On Sunday morning, the police went to Agder out with info about a disturbing trend that has emerged among young people.
Recently, the police and the abuse clinic have noticed a new and frightening development, where young teenagers sell sexual services in exchange for alcohol, tobacco and the like.
Debuts with abuse and sells sex for snus
High dark numbers
After Benedicte Severinsen at the Abuse Reception in Agder – and head of the section for serious violence and sexual abuse at the Agder police district, Kenneth Rafaelsen – commented on the case, the suspicion of similar cases has grown.
– It obviously creates concern, and we fear large dark numbers. We suspect that only a fraction make contact after they have been subjected to abuse, says Unni Johanne Andersen at Helgeland abuse reception.
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Dagbladet has been in contact with other abuse clinics in the country that have not reported any similar trend, but the head of administration at the abuse clinic in Alta, Irene Storberg, can tell that they have noticed that the age of the victims is declining.
– Those who are abused can be of any age, but lately the victims have been as young as 14 years old. Most often, the abuser and the victim are acquaintances, which means that they can often be of the same age, Storberg says.
Rough porn can be a factor
In a press release, the leader of Save the Children Norway’s program, Monica Sydgård, says that sexuality education, and education about abuse and violations, must be put on the agenda already from kindergarten.
– It is clear that children and young people want more knowledge, and those we have talked to ask adults to care more and take the chat, Sydgård says.
COMBINATION: Monica Sydgård believes that the combination of lack of sex education and rough porn has contributed to creating serious problems. Photo: Nora Lie / Save the Children
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Save the Children also points to the easy access to porn as part of the problem. In the report «A damaging picture of what sex is like – teen perspectives on porn» from 2020, Save the Children has interviewed 52 young people between the ages of 14 and 19 about their experiences and relationships with porn.
The young people in the report say that they have seen rough porn that shows that women are strangled, fluffed and bitten – and that this can be seen as normal sexuality.
Does not make contact
According to The Friend of the Fatherland The Agder police have around 70 similar abuse cases under investigation, but as mentioned earlier, there is a high probability of high dark numbers.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Teens use social media to sell sexual services. Photo: Reuters / Dado Ruvic
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– It may be, among other things, that people are not completely sure of what defines an abuse. The abuse clinics should also do more to reach out, and point out what offers they have, says Andersen.
Both Storberg and Andersen say that the media can have a great influence. When different cases of abuse receive more media coverage, more abuse reception centers notice that they are contacted more often. It can be reassuring for the victims to know that they are not alone, and it can make it easier for them to get in touch.
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– Very serious and worrying
Silje Vold at Save the Children says that there is no reason to believe that this is just a problem in Agder.
– Social media has a lot to do with the case. It makes it so easy to be exposed, manipulated and dragged into difficult situations. We often see that adults are unsure of how to talk to children about this, and therefore arrive on the field too late, says Vold.
She further says that it is important with a large national effort to get better knowledge about violence and abuse to adults who work with children. For children, it can be difficult to tell someone if they are abused. Therefore, it is important to give children knowledge early on, about what abuse is, that it is not legal, and how they should get help. This prevents abuse, and it means that abuse is detected and stopped faster.
– Parents probably do not dare to think that something like this can happen to their children, but the children must get the knowledge before they need it! It is important to prepare the children for what to do if they experience abuse or abuse, either from adults or peers, says Vold.
NOT UNIQUE: Silje Vold hod Save the Children believes that the ‘abuse trend’ in Agder is most likely to be found in several places in the country. Photo: Nora Lie / Save the Children
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Sleep rape and doping
Lin Hjelmeland Finjord at the abuse clinic in Sogn og Fjordane says that an existing problem she sees occurring more often is doping among young people, and as far as she knows this is a growing problem in general in the country. In recent years, it has become more and more normal to put drugs in people’s drinks, before then raping the person.
The number of cases of sleep rape has also increased in recent years. Earlier this year, a man in northern Norway was sentenced to seven years in prison for committing a double-digit number of sleep rapes. Helgeland District Court found it proved that the man had raped his then cohabitant repeatedly from 2011 to 2018. He was also convicted of having raped another woman on two occasions in 2019.
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