Child Prostitution and Kiddie Porn

The exploitation of children is an anathema in our humanitarian society. We have laws to protect children from unscrupulous adults; however, there is a societal reluctance to intrude on the autonomy of the nuclear family. The campaign for the recognition of the battered child as a syndrome of ongoing abuse was hard-fought in the 1960s. No one wanted to believe or admit that it was a widespread phenomenon that had crossed all educational, socioeconomic, racial, ethnic and religious lines.

Child prostitution and kiddie porn are similarly societal problems that adults are trying hard not to address. Runaways who become street children, with no jobs (many are too young to work legally), no money, no shelter, etc., quickly learn that they have only one negotiable commodity-- their sexuality. Male or female, they can sell their bodies to adult men. Although the ranks of street children relegated to prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation grow consistently, some children are encouraged by a parent into prostitution to augment the family income and upgrade the standard of living of mother and siblings. These children are usually female, living with a mother as a single parent. Girls in this situation are more apt to come to the attention of authorities and be referred for evaluation and therapy than street children, who are rarely seen professionally. Any individual can be psychologically evaluated and can benefit from the self-knowledge gained in psychotherapy; however, child prostitution and kiddie porn are broad spectrum societal problems that will not be alleviated by individual psychotherapy.