There is a lot of research on sexual violence against minors, but most of it focuses on work with adults who report what happened during their childhood and adolescence. But the Children and Adolescents Research Group (GReVIA) of the University of Barcelona has gone directly to minors. And the results of this work confirm that 17.8% of boys and girls between 14 and 17 years old have suffered some type of sexual victimization in the last year (more than twice as many as them), a figure similar to that of others studies. But there is one, referring to sexual exploitation, that has caught the attention of researchers: 2.5% of girls and 2.3% of boys have had sex in exchange for a gift or money.
Also, although attacks on men are lower in numbers, this second group more frequently reports very serious forms, which include penetration or oral sex by adults, known and unknown. The average number of attacks suffered by each victim is two.
This is indicated by this work led by Noemí Pereda, director of GReVIA and presented this morning within the framework of the conference Radiography and prevention of violence in adolescents, at CaixaForum Madrid. The results have been extracted from the responses of a sample of 4,024 boys and girls between 14 and 17 years old enrolled in 70 educational centers distributed representatively among all communities.
The study also categorizes the most frequent forms of sexual assault among adolescents. Electronic (online) is the most frequent (12.1%) and is reported by 5.9% of boys and 18.3% of girls.
This is followed, at 8.8%, by sexual victimization between peers, affecting 5.9% of boys and 11% of girls. Next comes sexual victimization with physical contact by adults, which reaches 3.1% and affects boys and girls similarly.
Finally, sexual exploitation that involves exchanging sex for rewards, such as gifts and money, affects 2.6% and is similar in boys and girls. The UB professor has drawn attention to "this important and very little studied problem", which affects 2.5% of girls and 2.3% of boys. "The figures in Europe are between 1.5% and 2%, so the Spanish reality exceeds this highest range," explained Pereda.
In this type of sexual exploitation, contact was mostly made through social networks such as Instagram or messaging applications such as WhatsApp. In cases of exploitation with touching, penetration or oral sex, the most frequent was in-person contact, whether on the street, at the educational center or at home.
The researchers draw attention to attacks on boys, in which some types of victimization were significantly more frequent, such as sexual assault with penetration or oral sex by a known adult (1% compared to 0 .3% of girls) and unknown (1% compared to 0.4% of girls), as well as sexual exploitation with penetration (1.2% compared to 0.5% of girls).
Regarding sexual victimization with physical contact carried out by known adults, parents were the main figures who committed victimization (touching, oral sex or penetration), followed by another adult family figure. Regarding physical sexual victimization carried out by peers or minors, the most frequent attacks come from classmates or friends from school, followed by other boys and girls who are not part of the family nucleus.
Regarding sexual victimization with physical contact carried out by known adults, the main figures who committed the victimization – touching, oral sex or penetration – were the parents, followed by another adult family figure. Regarding physical sexual victimization carried out by peers or minors, the most frequent attacks come from classmates or friends from school, followed by other boys and girls who are not part of the family nucleus.
