News & Updates
Online conference calls for a change in language when discussing exploitation
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Over 500 people have attended a national launch of a Practice & Knowledge Briefing facilitated by NWG aimed at changing the language used when discussing the exploitation of children and young people.
The online launch, on Tuesday June 22, was held to mark the publication of a new national Briefing for those who may come into contact with victims of exploitation.
The Making Words Matter: Practice and Knowledge Briefing highlights the importance of language when responding to children, young people and families affected by exploitation, explaining that many of the terms traditionally used can make victims feel as though they are in some way to blame for what has happened to them, or can prevent them from coming forward and seeking help.
Sheila Taylor, CEO of NWG Network, said: “Thankfully we have moved on from the days when victims of child sexual exploitation were referred to as ‘child prostitutes’, but there is still so much more that we need to do.
“We hope that this resource will enable us all to consider our use of language which is so vitally important in how we support and safeguard those we are working with. It’s a significant step towards changing attitudes and behaviours, which will make a real difference to our approach when tackling child exploitation.”
The Practice and Knowledge Briefing is designed to be used by all organisations that work with children and young people – ranging from the police and social services to sports clubs and schools. It has been developed by Dr Romana Farooq (Principal Clinical Psychologist) and Afua Appiah (Clinical Psychologist in Training) with the NWG Network and the voluntary organisation Stop and Prevent Adolescent Criminal Exploitation (SPACE).
Dr Farooq, who was a keynote speaker at the conference and Principal Investigator and Author of the Briefing, said: “Children have been exploited for centuries and this subject of child abuse and exploitation has often been a stigmatised issue in society that nobody wanted to talk about.
“However more recently due to a number of high-profile national inquiries and media coverage, as a society, we’ve been forced to confront something that has always been hidden and taboo, that brings with it the challenge of how do we begin to talk about something that we did not have a language for?”
The briefing document talks about the harmful effects that negative and dehumanising language can have on victims, and gives a number of examples of phrases that should be reconsidered when discussing young victims of exploitation. This includes things like drug dealer, criminal, plugging – which all place blame on them but ignore the coercion and exploitation that may have led them to engage in these types of behaviour.
Afua Appiah, the Lead Author on the Briefing said: “Language can have a massive impact on children’s emotional, psychological and social development. If we don’t call sexual abuse out as sexual abuse how do we expect children and young people to be able to recognise that they’ve been abused?”
Recognising the problem after talking to many of their members, NWG has been running a Mind Your Language training course which brings to life some of the complexities around language.
Steve Baguley, of NWG Network, who co-authored the document, said: “We wanted to produce something that would help people reflect on how they are communicating, how they are using language and the impact it can have on young people and families.
“We’ve already had a really positive response from across various areas – education, social services, the charity sector – and we’re looking forward to building on this work over the coming months.”
The full document – Making Words Matter Attending to Language when working with children subject to or at risk of Exploitation: A Practice & Knowledge Briefing – can be downloaded free from NWG Resources
Dates for Mind Your Language training can be viewed HERE