Abstract

MACHADO, Marília Novais da Mata. The gossip, the stigma and the silence: children and teenagers being sexually exploited. Arq. bras. psicol. [online]. 2006, vol.58, n.2, pp.2-10. ISSN 1809-5267.

A research program carried out in the Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, revealed that the sexual exploitation of children was a serious problem in the region. This article revisits some or those data, specially the imaginary essay to hide the exploitation, coming from the children interviewed. It is asked why, having openly lived the situation, the children choose to silence about it. But they know well about sexual exploitation, as demonstrated by interviews’ analyses. They identify the exploiters’ profiles, the overall situation in which the exploitation occurs and the sexual program, but avoid to report these facts as occurring to themselves. The article tries to understand how the silence was created and its purpose. By hypothesis, the circulation of gossips in the small towns arouses a stigmatization process from which the children try to escape. That is why they silence. In the other side, always under an imaginary cover, the silence protects the towns, its inhabitants and families, the clients and the enticers, assuring the maintenance of a vicious circle in which the children continue falling into situations of sexual (and economic) exploitation. Finally, the article searches how to slip from this circle.

Keywords : Children commercial sexual exploitation; Medium Jequitinhonha Valley; Gossips; Stigmatization.

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