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Why are teenagers targets for sex offenders? In your teens you go through a lot of physical and emotional changes and you have a lot of needs. Sex offenders take advantage of your needs in several ways: Experienced adults can exploit a male teenager’s need to have mentors, successful adults who can be role-models. An adult who is an artist, for example, can easily exploit your dream to become an artist . In your teens you want to experience ‘rites of passage: to move from adolescence into manhood. Having sexual experiences is probably the most powerful of the rites of passage. Both male and female offenders exploit your need to learn about sex. As you mature, you need the love and approval of a male parent just as much as you did when you were younger. But fathers these days are busy or often absent altogether. The male offender may fill this gap. Offenders play on your need to have someone acknowledge your sexuality, and your need to feel in charge of it. The host at the party Richard attended, for example, told him that he was experiencing sexual independence. Richard believed him. Offenders often offer you drugs and alcohol. This plays on your need to try new things.
