primary prevention - Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings

Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Why Stranger Danger Misses the Real Risk

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 26 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Challenging the “Stranger Danger” Archetype

For decades, the public’s conceptualization of “child pornography” was tethered to a specific, mid-90s archetype: a predatory adult in a basement, wielding a camera to exploit a child. This “stranger danger” narrative shaped the first generation of digital safety laws, but it relied on a technological bottleneck that no longer exists. In the early digital era, creating and distributing such material often required “intermediaries,” developers or specialized services, who acted as a friction point for reporting abuse. Today, that barrier has vanished. A landmark 2026 study published in Sexual Abuse reveals a landscape that has shifted from adult-captured content to Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA). A broader term encompassing the non-consensual making, distribution, and threatened distribution of sexual images.

The data is clear: the primary producers of modern abusive content are not “strangers,” but the youth victims themselves and their immediate social circles.

A Massive Shift in Content Creation

The study provides a staggering clarification of the digital landscape: the vast majority (86%) of abusive episodes involved images produced by youth. Either by the victims themselves (73.7%) or by peer perpetrators (12.1%).

In stark contrast, images actually produced by adults accounted for less than 8% of the total episodes.

The velocity of this shift is remarkable.

Licensed Professional Counselors: Dr. Weeks’ course The Prevalence of Youth-Produced Image-Based Sexual Abuse examines changing patterns in image-based sexual abuse and offers a framework for understanding youth-involved perpetrator dynamics.

Sexual Addiction Treatment Services has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7250. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Sexual Addiction Treatment Services is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

In 2010, youth-produced images accounted for roughly 40% of law enforcement databases; that figure has more than doubled in just over a decade.

This reflects a fundamental change in adolescent socialization where digital media is fully integrated. The “democratization” of recording devices means the power of production has moved into the hands of the adolescents, often within contexts of dating, flirtation, or peer pressure, removing the traditional predatory intermediary entirely.

“This shift in terminology [from child pornography to CSAM/CSAI] was intended to emphasize that the images were often made by in-person sexual abusers, who recorded their abusive conduct… The new conception also acknowledged the ongoing harm to the children depicted, as these shareable images can be characterized as ongoing abusive provocations and reminders.”

Why the Stranger Myth is Dangerous

The persistent fear of the “online stranger” creates a dangerous blind spot.

The study findings reveal that only 3.4% of youth perpetrators were “not known in-person.”

Mathematically, for youth-on-youth abuse, the “predatory stranger” is almost a statistical anomaly. Even among adult perpetrators, 59% were offline acquaintances like dating partners or friends.

While 36.7% of perpetrators’ identities remained “unknown” to the victims, a significant data gap that complicates reporting, the known data points to a reality where the threat is an in-person peer or partner.

Perpetrator Relationship Breakdown

	Adult Perpetrators	Youth Perpetrators
Dating Partner	9.5%	14.3%
Friend/Acquaintance	7.1%	12.5%
Not Known in-person	12.3%	3.4%

The Victim as the Producer: A New Tool for Adult Abusers

Perhaps the most counter-intuitive finding is the role of the victim in adult-perpetrated abuse.

In 75% of adult-perpetrated episodes, the images were originally produced by the youth victim. Modern adult abusers rarely need to capture images themselves; they leverage unequal power dynamics to manipulate “normal developing interests in sex” into digital assets.

Adult “Groomers” and “Coercers” no longer require physical proximity to generate material.

By leveraging romantic pretense or blackmail, they turn the victim’s own device into an instrument of exploitation. This evolution demonstrates how predators have adapted to a world where self-production is the social norm, weaponizing the victim’s own agency against them.

Are you exploring your trauma? Do you feel your childhood experiences were detrimental to your current mental or physical health? Utilize this free, validated, self-report questionnaire to find out.

Take the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Questionnaire

The Five-Category Framework for Abuse

To address the complexity of modern IBSA, the study proposes a five-category framework that moves beyond binary labels to define the specific intent and dynamics of the abuse:

Adult Producers: Perpetrators who create images to document their own physical abuse of a child for memorialization or monetization.
Adult Coercers: Predators who extort youth into creating and sharing explicit content through the use of threats or digital blackmail.
Adult Groomers: Perpetrators who manipulate youth into self-production by masquerading as romantic partners or offering items of value.
Juvenile Coercers: Peers who weaponize force, threats, or emotional guilt to pressure victims into supplying explicit images.
Juvenile Betrayers: Peers who breach a victim’s confidence by sharing images given voluntarily or by taking secret images of a peer without their consent.

