Analysis by sex

Overview
By sex
Image-level analysis

Overview

In 2023, as in previous years, most of the child sexual abuse imagery we saw showed girls only. We did, however, observe an increase in the number of reports including both girls and boys.

Analysis by sex over the past three years

Breakdown of victims by sex

  • Girls - 264,246 (97%)
  • Boys - 3,251 (1%)
  • Both - 5,394 (2%)
  • Unidentified - 96 (0%)

Hover or click chart segments for values.

This chart shows the number and proportion of child sexual abuse URLs in 2023, split by sex of the victim.

By sex

In 2023, we saw an increase in the proportion of Category A imagery: these most severe images and videos accounted for 23% of the child sexual abuse reports we actioned, up from 20% in 2022 and 18% in 2021. Here, we take a closer look at how the category analysis applies to child sexual abuse reports featuring girls and boys separately.

Boys by severity

  • Category A - 1,484 (46%): Images involving penetrative sexual activity; images involving sexual activity with animals or sadism.
  • Category B - 1,135 (35%): Images involving non-penetrative sexual activity.
  • Category C - 632 (19%): Other indecent images not falling within categories A or B.

Hover or click chart segments for values.

In 2023, 1% or 3,251 reports showed the sexual abuse of boys only. Within this subset of data, we can see that a higher proportion of the imagery of boys shows Category A child sexual abuse compared to girls: 46% for boys (31% in 2022) compared to 21% for girls (19% in 2022).

 

Girls by severity

  • Category A - 56,601 (21%): Images involving penetrative sexual activity; images involving sexual activity with animals or sadism.
  • Category B - 59,796 (23%): Images involving non-penetrative sexual activity.
  • Category C - 147,849 (56%): Other indecent images not falling within categories A or B.

Hover or click chart segments for values.

In 2023, 97% or 264,246 reports showed the sexual abuse of girls only – an increase of 21,257 reports on 2022. While this seems like a significant increase, the proportion is similar to last year’s numbers. Category A has increased again by 2 percentage points (or 23% in terms of numbers) showing the severity of the abuse in the imagery identified has increased.

 

 

Image-level analysis

By sex:

Providing a breakdown of reports by sex and severity doesn’t truly illustrate the individual number of images and videos we see. Below is a breakdown of our hashes processed in 2023 which shows the number of images and videos of boys, girls and both sexes found in individual images:

Sex Total % of total images and videos Number of images Number of videos
Girls 713,086 81% 663,000 50,086
Boys 133,495 15% 118,751 14,744
Both 21,509 2% 18,713 2,796
Unidentifiable 15,506 2% 14,411 1,095
Grids* 511 0% 510 1
Grand Total 884,107 100% 815,385 68,722

*Grids are composed of two or more discrete images, pasted alongside each other to create one larger image. In many cases, especially in ‘self-generated’ imagery, a grid image will be formed of multiple still frames taken from the same video.

 

Also shown by severity:

Severity Total % of total images and videos Number of images Number of videos
Category A 237,696 27% 197,354 40,342
Category B 361,990 41% 338,972 23,018
Category C 284,421 32% 279,059 5,362
Grand Total 884,107 100% 815,385 68,722