The role of social divisions and identities, culture and patterns of social organisation in OCSV is clearly present but poorly understood. In this chapter we develop an intersectional analysis of OCSV research. The empirical data and the wider literature are drawn on to identify how theory on vulnerability and resilience might assist in preventing victimisation. The data almost exclusively situate vulnerability in the context of individualised risk, whereas theory expands these concepts into a wider social frame. We conclude with a framework that incorporates a broader understanding of resilience and intersectionality as it applies to OCSV.

Inherent vulnerability and resilience

Resilience in its conventional meaning is the capacity to return to a steady state after experiencing a negative event (Luthar et al, 2000). In relation to OCSV, it does not mean that a child is not harmed but rather, having experienced harm, there is not a continuing adverse impact. In the included research, this resilience to harm was most frequently analysed in terms of ‘not being bothered’ or ‘distressed’ by sexual content or online solicitation for sexual purposes. This is then associated with individual characteristics, parent mediation of online activity and levels of social support.

Vulnerability in the empirical research refers to the risk of being victimised; characteristics that heighten the probability of OCSV through association are similarly identified through analyses of data collected from individuals. These attributes include being a girl, a younger child, disabled, other than heterosexual, scoring low on self-efficacy or self-esteem and having a history of previous victimisation. Behavioural attributes include high levels of risk taking both on-and offline (such as meeting a person face to face, first met online), posting sexually explicit material (boys) or associating with peers who do so (girls). Such characteristics are ‘inherent’ vulnerabilities (Walklate, 2011); they pertain to what individual children are or what they do.

Many children show resilience to a broad spectrum of sources of online harm, of which exposure to sexual content or sexual solicitation is only a part. A wider range of harms can have a sexual dimension, including cyberbullying, online harassment and information-sharing breaches.