NCJ Number
195385
Journal
Deviant Behavior Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Dated: July-August 2002 Pages: 331-361
Date Published
2002
Length
31 pages
Annotation
Based on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with 13 men convicted of downloading child pornography from the Internet, this study examined the ways in which these respondents talked about child pornography and the function this played in their accounts.
Abstract
Central to the analysis was recognition of the significance of the subjective meanings given to child pornography by the respondents rather than of the content of the pictures themselves. Six principal discourses relating to the ways that respondents used child pornography emerged during the analysis. All discourses were common across respondents, with the exception of "child pornography facilitating social relationships." This discourse was largely confined to respondents who had gone on to chat online with others through Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The most dominant discourse was that of child pornography as a means of achieving sexual arousal. Some (but not all) of the pictures that were accessed were used for masturbatory purposes, and respondents were selective in the pictures they used. The discourse of collecting and its importance for respondents overlapped with but was not subsumed by discourses of arousal. Pleasure was obtained from collecting pictures as part of a series, even when the material was not attractive or sexually arousing. For many respondents, linking up with others on the Internet provided important social support that often replaced unsatisfactory relationships in the real world. Accessing child pornography on the Internet became part of a bid to create a secret and separate world. The cyber world had many qualities that were unobtainable in the real world and allowed escape from many unpleasant realities. "Accessing child pornography as therapy" overlapped with talk of satiation and addiction; however, some respondents claimed to seek pornographic images as a way of controlling their interests. For some, child pornography was a way of dealing with emotions, such as anger, that had no other outlet. The more the respondent used the Internet as a means of accessing pornography, the more skillful he became in finding material and defeating any security checks. Because of the nature of the Internet, further understanding of these issues presents unique challenges for policymakers and the Internet industry. A central issue for policymakers is the problem of reconciling freedom of speech and limitation on censorship of the Internet with the evident child-protection problems presented by the production, distribution, and viewing of child pornography. 41 references