Avengers, Conquerors, Playmates, and Lovers: Roles Played by Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrators

Abstract

Children often do not disclose significant details of their sexually abusive experiences, nor can they account for the behavior of perpetrators. Yet such information is important for effective practice. Perpetrators can fill in significant details children may not disclose as well as share their own perspectives on the abuse. The research reported here used in-depth, repeated interviews with 23 perpetrators of child sexual abuse and a phenomenological and emancipatory approach. Results indicated that perpetrators of child sexual abuse have a wide variety of types of relationships with child victims. How they relate to victims can shift over the course of an abusive incident, and they may have different types of relationships with different victims. Previous research and theory and socialization practices are integrated into the interview data to show the pervasiveness of the patterns of relationships that perpetrators establish.