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Understanding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of LGBTQIA2S+ Youth: What Services Providers Can Do to Build Inclusive Services and Spaces for Youth

National Center for Youth Law; Los Angeles LGBT Center; Saving Innocence; Young Women’s Freedom Center

Erin French Nafekh; Mae Ackerman-Brimberg; Kate Walker Brown; Maria Contreras

Keywords: Best Practices; Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Youth; Youth Experiences

This guide provides an overview of available data and case studies to highlight particular vulnerabilities and pathways to commercial sexual exploitation for youth who are LGBTQIA2S+. It offers recommendations — based on the experiences of young people — for providers to improve services to help LGBTQIA2S+ youth feel empowered to recognize and voice what they want and need.

Topics include:

  • Recognizing and addressing biases;
  • Requiring training and education;
  • Engaging and partnering with people with lived experience;
  • Improving identification and screening;
  • Creating safe and affirming homes and placements;
  • Ensuring representation and inclusivity;
  • Providing access to gender-affirming health care; and
  • Investing in more research.

File : pdf with 1.86 MB in size

Understanding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of LGBTQIA2S+ Youth: What Services Providers Can Do to Build Inclusive Services and Spaces for Youth