Mermaid-Tail I think the last thing you said sums up what I was going to say. You don't understand. If getting over vulnerabilities like depression and isolation was as simple as bucking up and being more savvy half the world's problems would disappear (and all the world's therapists would be out of jobs). Psychology doesn't work that way. It is absolutely not any child's fault if they are taken advantage of like that. People, especially young people, suffering feelings of depression and confusion are easier prey and it is not a matter of just being smarter and getting some self respect. It is about having problems that are manipulated. Besides, yes many people who are abused in that way do have low self respect which makes them easy targets, does being vulnerable mean they have it coming? Psychology, and abusing it, are powerful. I think you are also overestimating how blatant 'perverts' are. They don't introduce themselves like 'Hi kiddie, I'm 48, please take off your clothes'. Many are subtle, skilled liars and more than willing to spend a very long time convincingly playing nice. Also, you have to consider and learn some sympathy for the circumstances that can cause people to develop the low esteem that makes them a target. Imagine for example a young girl, she's bullied at school, gets no support at home. She is isolated and has no real world help. She has spent years with no true human connection, no support. She meets someone 'nice' online. For the first time ever someone cares. Someone understands. That would feel like a lifeline to her, and desperation to hold on to that could cause her to overlook warning signs. Does she now deserve to be abused? The mere existence of vulnerabilities does not give other people the right to abuse them. By that logic physically weak people deserve to get beaten up by strong people because they should have just hit the gym, then it wouldn't have happened. They were too stupid to not get buff so they desevre violence. You and I are lucky enough to not suffer the emotional problems that put people in that sort of position, but it doesn't mean those less lucky are more deserving of violence than we are. Blame belongs to the attacker, not the victim. If any blame should go anywhere but the attacker it should be to the system that allows emotionally vulnerable people to be overlooked till it's too late.

Cinders I'm with Mermaid-Tail on this one. It's not just emotional upset, either. Sometimes, it's just age. The mentality of a twelve-year-old girl is a very interesting one, and it's very easy to manipulate for someone who knows how. A pedophile can talk to a child for months without hinting at anything sexual. It can seem entirely platonic, until one day, the pedophile suggests that they meet and "hang out." The child may have had no inkling that there was anything sexual about their relationship. Even if there was innuendo, it might have sailed right over their head because they are too inexperienced to understand it. At any rate, I would never blame the victim of a crime. That's akin to saying that a girl who was raped "was asking for it" because she was wearing a short skirt.