A New Look at the Internet Sexual Predator Stereotype

A lot has been made of the stereotype of the online sexual predator posing as a teen to lure victims into clandestine meetings off line that result in violent rapes. But a new study says the most sexual predators are adults who make their intentions of a sexual encounter quite plain to vulnerable young teens who often believe they are in love with the predator.Quite contrary to the conventional wisdom that holds that social-networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace.com appear to expose teens to greater risks, this study suggests instead that there is no deception going on. This somewhat enforces an analogy that we always make that teens online are not that different from teens going to the mall - they can find what they are looking for, including trouble.