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Boys and young men are largely overlooked by CSE services and potential referrers, despite growing awareness of CSE and the fact that they're likely to make up around one third of victims, according to 2014 NatCen and University College London research.
The Blast Project was started in 2003 by sexual health organisation Yorkshire MESMAC, to support young men in Bradford involved in sex work. Blast initially stood for "Bradford Lads and the Sex Trade", but this was swiftly dropped as it evolved into a CSE service. "We were getting lots of under-18s referred, who were involved with paedophiles and older men, and sometimes, older women," recalls project co-ordinator, Phil Mitchell. "Then people realised they were child sex abuse victims, not sex workers."
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