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Where do they stand? A post-structuralist examination of offense-supportive narratives constructed by men convicted of child sexual abuse

International Journal of Impotence Research (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Decisions to engage in child sexual abuse (CSA) are not motivated solely by sexual/romantic interest in children. Given the complex interplay of personal, relational, and societal factors involved, we explored the narratives men constructed around their subjective motivations for offending, situated within the post-structuralist constructs of desire, power, and ethical subjectivity. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 men charged/convicted of CSA. Offenses were often contextualized as attempts to satisfy sexual and/or emotional desires. While some participants reported a persistent interest in children, others attempted to satisfy these desires through CSA in response to negative experiences with adults, including sexual overregulation, sexual objectification, and demoralization. Participants’ subversion of social and ethical norms was aided by offense-supportive narratives that stemmed from their interactions with/interpretations of the world. Interventions to prevent CSA may benefit from a post-structuralist perspective of the social and cultural mechanisms by which men’s decisions to engage in CSA are shaped.

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Notes

  1. When necessary, we distinguish between people convicted of sexual offenses against children (PCSO-C) and people convicted of other types of sexual offenses (PCSO). For the purpose of this study, “children” refers to people under age 16 (i.e., the legal age of consent in Canada).

  2. At the time, the first author was a clinical research coordinator with a B.A.(Hons) in Criminology. She was trained to conduct qualitative interviews by the second author (Full Professor, PhD), and had previous experience interviewing this population. She had prior contact with participants from attending weekly group therapy sessions to recruit for research, and participants were thus accustomed to discussing sensitive issues in her presence.

  3. By “interest in children” we are referring to a sexual and/or romantic interest in children. We use this more general term since some participants reported both sexual and romantic interest in children, and because the major plot points that we discuss were expressed both by men with sexual interest and men with a romantic interest in children.

  4. We have previously described this experience as hyperfocused sexual arousal and discussed its potential role in the onset and maintenance of child pornography offenses [29].

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the University of Ottawa Medical Research Fund (UMRF) to Dave Holmes as principal investigator. The funding source was not involved in the research or preparation of this manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Natasha Knack

    Present address: School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mental Health Research, The Royal, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Natasha Knack, Dave Holmes, Melissa Trunzo & J. Paul Fedoroff

  2. School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Dave Holmes & Chad Hammond

  3. Faculty of Arts, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada

    Brianna Hammond

  4. Sexual Behaviours Clinic, The Royal, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Lisa Murphy & J. Paul Fedoroff

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  1. Natasha Knack
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  6. Lisa Murphy
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  7. J. Paul Fedoroff
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Contributions

Conceptualization: NK, DH, and JPF; Methodology: NK and DH; Investigation: NK and MT; Resources: DH, LM, and JPF; Writing – Original Draft: CH and BH; Writing – Review & Editing: NK, LM, and MT; Funding Acquisition: DH and JPF; Supervision: DH and JPF; Project Administration: NK.

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Correspondence to Natasha Knack.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The study on which this article is based was approved by the Research Ethics Board at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research (REB# 2013004).

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Knack, N., Holmes, D., Hammond, C. et al. Where do they stand? A post-structuralist examination of offense-supportive narratives constructed by men convicted of child sexual abuse. Int J Impot Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-023-00685-6

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