Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Perpetrators of technology-assisted abuse use an abundance of strategies to manipulate and sexually abuse children online, however victim resistance during and post abuse has yet to be explored in detail. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the strategies perpetrators use to overcome direct victim resistance and the strategies victims use to resist perpetrators' demands. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The sample was recruited through Childline, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This consisted of 10 semi-structured interview transcripts of 1 male and 9 female victims of technology-assisted sexual abuse, who were aged between 9 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse (M = 13.09, SD = 2.0). METHOD: This study qualitatively analysed secondary data collected by Hamilton-Giachritsis et al. (2020). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis. RESULTS: The thematic map consisted of two key themes and six sub-themes. Results identified how all perpetrators appeared to adapt their strategies of overcoming victim resistance using a variety of approaches. These ranged from isolating victims and depriving them of sleep, to more extreme approaches such as threats to share sexual images of the victims. Victims also used a range of strategies to resist and de-escalate the abuse, such as feigning ignorance and complying with some but not all requests. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the key strategies used by offenders to overcome victim resistance, and the strategies young people used to resist, de-escalate and end the abuse.
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Some individuals portrayed themselves to be around the same age as their victims, while others slightly reduced their age while still presenting themselves as much older than the child.
“More specifically, while some individuals portrayed themselves to be around the same age as their victims (Kloess et al., 2019; Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; K. Thomas etal., 2023), others slightly reduced their age while still presenting themselves as much older than the child (De Santisteban et al., 2018; Shannon, 2008).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as K. Thomas et al., 2023
In order to overcome resistance in victims, some individuals used similar language to present their requests as merely jokes and downplay their sexual motivation.
“In order to overcome resistance in victims, some individuals used similar language to present their requests as merely jokes, and downplay their sexual motivation (Chiang, 2018; Chiang & Grant, 2019; K. Thomas etal., 2023).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as K. Thomas et al., 2023
In the K. Thomas et al. (2023) study, some individuals engaged victims in conversations into the early hours of the morning, suggesting that this strategic use of late-night conversations was aimed at depriving victims of sleep, reducing their cognitive capacity, and leaving them more vulnerable to persistent requests.
“In the K. Thomas etal. (2023) study, some individuals were reported to engage victims in conversations into the early hours of the morning, suggesting that this strategic use of late-night conversations was aimed at depriving victims of sleep, thereby reducing their cognitive capacity, and leaving them more vulnerable to persistent requests.”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as K. Thomas et al., 2023
Three articles described how individuals skillfully shifted responsibility and blame onto victims.
“Victim Blaming. Three articles described how individuals skillfully shifted responsibility and blame onto victims (Chiang & Grant, 2019, Kloess etal., 2017; K. Thomas etal., 2023).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as K. Thomas et al., 2023
Individuals were reported to misrepresent their gender, particularly when interacting with male victims.
“Furthermore, individuals were also reported to (a) misrepresent their gender, particularly when interacting with male victims (Seymour-Smith & Kloess, 2021; K. Thomas etal., 2023);”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as K. Thomas et al., 2023
The Perpetrator Persona Change section (p. 17) describes offenders changing from affectionate to demanding or threatening, not misrepresenting their gender. The Limitations section (p. 26) says the sample included only one male victim. Searches for gender misrepresentation and offenders pretending to be another gender found no passage addressing the claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
When victims resisted escalating demands, threats to expose them and their explicit material became commonplace.
“When victims resisted escalating demands, threats to expose them and their explicit material became commonplace: 'he'd threaten me - 'If you don't do this, the footage that I do have, I'm going to post all over Facebook and everything and I'm going to show it to your friends'' (K. Thomas etal., 2023, p. 5).”
From Unraveling the Complexities of Offender Strategies as Part of Online Sexual Grooming and Technology-Assisted Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as K. Thomas et al., 2023
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- Authors
- Thomas, K., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C., Branigan, P., & Hanson, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Bath (GB)
- National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Thomas, Katie
- Venue
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-07
- Volume
- 141
- Pages
- 106143
- ISSN
- 0145-2134 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4376561181
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 4.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Abuse & Neglect (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Pure (University of Bath) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Keywords
- online child sexual abuse, victim resistance, child victims, de-escalation, child exploitation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Female, Humans, Male, Risk Factors, Sexual Behavior, Crime Victims, Criminals
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