Boys are also abused

What happens if a stranger is acting strange in the swimming pool, or wants you to come home with him and play video games? Paedophiles use calculating strategies to attract children, who often don´t understand the ulterior motive. In Berlin, boys between 9 and 15 years old learn the warning signals through interactive theatre.

Subway Berlin has been working with male prostitutes in the German capital since the beginning of the 1990´s. Each year, nearly 1 200 boys are helped and supported in different ways. Boys coming to their drop-in centre are between 15 and 25 years old, and many of them have been sexually abused as children. As the manager Lutz Volkwein discovered this, he wanted to start a project aiming to prevent young boys from becoming abused.

– A lot of people don´t want to believe that sexual abuse also happens to boys. When working with boys in this field, it is most often about preventing them from abusing women. But boys can also be at risk. And while girls often suffer abuse at home, boys are at risk most often outside of their home environment, Lutz Volkwein says.

Absent fathers

Berliner boys are operating in Neukölln, a part of Berlin with a large number of immigrants where many families are living under difficult social circumstances. Absent fathers are common and the lack of male role models a big problem. This is something that paedophiles takes advantage of, explains Lutz Volkwein.

– The boys are often happy about the attention that is given to them. The paedophile hides his intentions very well and seems like a nice guy. They often offer boys cigarettes and beer, and invite them to come and watch TV or play video games.

Hard to say no

In order to teach young boys how to recognise common paedophile strategies and be able to say no before anything happens, social workers from Berliner Boys visit schools to hold workshops for boys between 9 and 15 years of age. At first, a story is told where a boy gets to know a man who eventually starts to try and touch him. After that, the boys get to act in the play themselves to practice how to protect themselves.

– At first they are confident and think it´s easy to say no. But after a while they notice how hard it can be to set boundaries, says Marek Spitczok von Brisinski, one of the social workers leading the workshops.
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Berliner Jungs in Germany

Project:
Preventive work with young boys to prevent abuse, and treatment of boys who are victims of sexual abuse.

Location:
Berlin, Germany

Target group:
Boys between 9-15 years.

Co-operation with Childhood:
Since 2007

The support goes to:
Salaries for two social workers who are holding trainings at schools in Berlin.