In the largest study of child sexual abuse perpetrators’ accounts ever conducted, we systematically analysed nearly 700 adult male perpetrators’ accounts from 39 studies to document the ways these men account for their actions.
Some startling revelations
The men were aged 18 years and over and came from across the globe – from Norway to New Zealand, Malawi to Brazil. We were interested in documenting what perpetrators’ accounts can tell us about preventing child sexual abuse.
The men’s accounts varied dramatically. Some blamed drugs and alcohol, or their own experiences of childhood maltreatment. Others claimed they were seeking exciting or risky new sexual experiences.
Others said they were “in love” with or trying to “educate” the child.
The most common way perpetrators explained their behaviour was to cast their victims as consenting participants in the sexual activity.
In especially egregious cases, perpetrators positioned themselves as the hapless casualties of their (mostly female) victims’ devious sexual scheming, describing their young victims as “flirtatious”.
Revenge was another common reason offered to explain the offending. Overwhelmingly, perpetrators nominated their adult women partners as the target of their retaliatory behaviour.
In short, they abused a child to get back at the child’s mother.
Perpetrators sought revenge because their adult women partners failed to adhere to traditional femininity and to fulfil the role of romantic/sexual partner and/or mother/homemaker to the perpetrator’s standard and preferences.
Perpetrators sometimes framed the child victim as deserving the abuse, claiming their offending resulted from anger toward the child.
For instance, perpetrators felt angry because their victims failed to meet “feminine” norms or did not display sufficient submissiveness.
Perpetrators commonly invoked their “right” to sexual activity to explain their offending and bemoaned a lack of sexual access to adult partners.
Our findings therefore highlight the need for policymakers and practitioners to strengthen efforts to combat misogyny, male sexual entitlement and patriarchal privilege.
Source: World’s largest study of child sexual abuse perpetrators reveals why they abuse