The Prevention Paradox: Why Punishment Might Backfire

The study highlights a critical “prevention paradox”: an over-reliance on harsh criminal sanctions for youth may actually decrease safety.

When the legal system treats peer-to-peer “betrayals” with the same punitive weight as adult predation, victims become reluctant to report. They fear that reporting a peer, or admitting to self-production, will result in themselves or their friends being permanently labeled as sex offenders. To counter this, we must move toward restorative justice and rehabilitation models.

Effective prevention requires providing technical resources for image removal and focusing on the nuances of digital boundaries rather than simple prohibition.

“Warnings simply to not talk to strangers, not to share information and not to make sexual images are insufficient. These do not address the complexity of the situations many youth face or the context for these offenses, which include romance, bullying, and normal developing interests in sex.”

Learn why it’s important for everyone, especially teens, to be able to control their online experiences. Dick Pic Culture: How do Teenage Girls Navigate it?

Redefining Digital Consent

The epidemiology of digital abuse has fundamentally changed.

We are no longer defending against a shadow in a dark room. We are navigating a landscape of peers, partners, and self-captured content.

This necessitates a move toward a “consent standard” rather than a “prohibition model.” Protecting youth today requires multidisciplinary agencies, like Children’s Advocacy Centers, that offer supportive, trauma-informed interventions rather than purely punitive ones.

The Final Thought

If the statistical “threat” is more likely to be a known peer or a manipulated self-capture than an online stranger, are our safety conversations still stuck in the 90s?

We must adapt our education to a reality where the greatest risk to a child is often found in their own contact list. What are your thoughts on this?

Are you a professional looking to stay up-to-date with the latest information on, sex addiction, trauma, and mental health news and research? Or maybe you’re looking for continuing education courses? stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

The post Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Why Stranger Danger Misses the Real Risk first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Sex Offenders: What can be done?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:00:00 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve had the time to write what’s been on my mind, but I can’t wait any longer: What can be done about the growing number of sex offenders?

My practice is growing. We are adding groups in both of our offices. While that is a good thing for my business, that’s a really bad thing for society.

Some Background About my Experience with Sex Offenders

In addition to running a therapy practice that works with individuals who have committed sex crimes, I have other gigs.

One of them is as an instructor for a school that teaches law enforcement officers to conduct polygraph examinations. I spend 20 hours with them teaching them about psychology. Last month, I spent my first day with this cohort.

One of the 18 attendees was an officer from North Carolina who is the ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) officer for his department. He shared with me the weekly email that he gets from NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children).

This is one of the places that people report sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation materials, etc. They keep excellent statistics and ICAC officers get the data each week. I am a data geek and therefore asked if he could forward me the information.

My jaw dropped. Speechless.

I quickly moved into feeling overwhelmed and a bit of despair.

With nearly 20 years in the industry, I know it is bad out there. I know it is REALLY BAD.

But, I didn’t know it was this bad.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Here’s a Snapshot

The NCMEC report that he forwarded me provided the following numbers:

In one week, NCMEC’s Cybertip line received 503,139 reports JUST from Electronic Service Providers (Kik, Snapchat, etc.)

That is over half a million reports in one week.

The public made nearly an additional 2500 reports in that week. Of those more than half million reports made just to the CyberTipline that week, over 480,000 of them were for CSAM.

To date, this year only, there have been over 12 million CSAM reports to the CyberTipline.

But there is no way for law enforcement to police these numbers.

They simply do not have the manpower to investigate every one of these tips. They not only have to investigate tips sent to their jurisdictions, they also have all other crimes to deal with outside of the CyberTipline.

There is also, unfortunately, no way to get all of the CSAM off of the web. It just can’t be done.

Again, it’s a workforce and technology thing.

I shared this with one of my colleagues at work and got a message that night that it is stuck in his head, too.

What Do We Do?

When I ask that question, I am asking it outside of the law enforcement/legal system.

I am tired of there not being really any primary prevention for CSAM use. Or any other type of sexual offending.

I am also not at all an expert in prevention outside of my work. My work is secondary or tertiary prevention depending on your point of view.

The thing that comes to mind is Education.

Parents need more education about pornography and what’s happening online.

Furthermore, children need more education and pornography literacy information.

And what do we do for the people who are engaging in offending or who are attracted to children and not offending and want to keep it that way?

