Exercise 2: Progression timeline
The second exercise is in three parts and looks back at your life to help you reflect on how you started and continued to have sexual fantasies about underage people or to access illegal images of them online.
PART A: Making your timeline
This first step of the exercise aims to provide you with a clear visual that shows your progression in fantasizing or accessing images of underage sexual exploitation on the Internet. In each box, write a short description of a key event in your life, marking a progression in your fantasies or online behaviour, which has led (or may lead, in the case of fantasies) you to access illegal content. See the example below to help you. We recommend that you tell the story in the following order:
- Your current position (probably on the far right).
- The first time you had a fantasy about a minor or accessed images of sexual exploitation of minors on the Internet (mark this point on the timeline).
- Remember your first moment of sexual arousal whether with pornography or otherwise (probably near the far left.
- Between each of the points you have placed, find other key events that you think can be seen as signals in your life. This is what allowed you to break a barrier and engage in riskier behaviour. Remember that this is your timeline, and if you feel you need more boxes to tell your story, feel free to add more.
- Download and open the file in a PDF reader. If you can’t do this, you can download this free PDF reader from Adobe.
- Modify the worksheets by filling in the editable fields.
- No need to return us the documents. Everything will stay completely private!
PART B: Digging deeper
To deepen and reflect on your timeline, fill in the following table in as much detail as possible. Feel free to use the feelings word bank (below) if necessary. Remember to think about these broad categories of activity when filling in the activity column:
- Having sexual fantasies involving minors
- Masturbating to sexual fantasies involving minors
- Downloading images of sexual exploitation of minors
- Sharing these images with others
- Producing these images
- Contacting children on the Internet for sexual purposes
- Engaging in offline sexual activity with children
Feeling word bank:
Happy, Sad, Angry, Hurt, Depressed, Frustrated, Impulsive, Stressed, Relaxed Excited, Bored, Curious, Rejected, Doubtful, Interested, Lonely, Irritated, Ashamed Upset, Annoyed, Miserable, Guilty, In despair, Uneasy, Useless, Vulnerable, Afraid Nervous, Timid, Indifferent, Restless, Alienated, Nonchalant, Dull, Anxious, Confident
- Download and open the file in a PDF reader. If you can’t do this, you can download this free PDF reader from Adobe.
- Modify the worksheets by filling in the editable fields.
- No need to return us the documents. Everything will stay completely private!
PART C: Understanding your behaviour over time
Download printable version of these questions with space to fill in answers.
