"Before I was even in high school, my image had been used for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). I'd been featured on fetish websites and Photoshopped into pornography. Grown men sent me creepy letters. I wasn't a beautiful girl — my awkward age lasted from about age 10 to about 25 — and I acted almost exclusively in family-friendly movies. But I was a public figure, so I was accessible. That's what child sexual predators look for: access."
"When I was a little girl, there was nothing scarier than a stranger. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, kids were told, by our parents, by TV specials, by teachers, that there were strangers out there who wanted to hurt us. Stranger Danger was everywhere. It was a well-meaning lesson, but the risk was overblown: most child abuse and exploitation is perpetrated by people the children know."
"I had supportive parents, and was surrounded by directors, actors, and studio teachers who understood and cared for children. The only way show business did endanger me was by putting me in the public eye. Any cruelty and exploitation I received as a child actor was at the hands of the public. Hollywood throws you into the pool, I always tell people, but it's the public that holds your head underwater."
A child actor worked from ages five to thirteen in highly regulated filmsets with supportive parents, directors, actors, and studio teachers. Public visibility from acting made the child accessible to strangers despite on-set safety. The child's image was used in child sexual abuse material, featured on fetish websites, Photoshopped into pornography, and prompted creepy letters from adults. Predators sought access rather than anonymity; the internet amplified that access and made exploitation by strangers possible. The misuse of images occurred even though the roles were family-friendly and the child's appearance was not conventionally sexualized. The experience created ongoing concern for other child performers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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