Exploring the uncomfortable topic of women who engage in child sexual abuse material offenses: How are they represented in the media

Lara Christensen

doi:10.1177/13634607231201723

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Exploring the uncomfortable topic of women who engage in child sexual abuse material offenses: How are they represented in the media

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Exploring the uncomfortable topic of women who engage in child sexual abuse material offenses: How are they represented in the media

Lara Christensen

Sexualities, Vol.28(1-2), pp.404-418

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607231201723

Appears in UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection

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Abstract

Criminology

Criminal justice

female child sexual offenders

female sex offenders

media

child sexual abuse

child sexual abuse material

UniSC Diversity Area - Life Stages

The representation of women who engage in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenses in the media is important to understand because the misconstruction of offending may marginalize victims of these offenses and stymie the reporting by victims. The current study aimed to explore how women who perpetrate CSAM offenses are represented in the media. A search of all newspaper articles reporting CSAM offenses perpetrated by women published in English over a 6-month period (1 May 2020 to 31 October 2020) was conducted (N = 68 articles). A qualitative content analysis identified three themes: (1) newspaper headings do not suggest women, including mothers, engage in CSAM offending; (2) women who co-offend are actively involved in the CSAM offending; and (3) CSAM cases perpetrated by women are reported factually as opposed to emotively. Overall, the findings are positive, indicating advancements in the factual, as opposed to stereotypical, reporting of women who engage in CSAM offenses.

Details

Title: Exploring the uncomfortable topic of women who engage in child sexual abuse material offenses: How are they represented in the media
Authors: Lara Christensen (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Publication details: Sexualities, Vol.28(1-2), pp.404-418
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1177/13634607231201723
ISSN: 1461-7382; 1363-4607
Copyright note: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Organisation Unit: School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99967398902621
Output Type: Journal article