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In May 2012, nine men from the Rochdale area of Manchester were found guilty of sexually exploiting a number of underage girls. Reporting on the trial, the media focussed on the fact that eight of the nine men were of Pakistani origin, while the girls were all white. It also framed similar cases in Preston, Rotherham, Derby, Shropshire, Oxford, Telford and Middlesbrough as ethnically motivated, thus creating a moral panic centred on South Asian grooming gangs preying on white girls. Despite the lack of evidence that the abuse perpetrated by some Asian men is distinct from male violence against women generally, the media focus on the grooming gang cases has constructed a narrative in which South Asian men pose a unique sexual threat to white girls. This process of ‘othering’ South Asian men in terms of abusive behaviour masks the fact that in the United Kingdom, the majority of sexual and physical abuse is perpetrated by white men; it simultaneously marginalises the sexual and domestic violence experienced by black and minority ethnic women. Indeed, the sexual abuse of South Asian women and girls is invisibilised within this binary discourse, despite growing concerns and evidence that the men who groomed the young girls in the aforementioned cases had also perpetrated domestic and sexual violence in their homes against their wives/partners. Through discourse analysis of newspaper coverage of these cases for the period 2012‒2018, this paper examines the British media's portrayal of South Asian men – particularly Pakistani men – in relation to child-grooming offences and explores the conditions under which ‘South Asian men’ have been constructed as ‘folk devils’. It also highlights the comparatively limited newspaper coverage of the abuse experiences and perspectives of Asian women and girls from the same communities to emphasise that violence against women and girls remains an ongoing problem across the nation.

This review aims to focus on men who access, download, and circulate child abuse images across the internet as the most frequently occurring type of internet sex offender.

Some of the misconceptions associated with this behaviour are outlined and the extent to which internet offenders display some of the criminogenic factors thought to be associated with the multi‐factorial theories of sexual offending are reviewed.

One conclusion from this is paper is the general impression that internet offenders show many of the characteristics of paedophiles. Their theoretical importance is that they appear to be “desisters” from acting out their sexual interest in children by hands‐on offending.

It is argued that there is a need for more research to stimulate our understanding of this type of offender. Furthermore, what of those who both download material and offend directly against children? They present a dilemma for the literature as some research would suggest that they are not entirely like the internet or the contact sexual offenders in their psychological make‐up; they are the group most in need of reappraisal.

This article summarises recent research into the subject of downloading child pornography and the different kinds of individuals engaged in the activity. Current attitudes to paedophilia are assessed. The question as to whether the downloading of pornographic paedophile material always leads to paedophilia is a core discussion. The law and current views on downloading are also discussed. The issue of whether downloaders of such materials are a danger is addressed and ways of preventing children being sexually exploited via the internet are explored.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the way gender and gender roles are socially constructed by those who have experience of females committing sexual offences against children.

Using a discursive approach, supported by membership category analysis, a secondary analysis of qualitative data illustrates how the social construction of gender and gender roles impacts on society’s perception of females who commit sexual offences against children.

Discourse analysis found three patterns employed within conversation that demonstrate how the construction of women influence society’s incomprehension of females who commit sexual offences against children: women can be trusted, women do not manipulate and groom and, women are not sexually aggressive.

A limitation of this study is the use of secondary data, which cannot provide the richness or detail found in primary accounts from people with this lived experience. The difficulty in accessing this sub-population highlights the hidden nature of the topic and the need for further research in this area.

This is the first study to explore how gender discourse is used in discussions of females who commit sexual offences against children. The value of this exploration highlights the need of society to adjust their perceptions of the offending capabilities of women and to ensure the experiences of people who experience this form of sexual abuse receive support.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from a study commissioned by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) in England, concerning intrafamilial child sexual abuse (IFCSA)/incest. Specifically, it aims to explore what is known about the prevalence, nature, and impact of IFCSA and where the gaps in knowledge lie.

A rapid evidence assessment (REA) was used, the function of which is to: search the literature as comprehensively as possible within given time constraints; collate descriptive outlines of the available evidence on a topic and critically appraise it; sift out studies of poor quality; and provide an overview of the evidence. Over 57,000 documents were scanned, and 296 ultimately systematically analysed.

It was found that: there is wide variation in prevalence rates between studies; girls are more likely to be victims than boys; the onset of abuse is typically school age; abuse in minority groups is under-reported; sibling abuse may be more common than that by fathers; female perpetrated abuse may be under-reported; families where abuse occurs are often dysfunctional; and IFCSA has significant adverse effects on victims.

A REA is not a full systematic review, differing in the scope and depth of the searches and depending almost exclusively on electronic databases, not accompanied by searching journals by hand.

This work found numerous gaps in current knowledge about IFCSA, which the authors recommend be addressed by further research, including: the scale and nature of IFCSA in disabled victims, research on BME children’s experiences; the prevalence of abuse by stepfathers as compared to biological fathers; the experiences of male victims; the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered child victims; the short-term impact of IFCSA based on child victims’ experiences; and more widely, further research on the prevalence of abuse in clinical populations and the relationship between that and prevalence in wider society. In addition to such questions, the OCC inquiry will also investigate issues surrounding child protection and criminal justice responses to (IF)CSA and how these might be improved. The evidence base for this section of the inquiry is reported in Gekoski et al. (2016).

