Room for Improvement: How does the Media Portray Individuals Who Engage in Material Depicting Child Sexual Abuse?
The media has a powerful ability to shape public perceptions. Given the current disjuncture between social attitudes and the law in relation to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) it is important to explore the representation of CSAM offenders in the media. The aim of this exploratory study was to id...
| Published in: | Sexuality & Culture Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 1326 - 1339 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Aug2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=157871431&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 157871431 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10955143 DZ0 jtl: Sexuality & Culture issn: 10955143 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2022 vid: 26 iid: 4 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 157871431 10.1007/s12119-022-09945-x ppf: 1326 ppct: 13 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 737KB tig: atl: Room for Improvement: How does the Media Portray Individuals Who Engage in Material Depicting Child Sexual Abuse? aug: au: Christensen, Larissa S. Pollard, Katarina affil: Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit, School of Law and Society, USC Australia, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, 4558, Maroochydore, DC, QLD, Australia School of Law and Society, USC Australia, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, 4558, Maroochydore, DC, QLD, Australia su: Child sexual abuse Mass media Social attitudes Heterogeneity Law enforcement sug: subj: Child sexual abuse Mass media Social attitudes Heterogeneity Law enforcement keyword: Child exploitation material Child sex offender Child sexual abuse material Media ab: The media has a powerful ability to shape public perceptions. Given the current disjuncture between social attitudes and the law in relation to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) it is important to explore the representation of CSAM offenders in the media. The aim of this exploratory study was to identify how CSAM offenders are depicted in the print media. Newspaper articles published from 1 August 2019 to 31 August 2020 on CSAM offenders in Western countries were searched. A qualitative content analysis was employed, revealing three themes across the 56 articles: (1) the headings of the articles downplayed the abusive offending; (2) offender's motivations indicate heterogeneity in offending; and (3) sentencing remarks communicated denunciation and the harms of offending. While the first theme identified that there is still space for improvement in the reporting of these crimes, the second theme indicates the various motivations portrayed should assist the public in identifying that these offenders are heterogenous in their motivations, thus potentially countering some previously held stereotypes. Finally, the denunciation and the harms taken from the messages delivered by the judiciary in the sentencing remarks could offer a positive educational tool for some members of the public. These findings should be valuable for media, law enforcement, and psychology disciplines. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Sexuality & Culture is a copyright of Springer, 2022. All Rights Reserved. item: Sexuality & Culture holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2022 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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