We need to normalize therapy.

If you have never heard of Project Dunkelfeld in Germany, check it out. It’s one of the best examples of primary prevention of sex offenders I can point to.

Want to learn more about primary prevention? These articles explore prevention before harm occurs, minor attraction, stigma, and ways to improve access to help.

Next Steps in Dealing with Sex Offenders

Right now, I have no answers.

Thinking about what I can do about prevention is going to be renting a lot of space in my head for a while.

I implore all of you to think about what you can do as well.

Yes, we need to continue to report abuse when it happens.

But, wouldn’t the world be better if we could figure out how to stop sex offenders from offending in the first place?

Are you a Licensed Professional Counselor seeking engaging, unique Continuing Education courses? Dr. Weeks offers accredited courses on her practice website on the effects of Pornography Abstinence and other unique topics!

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post Sex Offenders: What can be done? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Child Sex Trafficking: How do People Become Victims?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Thankfully, in light of recent high-profile cases, the world is taking Child Sex Trafficking more seriously. Therefore, with this increased awareness, I’d like to share some data about what we know about how traffickers find their victims. This knowledge will, hopefully, help with education and prevention at all levels.

Previous research has identified several types of traffickers, based on how they recruit their victims. These have been categorized in differing ways.

Some studies divide the types of traffickers into those who use an aggressive/antisocial means to recruit victims versus a charismatic/manipulative means. Other researchers put traffickers into categories like:

Romantic boyfriend
Gang member
Relatives
Those who specifically prey on children with intellectual disabilities

Child Sex Trafficking: Types of Traffickers

Boyfriend/Girlfriend Recruitment

These traffickers present themselves as caring and compassionate friends.

They often offer to help the victim escape an abusive situation or home; they exploit these vulnerabilities of the victim. These traffickers might be someone posing as a boyfriend or the actual romantic partner of the victim.

Peer-to-Peer Recruitment

Some victims of sex trafficking are recruited by other victims of sex trafficking.

This may seem very counter intuitive. The research suggests that peer sex trafficking is often done unwillingly under actual or threatened abuse. Alternatively, this is sometimes seen as a survival strategy where a victim recruits another victim thinking, “Better them than me.”

Stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

Gang/Criminal Recruitment

Many victims of sex trafficking are aggressively recruited by gang members.

Often these victims are young women who have a drug habit that is exploited or are convinced to enter prostitution to help the gang by being love bombed by the trafficker.

Family Trafficking

Both mothers and fathers have been known to traffic their children for various reasons.

Family trafficking can also involve other family members. Research has shown that mothers with drug addictions are most often seen in this category.

By identifying the different tactics used by various types of traffickers, public education and youth education can happen to try to prevent trafficking from the inception, before a child becomes a victim.

Child Sex Trafficking: Sub-Types of Perpetrator

A study published in 2023 in the scientific journal, Victims & Offenders, sought to further the research on child sex trafficking by describing recruitment strategies used by perpetrators.

The goal of this study is to inform prevention education and interventions.

The study reviewed 78 Child Protective Investigation case files in the state of Florida.

The study found 7 distinct subtypes of perpetrator of Child Sex Trafficking:

Peer/Acquaintance
Organized Crime
Romantic Coercive Conman
“Mate” crime predator
Family Abuser
Opportunistic Trafficker
Cybertrafficker

Peer/Acquaintance Trafficker

Maybe a neighbor, classmate, friend, etc. Uses peer recruitment, often via social media to find youth in their geographic area. The child is then groomed by being offered drugs, gifts or basic needs such as food or shelter. Grooming also includes building a friendship and normalizing commercial sexual exploitation.

Want to learn more about primary prevention? These articles explore prevention before harm occurs, minor attraction, stigma, and ways to improve access to help.

Organized Crime Child Sex Trafficking

Uses peer to peer recruitment. Finds youth in areas known for drugs and illegal activities. Child is groomed by being offered drugs and providing basic needs. Uses violence and intimidation when the child ends up paying for the “gifts” with sex.

Family Abuser

This person exploits their own young family members for either profit or to support a drug habit. The victim often lives with the abuser.

Romantic Coercive Conman

This trafficker is often seen as a boyfriend by the victim. They find victims by chatting online with girls on social media and dating apps. They will also go to places where girls frequent in person. The victims are groomed using romance and gift giving. They are also groomed with charm and often alcohol and drugs. The victim is then isolated from friends and family.

