By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist  

Teenage girls, some as young as 13, are allowing themselves to be used for sex and to transport drugs and weapons in order to join violent male street gangs.

According to London’s TimesOnline, authorities and charity groups are reporting a growing problem among young girls who are becoming involved with male-dominated gangs in order to acquire status or protection.

Often told they must have sex with a gang member before they can join, the girls willingly submit. Others serve as transports for guns, knives and drugs for gang members. Some have even been found guilty of storing weapons that were later used to kill someone, then disposing the the weapon after the crime.

The problem is growing at a rapid rate. For instance, a recent raid by police netted 25 females between the ages of 14 and 39 who were arrested in in connection with assaults, drug offenses and carrying weapons.

“Young women are being dragged into the fringes of male criminality and gangs,” Superintendent David Chinchen told the Times. “We are seeing more elements of violence from girls within gangs.”

Law enforcement is also seeing an increase in the number of girls involved in sexual violence.

However, what is most shocking to British welfare workers is that the girls usually accept their situation as “normal” and do not believe they are being violated.

Dr. Teresa Pointing, chief executive of In-volve, a charity helping young people drawn into violent situations, told the Times: “These girls have no rights within these gangs, which are primitive in the way they operate . . . . The girls think they are going to be protected by the gang if they have sex with one person but then they find there are more boys there.”

She added: “These girls are very much second-class citizens within the gangs but they see it as normal. That’s the bit that is most disturbing.”

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