Understanding grooming discourse in computer-mediated environments

• The article describes the first model of online grooming discourse.
• The model is based on analysis of a large corpus of online groomer chatlogs, focussing on the groomers’ contributions.
• The findings reveal that online grooming is a complex entrapment network, rather than a linear or cyclical process.
• Building trust discursively is paramount to groomers’ aims in online environment and it is realised via a range of communicative processes and strategies that include testing victims’ compliance, desensitising and isolating them.
• Compliments and small talk are identified as particularly effective means used by online groomers in the corpus for building their victims’ trust.
• Online grooming discourse already providers groomers with sexual gratification.

Online grooming affects a significant number of children and teenagers. Yet research into its characteristics is scarce. This study uses a Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis approach (Herring, 2004 and Herring, 2013) in order to examine a corpus of online grooming chat logs (c. 75,000 words) from Perverted-Justice.com. Results reveal the following idiosyncratic features: (1) a marked used of explicit and direct sexual solicitation; (2) a wide range of deceptive trust development strategies; and (3) an emphasis on testing the victim׳s compliance levels throughout the entire chat log and beyond groomers׳ secrecy and exclusivity establishing concerns. Online grooming is found to operate as a complex interactional network and to encompass different groomer profiles. To accommodate these findings, a new model of online grooming discourse is proposed.