Mate Crime Predator

This trafficker preys upon the most vulnerable youth they can find. These are often youth with intellectual disabilities, mental health issues or physical disabilities. The victims are groomed with friendship. Traffickers often find these victims in places where you find run away children or using peer to peer recruitment via foster care or social media. Victims are groomed with basic needs or drugs and alcohol. This type of trafficker often also uses physically abusive tactics.

If you’re unfamiliar with sextortion, check out Dr. Jen’s article How to Protect Your Child from Sextortion.

Opportunistic Child Sex Trafficking

These traffickers often meet youth at places like truck stops or other places run away youth are to be found. They can then take advantage of the child’s specific vulnerability and groom them with offers of food, shelter, transportation and drugs or alcohol.

Cybertrafficker

This trafficker only interacts with victims online. The victims are found mostly on social media and dating apps. The trafficker befriends them and often promises money in exchange for sexual images and videos. They often then blackmail victims by threatening to disseminate the sexual images of the child.

Child Sex Trafficking Prevention

For prevention efforts to be successful, they need to be in place at all levels of the behavior.

By identifying the different tactics used by various types of traffickers, public education and youth education can happen to try to prevent trafficking from the inception, before a child becomes a victim.

Reference

Reid, J., Bilali, K., Fox, B. & Diaz, J. (2023). Toward a Typology of Child Sex Traffickers: Using Crime Script Analysis to Inform Prevention, Victims & Offenders., 18:3, 423-446. DOI: 10/1080/15564886.2022.2149648.

Are you exploring your trauma? Do you feel your childhood experiences were detrimental to your current mental or physical health? Utilize this free, validated, self-report questionnaire to find out.

Take the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Questionnaire

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post Child Sex Trafficking: How do People Become Victims? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

What do we Know About Educators who Commit Sexual Abuse?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Despite the age of this study, published in 2014, it provides valuable insight into current issues about sexual abuse by educators.

Teachers, Students, and Sexual Abuse

While these cases do not come across my desk terribly often, they do still occur.

In Pennsylvania, the age of consent is 16. However, if the abuse case involves a 16- or 17-year-old victim and a perpetrator who is in a position of trust, i.e., a teacher, the teenager cannot give consent and the cases are criminally charged.

Here in PA, the cases that get the most media attention are where a female teacher abuses a student, regardless of the gender of the victim.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Sexual Abuse by Educators: A Study

The authors sought to address three specific questions that were all related to the gender of the educator who offended. Were there gender differences based on:

The age of the victim?
The grade the abuser taught?
How the offenses came to light?

Study Results

Age of the victims:

Male teachers who offended had victims that were significantly younger (12 & under)
Female teachers most often offended against students 13 and older

There were no differences between the genders in terms of the grade in school they taught.

I found an interesting revelation to be how the sexual abuse came to light:

When the person who engaged in the offending behavior was a man, the abuse was disclosed more often by the victim themselves, discovered by someone in the administration or through a police sting.
When the person who was the abuser was female, the abuse came to light more often through a report by another student or by a parent or guardian.

Stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

Sexual Abuse Study Takeaways

These findings appear to support some of the stigma related to being the victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by a woman.

Often these victims are not believed when they do report the abuse, or they do not perceive the sexual interactions to be abusive.

This study was not designed to provide any causal explanations. Therefore, they do not attempt to make assertions as to why male educators abuse younger victims more than female educators. This would be a very interesting topic of study.

Ten Years Later

Ten years out from the publication of this study, it’s disappointing to realize that this abuse continues. In some cases, it may seem as though it has increased.

My opinion is that the behavior, teachers sexually abusing their students, has likely not increased.

With increased education and mandatory reporting laws, as well as the positive effects of things like the #metoo movement, it is more likely that these cases are simply being reported more often, holding those who engage in the abuse to account.

Inappropriate sexual behavior by educators should always be reported.

School needs to be a place of safety for children and educators need to be trustworthy custodians of our children’s education.

Reference: Ratliff, L. & Watson, J. (2014). A Descriptive Analysis of Public School Educators Arrested for Sex Offenses. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23:2, 217-228.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post What do we Know About Educators who Commit Sexual Abuse? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

CSAM on the Dark Web

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 27 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Those of us in the field know that access to CSAM on the dark web is really only a few clicks away. Despite what many people think, it is pretty easy to access. Many of our CSAM clients were accessing these materials on TOR sites. Despite its frequent use, we really don’t know much about the details of CSAM availability and users on TOR sites.

