Helen’s story
Helen is a 15 year old adolescent and she is really concerned about her friend. “For the last 6 months she has been talking with this guy on Facebook, whom she has never actually seen up close. Ever since they got related her behaviour has changed. She has become more introvert, she never goes out with me, even though we are best friends – she barely talks to me anymore. She only talks about this guy. She is even neglecting school. I tell her that I am worried because the guy she talks to is a stranger but she gets mad at me. She tells me that “he is the only person who cares about me, he helps me, I can tell him anything, open up to him, talk about all my problems… I think I am addicted to him”. The problem is he recently told her that the profile he kept on Facebook was fake. He told her that he is older than her. My friend has told him everything. Last week he even asked her to send him nude pictures of her. I am not sure if she has already sent them or not.”
What Helen describes here in detail is called grooming, i.e the sexual seduction of children and adolescents via internet by paedophiles who want to sexually exploit minors.
These people are usually adults who hide their personal identity though and usually present themselves as peers. They approach their victims via web sites that are popular among adolescents, create with them close relationships based on trust and they gradually become important to them. Then they introduce the sexual element in the relationship. If the adolescent sends nude pictures then the abuser may threaten – blackmail the adolescent to publicize them at school or to the family environment. The abuser’s ultimate goal is to meet with the adolescent in real world where, during such an encounter, there may be some abuse or exploitation.
It is really important that you are informed and sensitized on the phenomenon of internet seduction (grooming) and that you avoid talking to strangers on the internet.
Remember that when you experience a difficulty in your life there are always people around you who will be able to help. Discuss it with your parents, with a teacher or a relative. You don’t have to keep anything inside you or suffer difficult situations, because no one has the right to cause you any trouble.
In collaboration with:Vassiliki Dimitrakopoulou
Psychologist, Scientific Associate of the Greek Society of Adolescent Medicine
Artemis Tsitsika
Ass. Professor of Pediatrics - Adolescent Medicine, Scientific Coordinator of the Program "PROLEPSIS» ran by the Greek Society of Adolescent Medicine
