Grooming: a risk for children online

He Grooming Is the deliberate deliberate adult cyberbullying to establish a relationship and emotional control over a child in order to prepare the ground for their sexual abuse.

They usually perform tasks with the intention of approaching the child first and gaining their trust in order to establish a relationship and Emotional control Of this.

Its purpose is to sexually abuse him, so that the stalker or groomer will deal with the child having physical contact or simply virtually, thus obtaining child pornography.

The actions that the stalker or groomer usually perform are very related to pederasty and pedophilia. These can be crimes of child prostitution, sexual abuse etc.

Some facts about grooming

Next, we will look at some figures from a study by ACPI and PROTEGELES for the Ombudsman for Children in 2002 on the navigation habits of minors in Spain, in which some worrying data were obtained:

• Among the children who participated in the study, 30% had provided their telephone number on occasion.
• 16% have provided their address through the network.
• The percentage that has remained with strangers by Internet or Social Networks is of 14.5%.
• 54.5% did not receive information or training on basic safety standards when To use the internet Neither from school nor from home.
• Almost all of the young people who participated in the study, 86% can access all the contents of the computer since they do not have or do not have any program that filters the contents.
• 44% of the children have been sexually harassed.
• 11% have been the victims of insults from other Internet users.
• 4% have received unsolicited emails with unpleasant content and another 1.5% report being afraid on occasion.

As we can verify is a problem that affects many children, not only in Spain but throughout the world.

Types of grooming

We find two variants in the way the harasser can carry out sexual harassment through the internet according to the guide that carried out the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (2014):

• Cases of grooming in which the harasser achieves the material without having had relation with the child at any moment previously by Internet.

This one obtains the material that he wants through the obtaining of the passwords of the minor or through the photos that the minor has hung in social networks .

Once the stalker has obtained that material, blackmail and extortion will begin with the child threatening to disclose it if it does not make it easier or does not date him.

• The other case is that the stalker seeks the confidence of the child to deliver the material, chatting with him through any forum or social network. In this way it is the smaller one that facilitates the material to him, since the stalker has gained its confidence.

Phases of grooming

In grooming there are a series of steps by which the stalker manages to gain the confidence of the minor and to make the crime:

Contact and approach

First, the stalker will try to contact the child through social networks or some chat. To do this, it usually pretends to be a minor who has an age similar to his victim and also has an attractive physique. Its main objective is to gain the trust of the child little by little.

Virtual sex

Also know as Sexting . Once the child's confidence has been gained, the groomer can get the child to send him photos or even turn on the webcam posing naked for him in whole or in part.

Cyber ​​bullying

If the stalker gets any material from the minor that can be committed to the stalker, he will begin to threaten him if he does not access what the stalker asks. This phase is Cyberbullying .

Abuse and sexual assault

Following the previous phase, when the child sees that the threats do not cease, will accede to the demands of the harasser, being able to maintain physical relations.

What are their manifestations or symptoms in children?

As we can already observe, the effects for the victims and the people around them arrive or can become very negative, as with other risks that the child may suffer on the Internet such as cyberbullying or cyberbullying, sexting...

Children undergoing grooming may suffer psychological problems. The effects of these psychological problems can be more serious than if sexual abuse had occurred in person.

As parents we must be alert to the following symptoms:

• Children undergoing grooming can wet the bed, suck their thumbs or have fears that they did not have before.
• There may also be problems with sleep, headache with no apparent explanation.
• In addition they usually appear weight loss or rapid variations of this one.
• Frequent physical injuries without reasonable explanation: cuts, hits, etc.
• Anxiety, rage.
• Changes in mood may also occur.
• They can even hide the mobile or the computer when you use it if there is someone in front.

Grooming can also affect a child's life at school:

• It can negatively affect your school performance.
• Problems of attention and concentration appear in addition to learning.
• Because of the above, they do not want to go to school.
• Being in contact with such an adult may use language that is not age-appropriate.
• You may even be afraid of free spaces like recess. In addition it can look for the closeness of the adults or to be placed in corners, walls and spaces protected and controllable visually.
• Problems of learning, attention and concentration.

Profile of the victims

Any person, whether minor or adult, can be a victim of sexual harassment through the internet. The following is a table with the two possible groups of victims considered to be at risk according to the European Commission (2012):

Source: Monograph on grooming (2015)

Stalker or groomer profile

According to El-Sahili (2014) there are different profiles of stalkers. While some only want pornographic material, others want to keep in touch with the child.

