New instructional guide: Youths who sell or trade sex

Press release

No.   06019
Date:  10 April 2006
Contact:  Information secretariat  +47 22 24 24 07

 

New instructional guide:
Youths who sell or trade sex

 

A new instructional guide has been published for social service professionals who work with young people at risk for selling or trading sexual activity. This guide is the only resource of its kind in the world. While previous publications have focused to a large degree on legal issues, this one is practical in nature.

 

"This guide focuses on a concrete social problem that has been revealed through surveys in Trondheim and other cities," says Minister of Children and Equality Karita Bekkemellem. "We need a social service apparatus that deals actively with youths at risk. We hope the guide will stimulate debate and spread knowledge about this phenomenon while reinforcing our service institutions in their daily work."

 

The guide’s target readership includes employees in child welfare, substance-abuse care, outreach organizations, school health services, local health centres, recreational clubs, child and youth psychiatry, police services and asylum reception centres.

 

The guide contains an overview of what we know about the involvement of youths in selling and trading sexual activities; it also contains a discussion of the challenges facing health and social services workers in their dealings with young people. The guidance provided is based on the results of four major surveys of young people conducted between 1994 and 2004 (two in Norway, one in Sweden and one in Denmark). The portion of survey respondents who said they had sold sex varied between 0.9% and 1.4%. According to the surveys, many more boys than girls have such experiences. At special risk are youths with an institutional background, a history of sexual abuse or a substance-abuse problem; also at risk are boys who live or spend long periods of time with older men.

 

The NOVA social research foundation is the guide’s publisher and is responsible for its content.

Read the guide on the ODIN website.