14 | Mar | 2022
CSS Blogs Sexual Predators – Common Manipulation Techniques
Sexual Predators are those who use manipulative and/or abusive methods on people to achieve their sexual objectives or agenda. In some cases, it is not always about physical sex for these predators, as they indulge in such activities to simply assert their perverted dominance over the victim. Children are often their most common prey and we must understand certain standard red flags that are associated with a sexual predator. What is most discerning is that about 90% of sexual abuse towards children is done by someone whom the victim already knows and trusts. Here are a few standard manipulation techniques adopted by sexual predators that WAYNE MACDONALD’S CHILD SAFETY & SURVIVAL PROGRAM tries to help identify and take preventive action:
Psychological Manipulation :
Sexual Predators are masters in creating psychological doubt in the minds of their victims. They will often create situations and environments that cause the victim to doubt his or her beliefs, opinions and views. They emotionally and physically manipulate the victim into a dark psychological corner that ends up with the victim accepting the predator’s interpretation of a sexual relationship.
Manipulating Boundaries :
A standard strategy adopted by sexual predators is subtly introducing and normalizing sexual ideas and suggestions to their victims. These subtle techniques include sexually suggestive humour, showcasing pornographic material in a very casual manner and then slowly progressing to make the victim act out scenarios such as kissing, hugging, wrestling, tickling, under the pretext of a fun experiment or game. These kinds of manipulative redefining of boundaries end up inadvertently coercing the child into actions they would normally not want to do.
Manipulative Control :
In many cases, although on the outside the predator may appear extremely social and friendly, it may not be the case internally. A lot of sexual predators usually lack genuine social connections and tend to harbour contempt toward general social norms and boundaries. This kind of psychological mindset ends up them having dangerously controlling and possessive behaviour because they feel that their twisted views on sexual orientation are being threatened. More often than not, this controlling behaviour ends up with the predator inevitably targeting the victim’s social relationships and network to disrupt and destabilize it.
Emotional Manipulation :
Every predator initiates their relationship with the victim in a very supportive manner that slowly encourages trust and dependence towards them. This support could be in the form of gifts, appreciation or even a shoulder to lean on. This emotional manipulation makes the victim feel extremely special and starts to believe that the predator is the only person who truly understands and values the victim. Slowly but surely, the predator starts to take precedence in the victim's life through this dependency and trust, which leaves the victim emotionally vulnerable for the predator to take advantage of.