With this month's arrest of a 14-year-old Chilliwack girl accused of selling sex on Craigslist and recruiting other under-aged girls to do the same, it's seems like perfect timing for Mt. Slesse middle school to host a presentation on parenting in a Internet age.

But parents panicked about their teens being lured into sex acts by online predators or pimps may be misdirecting their concern, according to Merlyn Horton, executive director of the Safe Online Outreach Society (SOLOS).

Horton is in town Monday night to facilitate Mt. Slesse's Parenting in a Cyber-Age, a presentation designed to equip parents with Internet literacy and safety information.

One of the misconceptions she'll be dealing with is the idea that online sexual exploitation is about middle-aged men posing as young people and luring kids out of their homes.

She cites an extensive U.S. survey on the topic that found the number of such cases is actually statistically insignificant when compared to other kinds of online sexual exploitation.

While the case of the Chilliwack 14-year-old shows sex with teens is being arranged via the Internet, Horton said the teens exploited in that way tend to be the same ones who fall prey to sexual exploitation offline.

"Kids who are going home to milk and cookies every night and going to soccer practice three times a week are not going online and trying to meet up with somebody to have sex," said Horton, who spent 15 years working with high-risk, street-entrenched and sexually exploited youth before working with SOLOS.

Marginalized and disenfranchised youth are the most likely targets online, according to Horton.

"If [they're] not getting any acceptance anywhere in their life, if they're in conflict at home or with the school and someone online offers them a magic answer, they're likely to take it," said Horton.

Contrary to popular stereotypes, predators that lure these youths are often upfront about their age and sexual intentions.

"It's a seduction online that mirrors a physical seduction but at the same time it has extra elements like disinhibition and young people's inability to assess risk amplified by that distance that's perceived through the computer," she said.

Teens might go along with an arrangement to meet offline to have sex as a lark, said Horton, because the online environment allows them to romanticize the encounter.

"There's this romantic notion of what it's going to be until that first trick goes," she said. "There's not much room for romantic notions after the first two or three times."

Kids who are questioning their sexual identity are particularly vulnerable online, according to Horton, and she has the following advice for their parents:

"Make sure it's OK for your questioning or your queer youth to find somebody in their own community that they can talk to that's a positive role model instead of seeking out that connection in an online environment where they're much more at risk of finding someone who would exploit them."

Adolescence hasn't changed according to Horton, and at-risk youth today struggle with the same issues as their pre-Internet counterparts.

Through her work at SOLOS, however, she hopes to equip outreach workers and educators with the tools they need to reach these youth where they are.

"You have to get on board and up to speed about what all this online stuff is because this is where your highest risk kids are experiencing their risk," she said.

- The Parenting in a Cyber-Age presentation takes place Monday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Mt. Slesse middle school cafeteria. All parents of children in Kindergarten to Grade 12 are invited.