Using an Intersectional Lens to Examine the Child Sexual Exploitation of Black Adolescents

Abstract

Child Sexual Exploitation and Black Children While it is well known that child sexual exploitation affects children and young people from all backgrounds, little is known about the scale and nature of black children's experiences of CSE. Research indicates that girls are more likely than boys to be the victims of sexual exploitation, though boys are also sexually exploited (Berelowitz et al, 2013; Pearce 2009). For Firmin (2018) and Pitts (2013), a number of elements negatively affect young black adolescents' everyday realities to render them a vulnerable population, including being raised in economically-disadvantaged communities and experiencing material hardship and societal racism. Increasingly, attention is being given to the ways in which structural disadvantage can heighten the risk of children being exposed to sexual exploitation (