Teenage Girls Sell Sex via Internet
by Jonathan Tisdall
Aftenposten
Authorities say there is little they can do after a Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) report that girls as young as 16 use Internet chat rooms to sell sex to men 10 to 20 years older than them. Parents must keep a close eye on what children do online, advises organization Save the Children.
An NRK journalist recorded conversations with girls the contacted via Internet chat rooms. A 16-year-old Oestfold girl, who has a willing friend the same age with her, offers her services, not knowing she is being taped.
"We want NOK 2,000 (USD 300) for sex, and we will do anything. Anything but anal sex, I mean," the girl said.
The girls gave the journalist their telephone number after a brief online conversation in a private chat room which is not monitored by site providers.
In five weeks of research, the journalist received telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of girls of all ages, offering to sell sexual favors.
Most of the contacts claimed to be ordinary schoolgirls still living at home who sold sex for the money and the excitement.
Law enforcement authorities said that while purchasing sex from a minor is a crime, the chances of being caught doing so via one of the myriad Internet chat rooms was infinitesimal.
Internet service providers generally supervise public chat rooms, but can do nothing when the conversation moves on to more private facilities.
Minister of Children and Family Affairs Laila Davoey called the news "frightening" but admitted that though both buying and selling sex publicly was illegal, there was little that authorities could do.
"It is extremely difficult for authorities to intervene if this takes place in a private chat room. The best thing to do is preventative work to properly form the attitudes of juveniles and children," Davoey said.
by Jonathan Tisdall
Aftenposten
Authorities say there is little they can do after a Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) report that girls as young as 16 use Internet chat rooms to sell sex to men 10 to 20 years older than them. Parents must keep a close eye on what children do online, advises organization Save the Children.
An NRK journalist recorded conversations with girls the contacted via Internet chat rooms. A 16-year-old Oestfold girl, who has a willing friend the same age with her, offers her services, not knowing she is being taped.
"We want NOK 2,000 (USD 300) for sex, and we will do anything. Anything but anal sex, I mean," the girl said.
The girls gave the journalist their telephone number after a brief online conversation in a private chat room which is not monitored by site providers.
In five weeks of research, the journalist received telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of girls of all ages, offering to sell sexual favors.
Most of the contacts claimed to be ordinary schoolgirls still living at home who sold sex for the money and the excitement.
Law enforcement authorities said that while purchasing sex from a minor is a crime, the chances of being caught doing so via one of the myriad Internet chat rooms was infinitesimal.
Internet service providers generally supervise public chat rooms, but can do nothing when the conversation moves on to more private facilities.
Minister of Children and Family Affairs Laila Davoey called the news "frightening" but admitted that though both buying and selling sex publicly was illegal, there was little that authorities could do.
"It is extremely difficult for authorities to intervene if this takes place in a private chat room. The best thing to do is preventative work to properly form the attitudes of juveniles and children," Davoey said.