The findings of this research provide the evidence base for a new two-year inquiry into the subject of IFCSA by the OCC.

In this chapter, an exploratory analysis of the problematic sexual behaviours committed by elderly men against female minors is presented. Drawing from life-course theoretical perspectives on later life offending, this study examined the criminal history, sexual attraction towards the underage, perceived vulnerability of the juvenile, relationship with the girl-child prior to the abuse, and violence and sexually abusive tactics of the older offenders. Qualitative data were collected from 19 child sexual offenders in Lagos state prisons that were 60 years and above at the time they committed the offence, and a thematic analysis of the narratives was carried out. Findings indicate elderly offenders were attracted to female juveniles due to their perceived ‘innocence’, ‘commitment to relationship’, ‘sincerity’ and ‘youthfulness’, which suggest considerable level of rationality in their selection of victims. Offenders were found to use physical force and violence to subdue their victims, while threats, gifts and appeal were used to prevent victims from reporting. These findings have important practical and policy implications if the scourge of child sexual abuse is to be addressed in the country.

The purpose of this study is to examine the occurrence, severity, chronicity, and predictors of inflicted IPV among women visiting the Forensic Services in Maputo city (Mozambique) as victims of IPV by their partner.

The study was cross‐sectional: the data were collected from 1,442 women over 12 months (consecutive cases) and were analysed with bivariate and multivariate methods.

The overall occurrence of inflicted IPV across severity (one or more types) was 69.4 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 44.8±65.8). Psychological aggression was reported by 64 percent of women (chronicity, mean/SD 23.1±32.4); physical assault by 38.2 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 10.3±24.6); sexual coercion by 39.1 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 7.2±16.2); and injuries by 22.6 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 4.2±12.4). Further, 14.5 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 140.2±86.3) of the women used all abuse types against their partners: 18.2 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 113.1±75.9) injury, and psychological and physical abuse; 14.7 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 64.9±64.3) injury, and physical and sexual abuse; 16.3 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 94.1±57.2) injury, and psychological and sexual abuse; and 24.9 percent (chronicity, mean/SD 99.5±72) psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Controlling behaviours, co‐occurring perpetration, abuse as a child, and certain types of own victimization were the more important factors associated with the inflicted abuse.

More research into women's experiences of IPV as perpetrators, particularly in relation to co‐occurring inflicted abuse, control, and abuse as a child, is warranted in Sub‐Saharan Africa. An important limitation here is the lack of a control group (e.g. general population).

The present findings may be useful for the development of strategies to prevent/treat IPV in Mozambique.

In spite of its limitations, the current study may have provided new insights into women's use of violence against their partners.

In this chapter we reinvigorate socialization as a theoretical framework for studying gender and sexuality, and we do so by focusing attention on the sexual socialization of young children. We provide an overview of the literature on the sexual socialization of young children. We discuss why researchers should be interested in childhood sexuality, and the role of parents, peers and schools, and the media in sexual socialization. We also address three overarching issues: methodology, the hegemony of heterosexuality, and child sexual abuse. Throughout, we suggest and organize some of the empirical questions that form a research agenda for those interested in this topic.

Purpose – The crime of child sex offending or child sexual abuse is a serious social problem. Since the 1990s, it has been popularly conceptualised as a ‘paedophile threat’ and has become one of the most high-profile crimes of our times. This chapter examines the social construction of paedophiles in UK newspapers and its impact on official regulation of child sex offenders.

Methodology/approach – Discourse analysis is used to establish how newspaper language produces common discourses around child sex offenders. Documentary research of government legislation and law enforcement helps analyse the ways in which official regulation is informed by media discourses.

Findings – Newspaper discourses around child sex offenders construct the paedophile as a distinct and dangerous category of person. This media figure informs government legislation and law enforcement in several ways. For example, discourses around paedophiles necessitate and legitimate punitive legal trends regarding child sex offenders and facilitate the conceptualisation of specific laws.

The conceptual shift towards understanding child sexual abuse through the figure of the paedophile has several detrimental consequences. This chapter offers a critique of contemporary media and governmental/legal discourses, pointing to misrepresentation, sensationalism, demonisation and insufficient child protection.

Value – This research indicates that discourses and conceptual shifts around child sex offenders are driven by the media but have come to be accepted and perpetuated by the government and the law. This dynamic not only illustrates the power of the media to set agendas but raises questions regarding the adequacy of official governance informed by media discourses.

This chapter examines the phenomenon of internet users attempting to report and prevent online child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in the absence of adequate intervention by internet service providers, social media platforms, and government. The chapter discusses the history of online CSE, focusing on regulatory stances over time in which online risks to children have been cast as natural and inevitable by the hegemony of a “cyberlibertarian” ideology. We illustrate the success of this ideology, as well as its profound contradictions and ethical failures, by presenting key examples in which internet users have taken decisive action to prevent online CSE and promote the removal of CSAM. Rejecting simplistic characterizations of “vigilante justice,” we argue instead that the fact that often young internet users report feeling forced to act against online CSE and CSAM undercuts libertarian claims that internet regulation is impossible, unworkable, and unwanted. Recent shifts toward a more progressive ethos of online harm minimization are promising; however, this ethos risks offering a new legitimizing ideology for online business models that will continue to put children at risk of abuse and exploitation. In conclusion, we suggest ways forward toward an internet built in the interests of children, rather than profit.