In this chapter, the three key arguments made throughout the book are drawn together. First, CSE is wider than the individual instances of sexual exploitation or sexually exploitative relationships, and ‘care’ (relationships, systems and acts) sits at the crux of the problem of CSE. Second, conceptions of CSE may be problematic for young people, particularly with regards to understanding and framing young people’s agency, and the chapter considers the implications that this has for responses to the problem. Third, intrinsic to CSE is the element of exchange, and underpinning this is the meeting (and exploitation) of unmet needs. This concluding chapter suggests how this approach provides a way of making sense of both young people’s agency, and the abuse they experience, through exchanging sex. It concludes by arguing that the language and concept of ‘CSE’ is both narrow and narrowing, misdirecting the focus of the problem, serving to exclude some young people while also having serious implications for responses to and interventions for CSE and other forms of sexual abuse.
