Progression timeline
The second exercise is in three parts and looks back over your life to help you think about how you started behaving illegally online.
Part A: Making your timeline
This first step aims to give you a clear visual record of how you moved towards illegal online sexual behaviour.
In each box, write a short description of an important event in your life. These events should show how your online behaviour changed, eventually leading to your illegal online sexual behaviour.
Look at the example below to help you get started. We recommend completing your timeline in the following order:
- Your current situation (on the far right)
- The first time that you behaved illegally online (highlight this point on the timeline)
- Your first memory of being sexually aroused, be it with pornography or something else (likely near the far left)
- In between each of the above, write other important events that you think can be seen as signposts in your life for where you broke down a barrier and moved to more risky online behaviour.
Remember that this is your timeline – if you feel that you need more boxes to tell your story then feel free to add them.
Instructions
- Download and open the file in a PDF reader. If you need to, you can download this free Adobe PDF reader.
- Edit the worksheets by filling in the editable sections.
- To save your changes, go to File > Print
- Choose Adobe PDF as the printer in the Print box and click Print.
- Click OK, name the PDF file, and save it.
Part B: Digging deeper
- downloading illegal images of children
- trading these images with other people
- producing illegal images of children
- contacting children online for sexual reasons
- offline sexual activity with children
Instructions
- Download and open the file in a PDF reader. If you need to, you can download this free Adobe PDF reader.
- Edit the worksheets by filling in the editable sections.
- To save your changes, go to File > Print
- Choose Adobe PDF as the printer in the Print box and click Print.
- Click OK, name the PDF file, and save it.
Feeling word bank
Happy, Sad, Angry, Hurt, Depressed, Frustrated, Impulsive, Stressed, Relaxed Excited, Bored, Curious, Rejected, Doubtful, Interested, Lonely, Irritated, Ashamed Upset, Annoyed, Miserable, Guilty, In despair, Uneasy, Useless, Vulnerable, Afraid Nervous, Timid, Indifferent, Restless, Alienated, Nonchalant, Dull, Anxious, Confident
Part C: Understanding your behaviour over time
Looking back over your diary and your timeline, think about these questions:
1. How much control do you feel you had over the events that influenced you to engage in more risky behaviour? In hindsight, how could you have handled them differently?
2. How much control do you think you had over the choices you made to move towards further offending behaviour? Why?
3. What effect, patterns or trends can you notice about how your sexual fantasies developed?
Now think about when you started using the internet regularly:
4. Why did you decide to use the internet?
5. Did using the internet change the way you were thinking? In what way?
6. Over time, what effect did the internet have on your life offline (in the real world)?
7. How would you describe your life online?
Now think about the one event that led you behave illegally online for the first time:
8. Why do you think it was this specific event that triggered you to behave illegally online for the first time? Why not something earlier in your life?
9. Were there other things happening in your life beyond what you have mentioned that could have contributed to your decision to behave illegally online?
10. Why do you think you have continued the behaviour over time?
11. Using the list below, make a note of all the illegal behaviour that you have engaged in:
- downloading illegal images of children
- trading these images with others
- chatting to adults about sex with children online including sharing fantasies
- contacting children online for sexual reasons including through apps, chat or webcams
- exposing children to sexual behaviour including on webcams
- producing illegal images of children
- voyeurism including hidden cameras)
- offline sexual activity with children
Can you identify how your offending changed over time and involved different behaviours?
12. Have you at any time tried to stop your illegal online sexual behaviour? If yes, how many times did you try and stop? Why do you think you were not successful?
What are the important things that are motivating you to stop your illegal behaviour now? How important are they to you?
