Grooming, Child Abuse, & Child Sexual Exploitation
Examining Attitudes Conducive to Technology-Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: Evidence From a Representative Multi-Country Study.
Open Access: Yes.
Abstract
The development of primary prevention efforts to reduce child sexual abuse before it occurs has been inhibited by a lack of research into the attitudes and beliefs associated with child abuse and maltreatment. This article presents findings from 4,918 men pooled from nationally representative surveys of men in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and presents a latent class analysis of men’s attitudes to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse, and its relationship with sexual interest in children and/or sexual offending against children. This study identified and described three latent classes of attitudes towards technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse, identifying significant and meaningful behavioural and demographic differences between the three groups of men. An important finding of this study is that the shift from “normalisation/blame diffusion” (associated with the belief that technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse is normal and acceptable behaviour) to “denial of abusiveness: and restrictive stereotypes” (associated with denying that abuse is harmful and desired by the child) was associated with greater odds of acting on sexual interest in children. The finding suggests that the moral or ethical quandary posed by sexual interest in children, and the consensus that child sexual abuse is morally wrong, has an important role to play in the prevention of technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse. Interventions that seek to reinforce attitudes that child sexual abuse is harmful, and the fault of the perpetrator, may prevent at-risk men from offending. From the perspective of secondary prevention, targeting men who hold normalisation and blame diffusion beliefs may assist agencies in identifying offenders earlier in their offending trajectory. The findings also underscore the critically important role of the media and other sources of cultural influence, including the technology sector and entertainment industry, in reinforcing the moral wrong of child sexual abuse.
Relevance
“This is the first study to explore attitudes around child sexual exploitation among representative community samples of men in three countries. This study identified and described three latent classes of attitudes towards child sexual exploitation, identifying significant and meaningful behavioural and demographic differences between the three groups of men. Class 1 had the lowest probability of endorsing any attitudes conducive of technology-facilitated child sex offending, and the lowest rates of sexual interest or offending against children. This was the largest group in the survey, although considerably larger in the United Kingdom and Australia compared to the United States.”
“Men in Class 2 had the highest probability of endorsing “normalisation/blame diffusion” attitudes, a set of beliefs that ascribe responsibility for abuse to people or circumstances other than the offender. Normalisation and blame diffusion was clearly associated with significant risk to children. This group of men were over 10 times more likely to have sexual interest in children compared to Class 1. One in five men in Class 2 had sexual interest in children, and one in five had sexually offended against children. Compared to Class 1, this group indicated that they were almost 20 times more likely to have sexual contact with a child under 15 if nobody would find out. They were also more likely to watch pornography frequently and purchase sexual services online.”
“Compared to Class 1, men in Class 2 had a distinctly privileged demographic profile and were more likely to have access to children at home and work. They were over three times more likely to be employed, almost twice as likely to have a bachelor’s degree, over three times more likely to have a child in the house, twice as likely to work with children, over five times more likely to live in the city, over six times more likely to be young (aged 18–34), and almost three times more likely to have an annual household income over US$100 000. The reason why this group of men were, on average, more successful than Class 1 men in terms of educational attainment and socioeconomic status is beyond the scope of this article but deserves further inquiry.”
“Men in Class 3 represented a higher risk to children than Class 2. Compared to Class 2, men in Class 3 were over six times more likely to have engaged in technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse and over two times more likely to indicate that they would have sexual contact with a child under 15 years if they knew no one would find out. They displayed a significantly different attitudinal posture to Class 2. This group had a moderately high probability of endorsing items corresponding to “denial of abusiveness” (beliefs that minimise the abusive or harmful nature of child sexual abuse) and “restrictive stereotypes” (denial of the facts about child sexual abuse), and a moderately low probability of endorsing items relating to “normalisation/blame diffusion.” This group was 17.6% of men in the United States, and one in 10 men in Australia and the United Kingdom.”
“Compared to Class 2, men in Class 3 were over three times more likely to watch violent or rough porn, almost eight times more likely to watch bestiality, over two times more likely to be approached by an adult selling sexual services online, and over six times more likely to have been approached by a child selling sexual services online. They were significantly more likely to use all social media platforms except for Facebook and TikTok than men from Class 2.”
“Recent content analysis showing that the most common form of sexual violence depicted in adult pornography is incest also raises questions about the role of adult content in undermining social consensus against child sexual abuse (Vera-Gray et al., 2021) and the place of content and media regulation by governments in the prevention of child sexual abuse. It is also notable that pro-paedophile social movements have become increasingly visible on social media with a specific agenda around the normalisation of sexual interest in children (Farmer et al., 2024). Based on the findings of this study, it is very concerning that these groups are promoting beliefs that have an empirical association with the sexual abuse of children.”
Citation
