Project Updates

Updated: June 2, 2026

Our research team has completed the first of three phases in the project. The purpose of this phase is to engage community members to help inform our survey.

We conducted 25 interviews, held focus groups with 14 participants, and are now hosting community advisory board meetings (currently 8 participants) to deepen our understanding of the issues from lived experience experts. Lived experience experts are people who have engaged in or experienced Sexual Acts or Materials for Pay/compensation (SAMP).

See the Phase 1 Report below for an overview of the demographics and characteristics of the sample, as well as preliminary findings.

Some preliminary findings include:

• There are concerns about confidentiality when participating in this study, so increasing reminders and reassurance of confidentiality will aid survey responses and engagement
• Asking survey questions about SAMP acts to encapsulate the spectrum of agency and victimization is challenging, so adding explanations of the spectrum as well as diversifying sets of questions will help
• Questions on survey about policies on decriminalization/criminalization are difficult to understand due to terminology, so explanations and examples will be added to provide context
• Participants emphasized the importance of community and/or mutual aid as a form of support for young people engaged in SAMP
• Recruitment suggestions included blogs and social media for younger folks

This insight has been most helpful in guiding our survey as we prepare to launch it nationally.