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Over the course of several decades, a variety of definitions of sexual grooming have been proposed (see Bennett & O’Donohue, 2014 and Winters et al., The process by which a person seeking to commit a sexual offense creates a situation in which the CSA can be more easily enacted and remain undetected is what the term generally refers to. Winters and colleagues (2021) proposed the following definition of sexual grooming to bring consensus to the field and facilitate empirical analysis of the construct the deceptive method that sexual abusers use to make it easier for them to have sex with a minor while avoiding detection at the same time. The would-be sexual abuser may choose a victim, gain access to and isolate the minor, establish trust with the minor and frequently their guardians, community organizations, and youth-serving institutions, and desensitize the minor to sexual content and physical contact before committing the act.
