The Same but Different? Exploring the Links between Gender, Trauma, Sexual Exploitation and Harmful Sexual Behaviours

Abstract

This article presents data on 1550 children and young people with experiences of child sexual exploitation or who are displaying harmful sexual behaviours (HSB). Data were collected from two recently merged services operating across Wales: one working with children and young people who are at risk of, or abused through, sexual exploitation; and the other providing assessment and intervention services for children and young people displaying HSB. Importantly, the research provided an opportunity for a comparative analysis of key demographic characteristics and abuse histories of two separate cohorts of children and young people. Clear differences exist across the two cohorts in terms of gender. However, our analysis revealed similar patterns in relation to their experiences of prior abuse, and the prevalence of a family history of domestic violence is near identical. We consider how these findings speak to a need to understand the role of gender, and to recognise potential gendered understandings and gendered trajectories of harm for children. Findings also indicate the importance of directing attention to the wellbeing needs of children and young people who have experienced trauma, regardless of the presenting issues of concern.‘Presents data on 1550 children and young people with experiences of child sexual exploitation or who are displaying harmful sexual behaviours’Key Practitioner Messages CSE and HSB are different welfare concerns, but the children and young people referred to services for CSE and HSB may have similarly high levels of similar past trauma. There is a need for a greater understanding of how behavioural responses to trauma can be different for boys and girls, and may lead to different risk trajectories. Practitioners should be encouraged to be reflexive about their assumptions of sexual norms and behaviours among children, particularly in relation to gender and their ideas about vulnerability and risk. Practice with children and young people would benefit from recognising and responding to trauma experiences, and also from directing attention to the specific wellbeing needs of individual children and young people, regardless of the presenting areas of concern, that is, CSE or HSB (and gender). Assessment data collected should also reflect the backgrounds, needs and strengths of these children and young people, addressing the underlying issues behind potential vulnerability and harms, and not simply the risks that children and young people may pose or in which they may engage.