Unsafe Sexual Behavior
Hidden Resilience:
Agency & Nurturance
Is learned when:
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Sex must be traded to meet one’s most basic needs, especially the need for affection, connection, and belonging.
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Basic needs can also include but are not limited to):
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Felt safety
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Connection
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Physical/ Material needs (food, water, clothing, shelter)
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Think: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The drive behind the behavior:
Objectified, unloved, unwanted, rejected, not good enough, unseen, unheard.
Steps to take to meet those needs:
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Help recognizing safe non-sexualized interactions.
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Help reestablishing accurate cues for safe and unsafe connection.
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Help regulating before, during, and after safe non-sexualized interactions.
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Foster interactions and/or relationships that are not transactional.
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Use descriptive instead of evaluative praise
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Create with them a collage of safe, non-sexualized activities that they enjoy.
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Use collaborative problem solving.
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Teach them, and the important people in their life, how to assertively address when they are not feeling safe.