According to the project carried out by the European Commission in 2012 we can distinguish three types of groomers or stalkers:

• Groomer"Privacy Finder": Does not use photos of minors to impersonate them, on the contrary they are shown as they are. Their goal is usually to get a relationship with the child, so they spend a lot of time talking about it. They think the contact is consented to by the child, so they do not believe it to be a crime.
• Groomer"Customizable Style": This type of harasser usually adapts their identity and style of harassment as the process progresses. It has computer equipment to carry out the harassment and usually has a criminal record.
• Groomer" Hypersexualized ": Is often the most intense type of groomer, as they consume extreme adult pornography. In their profiles there are usually photos of their genitals and usually have previous convictions. By communicating with other stalkers they get images of this type.

What if my child suffers grooming?

As in any other situation, it is recommended to report this type of action as soon as possible, since as we have said above, the child can suffer both physically and mentally due to abuse by the harasser.

In some cases, the child may feel ashamed for what happened and for this reason, not want to report face to face facts of grooming. For these cases there is the option of providing data and alerts to the National Police, Civil Guard or the Autonomous Police anonymously. A third option would be to go to associations, entities and NGOs that aim at the protection of minors.

In the case of the minor, the formal complaint must be filed by the persons entitled to do so, who are the parents, the legal representatives of the minor or the Public Prosecutor in case of being alerted by other persons.

In the event that a teacher observes that a child may be suffering from grooming, he or she should contact the parents or guardians of the child urgently or even inform the authorities.

It is advisable to provide evidence of harassment at the time of reporting such as recorded conversations or screenshots of messages that have been received. Taking into account that many times they do not have judicial validity, since there is no evidence of their veracity or their origin.

In these cases, evidence with judicial validity are those that can be provided by companies that provide services, such as telephone operators or companies that manage social networks.

How should educators act from the centers?

According to Luengo (2014), the centers have an obligation to act on this type of event in case they have suspicion or knowledge that any student is suffering. If a teacher is suspected or has detected that a student may be suffering grooming, the center must inform the parents or guardians of the child.

If, on the other hand, the parents or guardians do not respond adequately or do not report the situation, the center must inform the authorities and file a complaint.

What can I do from home to prevent it?

To reduce the risk that our children may suffer this type of abuse we have to perform the following steps:

• Teach the child to make good use of new technologies.
• Educate so that they do not give personal data to strangers in the network or they do not accept people who do not know in the social networks. It is recommended that you also be taught how to configure your privacy profile.
• Discuss with the child why these things happen or ask if he has been harassed or if he knows in his environment a case of these characteristics.

In addition we can also teach you technical questions:

• Try to raise awareness of risks and how protection tools work.
• In order to recommend that you do not enter pages you do not know, besides using 8-digit passwords and change them periodically.
• As fathers and mothers, we must limit the use of these technologies to Avoid dependency And that conflict with their other activities.
• Finally, establish age criteria to start using the devices and to access different content and services.

Strategies and recommendations for minors

Some strategies and recommendations for minors could include:

• Do not upload to social networks or provide pictures to a stranger.
• Ask for help if you are experiencing a situation that makes you feel insecure or upset.
• Configure the privacy of social media accounts.
• Use programs so that the equipment you use is safe and can not steal your passwords.

References

1. El-Sahili, L.F.A. (2014). Psychology on Facebook. Glimpsing the psychic phenomena, complexity and scope of the largest social network in the world. Mexico: University of Guanajuato.
2. European Commission (2012). European Online Grooming Project.
3. United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF and Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (Argentina). (2014). Grooming. Practical guide for parents.
4. National Institute of Communication Technologies INTECO (2009). Legal Guide on cyberbullying and grooming.
5. National Institute of Communication Technologies INTECO (2013). Guía S.O.S. Against Grooming: Parents and Educators. London: Cambridge University Press.
6. National Institute of Technologies of the INTECO Community (2012). Guide for action against cyberbullying: parents and educators. London: Cambridge University Press.
7. Luengo, J.A. (2014). Guide to educational resources for educational centers. Madrid: Official Psychology College of Madrid.
8. Red.es (2015). Monographic about grooming. Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism. Government of Spain.