A Study on CSAM on the Dark Web

An article just published in Scientific Reports, a Nature publication, looked at CSAM materials on TOR sites from both a computer science perspective and a public health perspective.

It is an enlightening study.

CSAM on the Dark Web: What is TOR?

For the unaware, TOR stands for The Onion Router.

It is an communication protocol that provides many layers of obfuscation for its users.

It does this by concealing the origin of the communications, resisting browser fingerprinting and circumventing traffic.

These tools allow for anonymous online hosting. On TOR sites, illegal content proliferates, whether that be CSAM sharing, drug trafficking, or other crimes.

CSAM on the Dark Web Study: The Questions

The authors of this study analyzed content on TOR sites to address the following questions:

How much CSAM is distributed through the TOR network?
What are users seeking and searching for?

They also surveyed the CSAM users to find out information about them.

Finally, they looked at how interventions based on searches might reduce child abuse.

Do you believe you have an online pornography addiction? Take the free Cyber Pornography Addiction Test (CYPAT) and have the results to speak with your therapist.

Statistical Results

The authors used a web crawler from 2018-2023 and found that 1/5^th of all TOR sites share CSAM.
CSAM can also be found on 21 of the 26 top TOR search engines, with four of these search engines actually advertising CSAM.
11.1% of users specifically searched for CSAM using the phrase “child porn” to get there.
When they surveyed the CSAM viewers, 61.6% said they have tried to stop watching it and 48.1% said they went to stop viewing CSAM.
Those CSAM users who were specifically searching for child content were more often searching for content of girls than boys.
More than half of the CSAM explicit searchers are looking for content in the age range of 12 to 16 year olds.

The authors went as far as to recommend that the psychiatric diagnoses of pedophilia and hebephilia be altered to sexual attraction to children under 11 (paedophilic type), attraction to children 11 to 14 (hebephilic) or both.

Who are Tor CSAM users?

The data showed that most of the CSAM users were initially exposed to CSAM when they were children and that more than half of these exposures were accidental.

Based on self report, almost 70% reported that they preferred content of girls to boys.
A very small percentage of individuals preferred content depicting images of infants or toddlers.

Want to learn more about primary prevention? These articles explore prevention before harm occurs, minor attraction, stigma, and ways to improve access to help.

What are possible online interventions for users of CSAM on the Dark Web?

The study reported that there are three prominent TOR search engines that provide links to self help programs for people who are concerned about their searching of CSAM. A good number of the CSAM viewers said they want to stop viewing the material and most of them have tried to stop at least once.

If so many people want help, why don’t they get help?

Many of the survey respondents stated that they were afraid to get help. Previous research has cited barriers to seeking help including fear of being reported, fear of being stigmatized, shame, and lack of understanding by professionals.

Since people who are using CSAM on TOR seem to want help, it is an area that is ripe for effective intervention. It opens up the question of whether or not more dark web recruitment for anonymous interventions is possible.

Since three websites provide links to self-help programs, why are more not doing so?

Stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

My Takeaways from the Study on CSAM on the Dark Web

I really liked this study for two main reasons:

It was a combination of computer science and psychology

I think we know more about the psychology of CSAM users than how and where they get it.

It is often stated in court that someone who views CSAM must really be working hard to find it and view it. Studies like this one show us that it is not very hard to come across the content and more than half of the people who view it first accessed CSAM accidentally.

It Openly Discusses Interventions

It digs into how we can use these TOR sites to let people know there is help available. If they want to stop their behavior, they need to know there are therapists who can help them in a knowledgeable and non-shaming fashion.

I wonder, now, what we can do as a practice to be more active in prevention in this medium.

Reference: Nurmi, J., Paju, A., Brumley, B.B., Insoll, T., Ovaska, A.K., Soloveva, V., Vaaranen-Valkonen, N., Aaltonen, M. & Arroyo, D. (2024). Investigating child sexual abuse material availability, searches, and users on the anonymous Tor network for a public health intervention strategy. Scientific Reports, 14:7849.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? consult with a professional.

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post CSAM on the Dark Web first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

On Getting Kicked Off YouTube

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 18:21:22 +0000

Some of you who read my work might know I had a little YouTube channel. I posted videos about research updates, webinars about sexual offending, problematic sexual behavior and the podcasts I do. When I say little YouTube channel, I mean little. It had 261 subscribers and a decent number of views, but it wasn’t popular due to its niche content. Friday morning, I woke up to find out I’d been kicked off YouTube. They sent an unceremonious email saying they were deleting my channel because it was “Violating their policies.”

