This article explores how UK media narratives construct sexual exploitation of British children as a phenomenon to be approached differently than sexual exploitation of trafficked minors who are non-British nationals. Qualitative analysis of media articles that frame infamous child sexual exploitation cases as occurrences of human trafficking shows that they bank on the motifs from the historical white slavery myth. Thereby, these articles endorse the stereotypes of white victim and foreign trafficker and obscure the diversity of trafficking victims, perpetrators, and experiences. Furthermore, comparison between media reports focusing on cases involving British minors, on the one hand, and minors from abroad, on the other hand, reveals that only the former problematise inadequate victim assistance and systemic failures in dealing with sexual exploitation of minors. This leaves structural causes of child trafficking unaddressed, promotes differential treatment of victims based on their nationality, and stigmatises whole communities as immoral and crime-prone.

中文翻译：

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贩卖儿童与儿童性剥削：对英国媒体报道的批判性反思

本文探讨了英国媒体的叙述如何将英国儿童的性剥削视为一种现象，与对非英国国民被贩运的未成年人的性剥削不同。对将臭名昭著的儿童性剥削案件定性为人口贩运事件的媒体文章进行定性分析表明，它们依赖于历史上白人奴隶制神话的主题。因此，这些文章认可了对白人受害者和外国贩运者的刻板印象，并掩盖了贩运受害者、肇事者和经历的多样性。此外，一方面关注涉及英国未成年人案件的媒体报道与另一方面关注国外未成年人的媒体报道之间的比较，揭示了只有前者会导致受害者援助不足以及在处理对未成年人的性剥削方面的系统性失败。这使得贩卖儿童的结构性原因得不到解决，促进了基于国籍的受害者的不同待遇，并将整个社区污名化为不道德和犯罪多发。