Sexual predators do not pose as teensUS research dispels the mythBy Nick Farrell: Tuesday, 19 February 2008, 8:36 AMRESEA has poured cold water on the myth that paedophiles lurk on Myspace and similar notworking sites pretending to be teens in a bid to lure child victims.Research by the US Crimes Against Children Research Centre at the University of New Hampshire indicates that your average sexual offender is fairly honest about their intentions.Many child victims believe that they are in love with the predator.The study also shows that Facebook or MySpace do not appear to expose teens to greater risks.According to American Psychologist, centre spokesperson Janis Wolak said that Internet safety information suggests that sex offenders are targeting very young children and using violence and deception against their victims.However there is no evidence to suggest that this is happening. Most cases seem to arise from risky online interactions such as chatting online about sex to strangers.Most cases involve young teenagers who are targeted by adults on the Internet who are straightforward about being interested in sex.The statistics show that Internet offenders pretended to be teenagers in only five per cent of the crimes. More than 75 per cent of victims met the offenders more than once.Wolak said that from the perspective of the victim, they believed they were having a romance.Most kids are not daft enough to talk to strangers. Paedophiles home in on kids who are willing to to talk to them when others do not.Wolak added that parents and children needed to have a clearer picture of who these predators are. If they were always looking for violent predators lurking in the bushes then kids involved in these relationships aren't going to be seeing what is happening to them as a crime.
I wish when I was a teen women would have offered me sex over the internet, lol....But yea, thats true though, the little girls these days sure are naive .
