Targeting
Grooming, Stage 1
In this first stage, the abuser identifies someone who may be more vulnerable or easier to manipulate. This could be due to age, isolation, low confidence, emotional needs, or unmet attention at home. The person may observe the victim's habits, social circles, and environment to understand how best to approach them. At this point, the interaction may appear harmless or even friendly, but it is calculated and intentional.
Next Lesson...
Targeting (External View) · Oil on Canvas
School. Girls. A girls' grammar school.
Long hair, short hair, the loud ones, the quiet ones, the studious and conscientious ones, the house captains and class reps, the skivers and the dreamers, the sporty ones, the science geeks, the popular ones, the musical ones...
Hundreds of girls passing through the corridors every day.
A sea of brown blazers moving from one lesson to the next.
All in the mix. All different. All the same.
All carrying books, bags, worries, ambitions and secrets.
Nobody noticed anything unusual.
He did.
While everyone else hurried to their next lesson, he carefully made his selection.
Not all lessons were academic.
In My Own Little World
Targeting (Internal Perspective) · Oil on Canvas
An unfinished G.C.S.E. art project, I was still learning about the world, still trying to figure things out.
I remember when getting a new pencil case felt like a big deal, a fresh start to the term. Embellishing your pencil case was to mark your individuality. Of course it soon got ink stained.
Each day I came home from school on the bus. My parents were splitting up and around that time they gave me my first front door keys so I could let myself in at the end of the day. It felt like a sign of growing up, a small step towards independence.
My world consisted of schoolwork, friendships, sketchbooks, music and teenage worries. Looking back now, I can see how small that world really was. But at the time, it was everything I knew.