Understanding why

Motivations are different for everyone and motivations can be different for different types of illegal online sexual behaviours. For example, while someone may look at illegal sexual images of children due to a desensitisation to legal adult pornography, they might have sexual conversations online with minors to deal with their loneliness and to seek a connection.

Our own research with our service users who have engaged in sexual communications with minors found that some of the reasons why people may have such conversations online include:

• Issues with relationships and intimacy in their offline lives and finding it easier to connect with others (especially young people) online
• Escalating online behaviour, including the use of legal adult pornography or sexual chats with adults
• Enjoying sexual ‘role-play’ chats
• Considering the online world a ‘fantasy world’, disconnected from the offline world (“It’s just words on a screen”)

The reasons why people may use or produce images of non-real children (like reading stories or using drawings, manga/anime, or computer/ AI-generated images) can be similar as the ones listed above, but may also include: 

• Pushing boundaries of what is illegal
• Artistic expression
• Using images to introduce sexual topics in online conversations
• Financial motivation to produce material
• These types of material may be ‘easier’ to produce than illegal images showing actual abuse of children
• Networking with others
• Generating and indulging in sexual fantasies
• The use of such material may feel easier to justify (“It’s not a real child, so it’s okay”).