The National Audit on the UK’s sex grooming gangs is out and it quotes a previous report which noted the interconnection between two kinds of grooming.

Being groomed for sex and being groomed for Islam.

The Review made recommendations including better cross-agency working, better understanding of the role of drugs and alcohol, proper assessment of the vulnerability of disabled children and better support for victims. It said that the review provided an opportunity to reframe how victims and perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are currently perceived and responded to by the multi-agency system, and that more is learnt and understood about the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation. It also recommended that practitioners are aware that changes in cultural identity of children may be a sign of coercion, exploitation and/or radicalisation and that appropriate professional curiosity should be displayed to recognise any potential risks (after two of the victims were coerced into converting to Islam during their abuse) although there was no mention of curiosity around the perpetrator’s culture.

That’s not surprising. We saw similar things with ISIS.

Within Islam, women and girls from non-Muslim backgrounds are fair game for being ‘conquered’ and enslaved by Muslim Jihadis. And Jihad can come in various forms. Once enslaved, they are converted to Islam.

Minors converting to Islam, especially girls, is a sign of grooming. And potentially more than one kind of grooming.