RESUMO
Media holds the power to create, maintain, or break down stigmatizing attitudes, which affect policies, funding, and services. To understand how Canadian news media depicts the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth, we examined 835 Canadian newspaper articles from 1989-2008 using a mixed methods critical discourse analysis approach, comparing representations to existing research about sexually exploited youth. Despite research evidence that equal rates of boys and girls experience exploitation, Canadian news media depicted exploited youth predominantly as heterosexual girls, and described them alternately as victims or workers in a trade, often both in the same story. News media mentioned exploiters far less often than victims, and portrayed them almost exclusively as male, most often called 'customers' or 'consumers,' and occasionally 'predators'; in contrast, research has documented the majority of sexually exploited boys report female exploiters. Few news stories over the past two decades portrayed the diversity of victims, perpetrators, and venues of exploitation reported in research. The focus on victims but not exploiters helps perpetuate stereotypes of sexual exploitation as business or a 'victimless crime,' maintains the status quo, and blurs responsibility for protecting youth under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Health care providers and researchers can be advocates for accuracy in media coverage about sexual exploitation; news reporters and editors should focus on exploiters more than victims, draw on existing research evidence to avoid perpetuating stereotypes, and use accurate terms, such as commercial sexual exploitation, rather than terms related to business or trade.
RESUMO
This study evaluated the implications of the 2008 increase in age for sexual consent in Canada using a population health survey of Canadian adolescents. Government rationales for the increase asserted younger adolescents were more likely to experience sexual exploitation and engage in risky sexual behaviour than adolescents 16 and older. Using data from sexually experienced adolescents in the 2008 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (BC AHS, N=6,262; age range 12 - 19; 52% female), analyses documented the scope of first intercourse partners who were not within the 'close in age' exemptions, then compared sexual behaviours of younger teens (14 and 15 years) with older teens (16 and 17) navigating their first year of sexual activity. Comparisons included: forced sex, sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs, multiple partners, condom use, effective contraception use, self-reported sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy involvement. Results showed very few 14- and 15-year-olds had first intercourse partners who were not within the 'close in age' exemptions based on age (boys: <2%, girls: 3-5%). In contrast, among 12- and 13-year-olds (a group unaffected by the law's change) between 25% and 50% had first intercourse partners who were not within the 'close in age' exemptions, and almost 40% of teens who first had sex before age 12 reported a first partner age 20 years or more. In their first year of intercourse, 14- and 15-year-olds were slightly more likely to report forced sex and 3 or more partners than older teens, but otherwise made similarly healthy decisions. This study demonstrates the feasibility of evaluating policy using population health data and shows that better strategies are needed to protect children 13 and under from sexual abuse.
