Splintered Lives - Barnardo's

PAGE 14
chapter
5
Defining sexual exploitation
of children
With any concern a key issue is definition of the area/problem; it constitutes the grounds
for both consensus and disagreement. In the area of sexual abuse in childhood 'what
counts' varies both between, and often also within, legal, research, policy, media and
individual definitions. It is, for example, extremely unlikely that survivors and offenders
would define sexual abuse in similar ways.
Finding or creating a uniformly agreed definition is likely to prove a fruitless task; but it is
possible to illustrate what a more and less inclusive definition would encompass. We
have noted earlier that the sexual exploitation of children is not easily separable from
other forms of sexual abuse in childhood, since it can be present within ongoing abuse
by family member/known adult as well as independently of this; it can occur in single
and multiple offender contexts. For these reasons we regard it as dangerous to create
classifications of sexual abuse which are constructed as mutually exclusive categories.
Whilst conceptualisation enables an increasing recognition of the various forms of
sexual abuse, the contexts they occur in and the consequences they have, we need to
bear in mind that these are analytical categories, and the boundaries created are often
artificial. Awareness of the tensions between definitions is essential if we are to make
sense of the research, policy and practice to date, and to explore future directions. This
section, therefore, explores the complex issues involved in defining sexual exploitation
of children. The titles for both the London and Brussels conferences which have
influenced this document were called 'Child Pornography and Sexual Exploitation'. An
unintentional distinction is thus made between the elements, and this was also
noticeable in the presentations. The danger here is that both prostitution and trafficking
are neglected and that the links between forms of sexual exploitation are missed.
Indeed in the last decade a noticeable difference of emphasis has arisen, where in the
west the focus has been on child pornography whilst in developing countries more
emphasis has been placed on child prostitution and trafficking. Whilst these may reflect
differential incidence rates, we must beware the danger of constructing the very
problem we are supposed to be investigating - in other words do we only find what we
expect to see?
There was marked discomfort in the Brussels seminar to attempts to broaden the
definition of sexual exploitation - through reference to familial contexts in which child
pornography is produced and children may be prostituted. Some participants wanted to
maintain the 'commercial' element in the definition (see later in this chapter for more
detailed discussion). This was mirrored in Nigel Cantwell's (1995) suggestion that
approaches to the issue ought to be linked to the child labour provisions of the UN
convention; his definition was a "severe form of exploitative child labour". Underlying
this suggestion was a desire to shift attention from 'sex' to exploitation. This may make
the issue easier to deal with for many, but to do so would result in a loss, rather than
gain, of perspective. The motivations of ruthless entrepreneurs are not the same as
those of child abusers, and it is precisely the exploitative use of sexuality which
underlies many of the impacts of sexual exploitation (see chapter 8). Whilst there are
undoubtedly fruitful discussions and alliances which can occur internationally in relation
to child labour and sexual exploitation, reducing the latter to a particular form of the