What policies you might ask? According to YouTube, the content on my channel was violating sexual content policies. In short, I was making adult content.

The irony is both frustrating and amusing. The algorithm, or whatever AI process they use, thought that my content, created to educate about problematic sexual behavior, keep children away from pornography and decrease the risk of sexual abuse is categorized the same as me making actual pornography.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

I am fairly sure I know which video got me banned.

I posted a short video about adult-themed video games. Things got squirrelly after that. I tried educating parents and others about their existence and for what to look out for.

Banning me from YouTube makes no difference to my business. It does make me ask a simple question:

If my content, functioning hopefully to decrease sexual abuse and sexual addiction, gets kicked off YouTube, as is many of my colleagues, where are we to do prevention work?

Kicked Off YouTube, For Educating People

Social media of any kind is the place to get the word out about anything. If prevention content that includes the words pornography, sexual abuse, or pedophilia is routinely banned, where, exactly, is the right place to do this work?

It makes logical sense to be doing this work on the platforms where teenagers are routinely being sent unsolicited penis pictures. It makes sense to do this work on the number one site that people go to for information, YouTube.

Learn why it’s important for everyone, especially teens, to be able to control their online experiences. Dick Pic Culture: How do Teenage Girls Navigate it?

Forgive my frustration.

Sometimes it feels as though the only place we can speak freely about these issues, CSAM, child sexual abuse, abuse prevention, is in our professional forums or conferences. While it’s nice for us to be able to share with colleagues, it’s a bit of an echo chamber. We already know what is going on. We are not the people who need to hear the messages.

As a result of my YouTube ban, we will be posting the videos on this site in the hopes of continuing the prevention effort.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? consult with a professional.

The post On Getting Kicked Off YouTube first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Child Sexual Abuse Material: How to Deal With It

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 19:56:35 +0000

I talk to many people who think it’s hard to find Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM, formerly Child Pornography). The sad reality is, it’s more common than you think.

Not only can CSAM be found on websites and dark web spaces, but it’s also floating around on common social media sites.

Anecdotal Experiences with Child Sexual Abuse Material

We’ve had clients who’ve found these images on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, X (formerly Twitter), Discord, and even Pinterest.

In our forensic work, these individuals were often seeking this material, but what should you do if you come across questionable images yourself?

What Steps Should you Take?

Report the Image to the Social Site

If you are on a social media site like Facebook or X, the first thing you should do is report the image with the site’s reporting tools.

For example, Facebook has the option to report a post on every single image on the site. So, if you think it’s questionable, you can report the image directly.

Once you report the offending material, it is out of your hands. Whether or not the site will actually investigate your report is unknown. Our staff members have reported images on these sites and only occasionally do the reports get investigated. However, sometimes you get a message that basically says they don’t have the capacity to check it out.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Report the image to NCMEC

NCMEC, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to help children in exactly these circumstances. They have a cyber tip line to report the images online or to call someone and make the report via phone. NCMEC can then investigate the image.

Advanced Child Sexual Abuse Material Reporting Tools

Images reported to NCMEC are fed into a database and PhotoDNA program.

Major tech companies, like Google and Meta, Facebook’s parent, use PhotoDNA. It flags the content to be taken down. Additionally, if the investigation warrants a report to the police, NCMEC takes care of this.

Report to your local ChildLine

In addition to reporting the image to NCMEC, you can also make a report to your state’s child abuse reporting line.

This will start a similar process to reporting to NCMEC but at a local level. This will provide a second resource to investigate the images.

The Department of Human Services administers Pennsylvania’s ChildLine.

See the latest research on criminality related to social media:

Social Anxiety and Loneliness in Online Solicitation Offenders

See more articles related to social media

Keep a record of the reports that you make about Child Sexual Abuse Material

The first thing to be mindful of is what you do with the image that you feel is inappropriate and need to report.

Do NOT take a screen shot of the image.

If it is CSAM, you will then have it in your possession which is illegal. If you do feel that you need to do so, make sure you keep all documentation of reporting the images to the authorities. Screenshot call logs, keep email records, screenshot your social media reports. Keep all of these things in one place on ONE device.

We’ve had clients make reports and then were investigated for possessing CSAM images. Having the documentation that they screenshot an image for the express purpose of reporting it to NCMEC allowed them to avoid criminal charges.

