Unspeakable Acts : Why Men Sexually Abuse Children

by Pryor, Douglas W.

• ISBN13: 9780814766668
• ISBN10: 0814766668
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

The sexual abuse of children is one of the most morally unsettling and emotionally inflammatory issues in American society today. It has been estimated that roughly one out of every four girls and one in ten boys experience some form of unwanted sexual attention either inside or outside the family before they reach adulthood.How should society deal with the sexual victimization of children? Should known offenders be released back into our communities? If so, where, and with what rights, should they be allowed to live? InUnspeakable Acts, Douglas W. Pryor argues that much of this debate, designed to deal with abusers after they have offended, ignores the important issue of why men cross these forbidden sexual boundaries to molest children in the first place and how the behavior can possibly be prevented before it starts.Incorporating in-depth interviews with more than thirty convicted child molesters, Pryor explores how men become involved with breaking sexual boundaries with children. He looks at how their lives prior to offending contributed to and led up to what they did, the ways that initial interest in sex with children began, the tactics offenders employed to molest their victims over time, how they felt about and reacted to their behavior between offending episodes, and how they were ultimately able to stop.The author expands our understanding of this often reviled, little understood group, leaving us with the uneasy conclusion that the moral wall separating us from what is defined as extreme, sick behavior is not as opaque as we would like to believe.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
1 Studying Offenders and Their Behavior	1	(30)
2 Blurring of Boundaries in Childhood	31	(30)
3 Escalating Problems in Adulthood	61	(30)
4 Shifting into an Offending Mode	91	(32)
5 Approaching and Engaging the Victim	123	(34)
6 Snowballing from One Act to Many	157	(32)
7 Continuing with Regular Offending	189	(32)
8 Exiting Offending and Public Exposure	221	(30)
9 Answering the Question Why	251	(34)
Table I: Recent Studies Measuring Sexual Abuse	285	(4)
Appendix A: Topical Interview Guide	289	(5)
Appendix B: Research Consent Forms	294	(3)
Appendix C: Statistical Data on Cases	297	(3)
Appendix D: The Retrospective Interpretation Problem	300	(3)
Notes	303	(33)
Suggested Reading	336	(7)
Index	343