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