The book examines digital grooming through a discourse lens. Central to its analyses is a focus on identity construction through styling and stance. Here, grooming is defined as communicatively manipulating others to embrace illegal or socially unacceptable behaviour. Specifically, the book examines digital discourse in relation to three areas of grooming: digital sexual grooming, digital ideological grooming, and digital commercial grooming. The author analyses screen-based data from several datasets to answer the question: How do people discursively align others to socially unacceptable and illegal behaviours?
In the chapters on digital sexual grooming of children, Lorenzo-Dus shows how digital sexual groomers use stance-taking and argues that the styling of self and others utilized by digital sexual groomers are central to how the groomers manipulate targets. Groomers self-style in ways that highlight sexual expertise that the target lacks, showcase vulnerability and openness, as well as avidity towards the target in order to present an identity that conveys trustworthiness. They style their targets by speaking for them and ascribing stances of willingness to learn, openness, and specialness. Lastly, they other their opponents (anyone who could potentially stop the relationship such as family and friends) in order to encourage secrecy.
The chapters on digital ideological grooming examine two types of groups—extreme right groups and jihadi extremist groups—and compare the digital practices of these groups. Here, the self-styling of groomers also follows the expertise (jack-of-all-traits), openness (normalising anger), and avidity (in the form of urgent calls to action). The targets are styled as a homogenous group that is victimized by out-group(s) and needs help, which membership of the in-group can provide. The perceived opponents are dehumanised and othered. Where styling of the opponent was secondary in digital sexual grooming, in digital ideological grooming, the othering of an out-group is central to stance-taking.
In the chapters on digital commerce grooming, Lorenzo-Dus examines community-building on crypto-drug markets on the Dark Net. On the market Silk Road, community building is not only centred around drug purchases but is structured as a community of interest with libertarian ideologies through forum posts. Lorenzo-Dus argues that users on Silk Road, similar to previous cases, self-style to display expertise (about drugs), openness (through standing against scams and external challenges), and avidity (through an interest in the community as both costumers and fellow libertarians). The targets are attributed two stances: savviness and niceness. Self- and target-styling are favoured over styling of opponents, but when external (e.g. the state) and internal (e.g. scams) opponents were discussed, the external opponents were styled as entities that they must stand together against. Internal opponents were styled as an out-group through othering.
Lastly, the author argues that the patterns that emerge in the discursive practices of groomer identities (expertise, openness, and avidity), as well as how they style targets and opponents, can be applied to other types of digital grooming, and that analyses can be useful in the disruption of digital grooming and the education of potential targets and child safeguarding practitioners.
