For example, we identified some prominent routes through which boys may become victims. These included abuses of trust, such as men befriending younger men or boys on the basis of a shared, stereotypically masculine interest, and then using this to lead into sexual exploitation (for example initially viewing heterosexual pornography together). Young gay, bisexual and curious victims may have been at risk because they felt, due to homophobic attitudes, that they had to hide their sexual contact and had few “safe spaces” to explore their sexuality.

Meanwhile, we also identified the difficulty of recognising exploitation by female perpetrators; scenarios that would be immediately deemed sexually exploitative if they involved a female victim and older male were being overlooked when the younger person involved was male.

It is important to try to understand how boys and young men are sexually exploited to be able to raise awareness and identify and prevent it. However, in the current context, I am acutely aware as a researcher of how much responsibility lies with us to both present the facts (such as these routes to abuse), and in doing so, not feed into unnecessary fears.

There are, of course, lots of perfectly healthy, normal, positive scenarios whereby young men may be friends with older men, older women, or explore their sexuality. None of these scenarios alone necessarily indicates or increases the risk of sexual exploitation – but exactly because they may appear quite “normal”, perpetrators can and do use them to facilitate and obscure sexual exploitation, and prey on vulnerable young men.