1. Media use of the interviewed primary school children
    2. 1. Dangers and risks in online communication
      2. Anonymity and identity on the Internet
      3. Handling sensitive data
      4. Blocking the chat partner
      5. Deleting the chat
      6. Keeping up the contact
      7. Defense
      8. Help from outside
      9. Close relatives and friends
  4. 1. Limitations
    2. Implications and outlook
  5. Ethical approval
1. Miriam Schuler, Klaus M. Beier Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Sexual online grooming
    2. Hebephilia
  2. Background information
  3. 1. 1. Social and psychiatric anamnesis
      2. Sexual interest
      3. Sexual behavior
    2. Interview with parents
    3. Psychometric test battery
  4. Case conceptualization and treatment planning
  5. 1. Pharmacological intervention
    2. Psychoeducation and individual sexual online grooming pattern
    3. 1. Self-regulation deficits
      2. Lack of emotionally intimate relationships
      3. Hebephilic sexual preference, sexual preoccupation
      4. Offense-supportive cognitions
    4. Parents
  6. Interim evaluation and outlook
  7. Ethical approval
2. Alexander F. Schmidt Download chapter (PDF)
  1. Introduction
  2. The challenge of defining sexual online grooming of children
  3. 1. Official crime data
    2. Victim crime survey data – the dark figure of sexual online grooming of children
  4. 1. Sexual online grooming offender subtypes
    2. Female sexual online grooming offenders
    3. Sexual online grooming strategies
  5. Prevention of sexual online grooming of children
  6. Sexual online grooming of children and treatment
  7. Future directions
  8. Acknowledgment
3. Frederic Vobbe, Katharina Kärgel Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. The present study
  2. Methods and materials
  3. 1. 1. Digital media as an instrument for requesting nude images
      2. Digital media as an instrument for targeted sexual online grooming
    2. 2. Digital media as an instrument for initiating cyber dating abuse
    3. 1. Digital media as an instrument for targeted sexual online grooming
      2. Digital media as an instrument for continuing contact and building emotional pressure despite any evidence of particular grooming strategies
    4. 4. Digital media as an instrument by which offenders use child exploitation material to shame victims who were previously known to them
    5. 5. Digital media as an instrument of (commercial) sexual exploitation in the context of child sexual abuse and organized sexualized assault committed offline
    6. 6. The interplay of problematic digital media conduct and suspected child sexual abuse between persons previously known to one another
  4. Discussion
  5. Ethical approval
4. Anja Schulz, Petya Schuhmann Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Defining online sexual solicitation of minors
    2. How often does online sexual solicitation of minors occur?
    3. MiKADO project: an online survey in an adult international sample
  2. Prevalence of adults who reported online sexual solicitation of minors in MiKADO
  3. Characteristics of adults who self-report online sexual solicitation of minors
  4. Characteristics of minors who were solicited online based on self-report by adult perpetrators
  5. Sexual behaviors associated with online sexual solicitation
  6. Implications for practice and study limitations
  7. Ethical approval
5. Laura F. Kuhle, Daniela Stelzmann Download chapter (PDF)
  1. Sexual online grooming in the German Dunkelfeld: a qualitative analysis of men with a sexual preference for children
  2. 1. Participants
    2. Procedures
    3. Analyses
  3. 1. Victim selection stage: between targeted search and coincidence
    2. Friendship and relationship stage: genuine and emotional interest in the children
    3. Risk assessment stage: few precautions, mainly at the technical level
    4. Exclusivity stage: interest is more important than exclusivity
    5. Sexuality stage: online contact is more fantasy-driven than contact-driven
  4. Conclusion
  5. Limitations
  6. Ethical approval
1. Sebastian Büchner Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Reflections on the classification within the outdated §§ 176
    2. Reflections on the classification within the revised § 176 and § 184
  2. Case development and criminological approaches
  3. 1. Initiation of proceedings
    2. Problems with the preservation of evidence
    3. Evaluation whether the offender knew about the age of the child
    4. Determination of the number of offenses
    5. Interrogation of the affected children
    6. Possible problems in identification of the suspect
    7. Further procedural steps
  4. Conclusion
2. Birgit Kimmel, Stefanie Rack, Stefanie Fächner Download chapter (PDF)
  1. Protecting children from sexual online grooming
  2. 1. More safety on social media
    2. Recognizing sexual online grooming tactics
    3. Conversations about the risk for sexual abuse
  3. Prevention in schools and in youth recreation facilities
  4. 1. Example 1: P2P approach – developing a “Get Savvy Campaign” for younger students
    2. Example 2: Humour puts an end to sexual online grooming – the app zipit
    3. Example 3: Pedagogical work with a film – “The White Rabbit”
    4. Example 4: Preventive work with the klicksafe materials “Let’s Talk about Porn” and “Selfies, Sexting, Self-Portrayal”
    5. Example 5: Classroom poster “Warning Signals in Chats”
    6. 1. Fingerprint lock
      2. (Live) Location function should be disabled
  5. Perspectives
3. Laura F. Kuhle, Daniela Stelzmann Download chapter (PDF)
  1. 1. Prevalence of sexual online grooming
    2. Characteristics of sexual online grooming offenders
  2. 1. 1. Prevention Network “Kein Täter werden”
      2. Associated partners of the Prevention Network “Kein Täter werden”:
      3. “Stop it Now! UK and Ireland”
    2. 1. “B4U-ACT”
      2. “Virtuous Pedophiles”
    3. 1. “Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention”
      2. “PrevenTell”
    4. 1. “Troubled Desire”
      2. “Help Wanted”
  3. Challenges and future directions
  4. Conclusion
  5. Disclaimer
4. , Jenny Felser, Svenja Preuß, Dirk Labudde, Michael Spranger Download chapter (PDF)
  1. Introduction
  2. 1. Automatic detection of sexual online grooming
    2. 1. Lexical features
      2. Behavioural and stylistic features
      3. Syntactical features
      4. Sentiment features
      5. LIWC features
    3. 1. Supervised machine learning algorithms
      2. Rule-based manual approaches for classification
      3. Unsupervised machine learning algorithms (clustering)
    4. 1. Evaluation of approaches for the automatic detection of sexual online grooming
      2. Overview of the performance of the previous approaches
      3. Comparison of the used features
      4. Comparison of the methods
    5. Early detection of sexual online grooming
  3. 1. Tools for the protection against sexual online grooming
    2. Support of law enforcement agencies
    3. Chatbots
  4. 1. Perverted Justice data
    2. PAN-2012 dataset
  5. Conclusion
AcknowledgmentPages 297 - 298 Download chapter (PDF)
Author biographiesPages 299 - 304 Download chapter (PDF)