The proliferation of CSAM online makes the idea of ridding the internet of it feel very daunting. While some companies do report CSAM images to NCMEC and the authorities, not all do.

If you come across content that you feel is inappropriate, please report it to the appropriate agencies or authorities.

For an in-depth guide on talking to your adolescents about cybersex and pornography, check out Dr. Jen’s book. Amazon | BookBaby

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

The post Child Sexual Abuse Material: How to Deal With It first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

How to do Primary Prevention and More

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 18:59:44 +0000

My reading over coffee this morning was a great article in Time Magazine about moving the US toward the primary prevention of child sexual abuse, a front page Wall Street Journal article about child predators using TikTok to gain access to victims and my first moderately threatening troll comments on a webinar on my YouTube page.

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Primary Prevention vs Secondary Prevention

Let’s start with the Time Magazine article. This article, entitled America Has been going about stopping child sex abuse the wrong way, was written by Elizabeth Letourneau and Luke Malone.

Elizabeth Letourneau is the Director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at John Hopkins. Luke Malone is an award winning journalist who writes about child sexual abuse and victimization.

Reading this article this morning felt very validating.

When I teach to LEO or other mental health professionals, I discuss how the US is very good at secondary prevention but not so good at primary prevention. Meaning, once we catch someone AFTER they have abused a child, the system is relatively good at holding them accountable. That includes: mandating treatment during incarceration and/or after while the person is on probation or parole.

This is secondary prevention. We work hard to prevent ANOTHER sexual assault from happening.

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How should we do Primary Prevention?

Primary prevention, meaning we prevent the FIRST sexual assault from happening is not something our system is very good at.

Much of the teaching puts the onus on potential victims to stop potential assault rather than putting the responsibility on the abuser. This would be primary prevention.

Some other countries have done a better job at this and I point to Project Dunkelfeld in Germany. There, a person who is concerned they may offend against a child can call a program and receive treatment. The treatment program is publicly advertised and funded.

In the United States, for every $1 spent toward prevention research, $2700 is spent on incarcerating offenders. They also discuss current research projects that are working on ways of improving and increasing primary prevention in the US.

The authors have a book coming out at some point which I look forward to reading.

Want to learn more about primary prevention? These articles explore prevention before harm occurs, minor attraction, stigma, and ways to improve access to help.

Child Predators on TikTok

This app has made it big! They made it to the front page of the Wall Street Journal, a paper noted more for discussing financial markets than sexual abuse.

The WSJ featured an article discussing how TikTok has quickly become an avenue for child abusers to find and groom victims.

Those of us in the field have known this for some time.

It’s good to see it make the front page. Perhaps parents will read the article and start to monitor what their children are doing on the app. Frequently, there is little parental oversight on social media apps which leads some children to be vulnerable to predation.

If you’re unfamiliar with sextortion, check out Dr. Jen’s article How to Protect Your Child from Sextortion.

YouTube Trolls

Finally, to my first troll. I awoke this morning to some comments on a webinar on my YouTube channel about treating individuals with pedophilia. The comments were not surprising, but disappointing.

The person commented that I was an “intellectual” who should be “purged.” They made traditionally stereotypical comments about people who commit sex crimes needing to be beat up or killed. Though, in my mind, I made many replies, I have long ago learned that social media repartee with folks with strong but uninformed opinions goes nowhere.

So, to end my morning coffee, I simply reported them for making threats. Then I began my day of working in secondary prevention of sexual abuse.

This post contains affiliate links. The author or blog owner may earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

For an in-depth guide on talking to your adolescents about cybersex and pornography, check out Dr. Jen’s book. Amazon | BookBaby

The post How to do Primary Prevention and More first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

How to Protect Your Child from Sextortion

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 15:44:20 +0000

Yesterday, the FBI released a statement warning about the dangers and rising rates of online extortion of children. This story has blown up all over the national news. While I am happy to see this issue get the attention it deserves, I feel as though the FBI is a little late in warning about sextortion.

This post contains affiliate links. The author or blog owner may earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links.

In 2016, I wrote the now outdated book, The New Age of Sex Education: How to talk to your teen about cybersex and pornography in the digital age. Children being sextorted was an issue then, though not as common as now.

How does this Happen?

Children (and adults for that matter) are online all the time.

This may be social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok. They are posting content, talking to people, and generally doing what kids do. While these apps can be a great source of connection and information, there is always a dark side.

