Abusive sexual experience and lack of parental support may have a significant impact on victim self-identity that may relate to the later pattern of female sexual or occupational deviance. Guilt, shame, and loss of self-esteem associated with such experiences also may lessen resistance to viewing oneself as a sexual object and a saleable commodity. Further, parental rejection may explain the relationship young prostitutes have with their pimps, who offer a facsimile of the attention, approval, and understanding that was lacking from the family. In such relationships, threats of violence and violence are tolerated or even welcome as a form of attention because of the prostitute's low self-esteem and dependency. For similar reasons, the young female prostitute may provide a tempting target for sadists and muggers and is unlikely to report her victimization to the police. If apprehended by the police, she may be confronted by a juvenile justice system that either refuses to acknowledge the nature of her problem or that sanctions her for deviance from rules of female adolescent chastity. 7 references.