©️ Sophie Lewis| The Grooming Files
People don’t like the phrase child prostitution.
It’s confronting.
It refuses euphemism.
It doesn’t allow distance.
So instead, softer language is used.
At risk.
Sexually active.
Exchanging sex.
Making unsafe choices.
But none of those phrases tell the truth.
There is no such thing as a child prostitute.
There are only children navigating adult worlds they were never meant to survive.
Not All Are “Sold”
When people imagine child prostitution, they often picture trafficking rings, handovers, envelopes of cash.
Sometimes that happens.
But often, it doesn’t.
Many children are not sold they are cornered.
A sofa for the night.
A hot meal.
A lift.
Protection from someone worse.
Sex becomes currency not because the child wants it, but because they have nothing else to trade.
That isn’t choice.
That is survival under coercion.
And survival rarely looks dignified.
Some Never Learn Anything Else
Not all children arrive at exploitation through force.
Some arrive through familiarity.
They grow up in homes where:
boundaries don’t exist
abuse is normal
affection is conditional
attention is sexualised
By the time they are noticed by professionals, the behaviour is already there.. learned, rehearsed, embedded.
So adults say:
“She keeps returning.”
“He seeks it out.”
“They won’t engage with help.”
What they mean is: This child learnt the rules of a broken world early and unlearning them is not instant.
Control Doesn’t Always Look Like Chains
Not every exploited child is locked in a room.
Some are locked into belief.
That they are loved
That this is normal
That leaving means danger
That compliance equals safety
Grooming doesn’t always shout.
Sometimes it whispers reassurance.
And once attachment forms, the grip tightens.. not through fear alone, but through dependency.
When the System Steps Back
This is where the story becomes uncomfortable.
Because in many cases, exploitation doesn’t begin with an offender.
It begins with absence.
A placement that breaks down.
Support that is withdrawn.
A child labelled “difficult”.
Risk assessments that replace protection.
And the, once professionals step back offenders step in.
Once a child is framed as risky rather than at risk, intervention weakens.
And exploitation fills the gap left behind.
Not because the child chose it but because nothing else was left standing.
Behaviour Is Not Consent
Children adapt.
They learn what works. They learn how to survive. They learn how to get through the night.
Sometimes that looks like confidence. Sometimes it looks like sexual bravado. Sometimes it looks like control.
But adaptation is not consent.
And behaviour shaped by trauma is not choice.
Why Language Matters
Calling a child a prostitute does something dangerous.
It shifts responsibility. It suggests agency where none exists. It makes exploitation sound transactional instead of abusive.
Language decides who we blame.
And too often, it is the child who carries the weight.
No Neat Ending
There is no clean resolution to this story.
Some children escape. Some grow up carrying patterns that were never theirs to choose. Some disappear entirely.
What matters is this:
Child prostitution is not a fringe issue. It is not rare. It does not look one way.
And every time we soften the language to make it easier to swallow, we make it easier to ignore.
There are no child prostitutes.
Only children failed early, repeatedly, and quietly
by adults, by systems, and by a society that chose comfort over truth.
The Grooming Files 
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