If someone’s account is not set to private, anyone can contact you. The individuals that are going to groom, manipulate or extort someone will follow, comment or direct message (DM).

The relationship grows. It often moves to a chat app like Kik and where the victim will send pictures of themselves. These can be anything from simply sexy to overtly sexual images or videos.

Not everyone who does this is looking to extort the child. Many individuals who are engaging in this behavior are sexually offending and with no financial motivation.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

The Demand

If the motivation of the individual is extortion, very quickly after receiving a video or image, there is an extortion demand. They ask for money; we often see the number $7500 being asked of our clients.

If the money is not paid, the threat is that the extorter will then post and share the sexual images to the child’s social media accounts, send to parents, family members, friends, etc.

We have had many adult clients who have had this happen and are so ashamed that they simply pay the money and hope it goes away.

If they do not pay the money, the threats can escalate and be very harassed.

Ultimately, sometimes the person’s images end up being posted.

When the victim of extortion is a minor, the shame and embarrassment often induce them to stay silent. Unlike adult victims who may have access to money, most minor victims do not which leaves them more vulnerable.

The mental health impacts of this victimization are very serious, and the FBI reported that many of the victims have turned to suicide.

Learn why it’s important for everyone, especially teens, to be able to control their online experiences. Dick Pic Culture: How do Teenage Girls Navigate it?

What can a parent do to prevent sextortion?

The first thing to do is to talk to your child about the internet, privacy and who they are talking to online.
- Online communication are part of their cultural norm. We are not going to stop it, so children need to be informed about risk.
Parents need to know what their children are doing online and on their phone.
- Know what apps they are using.
- Know whether they have social media accounts.
- Be aware of hidden social media accounts that kids often make and keep from their parents.
Parents need to be open, non-shaming and available to talk about sex, sex education and sexuality with their children.
- Do not assume that they are too young to learn about digital sexuality.
- Do not assume that school will take care of this education.
- Many parents are uncomfortable talking about sex in general and even more so with their children. Get educated, acknowledge that the talks are awkward and have them with your children anyway. And have them often. This creates an environment where your child will feel more comfortable coming to you if there is an issue.

If you or your child are the victim of this type of crime, please contact your local police department or the FBI.

If you are seeking counseling for issues related to this type of victimization, please contact our office at www.sexualaddictiontreatmentservices.com or 610-844-7180.

For an in-depth guide on talking to your adolescents about cybersex and pornography, check out Dr. Jen’s book. Amazon | BookBaby

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? consult with a professional.

The post How to Protect Your Child from Sextortion first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Help for Minor Attraction

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 00:22:30 +0000

Based on science and clinical experience that there are individuals who acknowledge an attraction to children, also known as minor attraction.

What do we Really Know About Minor Attraction?

The most recent science about minor attraction suggests that the age of the people we are attracted to is influenced by our brain structures and not a choice. Many people who have this attraction also have NOT engaged in any behavior with a child. Because they realize that acting on their attraction is never appropriate.

Where can those afflicted by these urges go for help? How do they ensure they never act on these urges or to process their feelings?

Preparing a sentencing report for a minor attracted person? Get the data you need, quickly, with Mitigation Aide.

Where can they go?

Most of the time they do not seek help for fear of what may happen if they disclose this attraction. Because the fear of stigmatization is a real and justified fear.

Many therapists are not trained to help process this form of sexuality. And, worse yet, many refuse to do so.

There have been a few scientific studies of therapists. These studies have found that they hold the same stigma against pedophilia as the general public. So much for non-judgmental!

Where might someone go for treatment who wants to process their minor attraction? While there are therapists out there who are trained to help people process this attraction, these resources are few and far between.

Want to learn more about primary prevention? These articles explore prevention before harm occurs, minor attraction, stigma, and ways to improve access to help.

Enter: Troubled Desire

Doctors at The Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine at Charite-Universitatsmedzin Berlin created Troubled Desire specifically for this purpose. The website provides an anonymous online self-management program for individuals who experience an attraction to children. The University acknowledged that there was a great need for services for individuals who could not find a suitable therapist near them.

The University is practicing Primary Prevention. By providing resources and support for individuals who are attracted to children who have not offended. This means helping people not offend against children in the first place.

Unfortunately, the normal state of affairs is that we engage in secondary prevention. Therefore we help someone not offend AGAIN.

Know someone struggling with minor attraction? I suggest they check out the free, anonymous online course from Troubled Desire.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? consult with a professional.

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post Help for Minor Attraction first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.