Child Pornography

The availability of child pornography on the Internet has become a cause of huge
social concern in recent years. This book considers the reality behind the
oftenhysterical media coverage of the topic. Drawing on extensive new research
findings, it:

• Examines how child pornography is used on the Internet;

• Identifies the social context in which such use occurs;
• Develops a model of offending behaviour to help better understand and deal with
the processes of offending.

Detailed interviews and offenders’ own accounts are used to illustrate the processes
involved in offending and treatment.
The authors argue that we need to redefine our ideas of offending, and that while
severe deterrents need to be associated with possession of child pornography, a better
comprehension is needed of the links between possession and committing a contact
offence. Only by improving our understanding of this complex and very controversial
topic can we hope to deal effectively with offenders and their child victims.
This book is an essential read for anyone involved with offenders or victims, from
a psychological, judicial or social background.

Professor Max Taylor is Professor of Applied Psychology at University College

Cork, and director of the COPINE Project. He is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist,
with extensive experience of research in areas related to the criminal justice system.

Dr Ethel Quayle is a College Lecturer in the Department of Applied Psychology

at University College Cork, and a researcher with the COPINE Project. She is a
clinical psychologist with extensive experience of work with offenders.
Child Pornography
An Internet Crime

Max Taylor and Ethel Quayle

HOVE AND NEW YORK

 First published 2003
by Brunner-Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Brunner-Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Brunner-Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2003 Max Taylor and Ethel Quayle
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Taylor, Maxwell, 1945–
Child pornography: an internet crime/Max. Taylor and Ethel Quayle.
p.; cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-58391-243-6 (hardback: alk. paper)—ISBN 1-58391-244-4 (pbk. : alk. paper
1. Children in pornography.
2. Internet pornography.
3. Internet and children.
4. Child sexual abuse-United States-Prevention.
5. Pedophilia. I. Quayle, Ethel, 1953– II . Title.
HQ471 T39 2003
363.4’7–dc2l
2002015046

ISBN 0-203-69554-2 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-69795-2 (Adobe eReader Format)

ISBN 1-58391-243-6 hbk
ISBN 1-58391-244-4 pbk
 Contents

List of illustrations v
Foreword vi

1 Introduction 1
2 The nature of child pornography 21
3 Adult sexual interest in children 47
4 The Internet, child pornography and adult sexual interest in children 73
5 Metamorphosis 97
6 A virtual community 119
7 The process of collecting 147
8 A model of problematic Internet use 171
9 Issues for concern and conclusions 191

References 213
Index 225
 Illustrations

Table
2.1 Taxonomy of different kinds of child pornography 32

Figures
2.1 Number of series of pictures at different grading levels 35
2.2 Number of series at different levels for Child 1 35
2.3 Number of series at different levels for Child 2 (3–7), Child 3 (6), Child 4 35
(4–6), Child 5 (1.5–3) (age range of photographs indicated in brackets)
8.1 A model of potential problematic Internet use 178
9.1 The relationship between the three different kinds of involvement with child 198
pornography
 Foreword

Child pornography is an emotive topic, and discussions tend to touch raw and
sensitive issues, where opinion and moral position become more important than
rational debate. Perhaps this is how it should be when facing disturbing deviant
behaviour. Bruno Bettelheim wrote that he ‘shied away from trying to understand
the psychology of the SS because of the ever-present danger that understanding fully
might come close to forgiving’. The paedophile, and the public visible product of
paedophilia in the form of child pornography, seems in many ways to give rise to
public emotions that are like those associated with the SS. Collectively paedophiles
are vilified, demonised and subject to enormous moral approbation. And in trying
to develop a psychological understanding, we do run the risk of excusing, of offering
a logic that seems to side-step issues of responsibility, or issues of consequences for
victims, and in so doing appearing to condone if not forgive.
In embarking on this book, we were aware of these problems. But the paradox is
that without understanding, the harsh world of the SS becomes that much closer as
prejudice substitutes for reason, as self-righteous assertion distorts debate, and hinders
the search for solutions. This book does try to increase our understanding of the
processes that lead to the production and distribution of child pornography. In doing
so, however, it neither offers apologies, nor does it diminish the significance of the
consequences for the child victims, or for society in general. In its conclusions it places
the debate firmly within a victim-centred perspective, with the ultimate aim of using
psychological insights to develop better and more effective child protection strategies.
One victim in particular stands out. Thea Pumbroek died in Amsterdam on the
27 August 1984. She was 6 years old. She had already appeared in a number of child
pornographic videos, and died of an overdose of cocaine whilst being filmed. As we
have found in trying to reconstruct the events around her death, nobody remembers
her. We know of no commemorative foundation in her name to focus attention on
helping victims of child pornography, and even the records of her death seem to have
disappeared or been mislaid. She seems to have been treated in death as little more
than the object she had been in life. Children do not normally die as a result of
involvement with child pornography, and Thea’s tragic death finds few parallels in
the contemporary world. But our lack of knowledge of her does mirror our lack of
knowledge of the victims of child pornography, and emphasises a concern at the
distortion in resources being directed towards offenders rather than victims.
 vii

In this book we are aware that we have also potentially contributed to this distortion
in that we have taken an offender focus. Offenders collect and trade child
pornography, have created the Internet networks that facilitate the exchange of
photographs, and some of them produce child pornography. Our understanding of
the processes involved must necessarily therefore begin with the offender, and clearly
efforts to control child pornography must focus on the offender. But we must not
lose sight of the child in the photograph, of their short- and long-term needs and
situations, and of the need to ensure that the victim remains empowered throughout
the process of dealing with offenders.
The research on which this book is based was undertaken as part of the COPINE
Project. The history of the COPINE Project lies in a research programme concerned
with disadvantaged children, especially street children, that began in 1990 with the
founding of the Child Studies Unit. COPINE stands for Combating Paedophile
Information Networks in Europe, the name given to the EU-funded project that
initiated the research programme. Over time, the Project has developed into a unique
research initiative, drawing on clinical and forensic psychology to explore and
understand in a rounded way the world of child pornography, and those involved in
it. The success of the Project lies in its ability to cross professional and national
boundaries—Project members are academics, but research has developed in
collaboration with other professions and disciplines that are also concerned with the
management of child pornography, especially the law enforcement world. The Project
activities could not have been undertaken without strong support from the European
Commission through its STOP and Daphne programmes.
The subject matter of this book, child pornography, is illegal in most Western
countries. Its production, distribution and possession is a serious offence. The
research reported in this book has drawn upon an extensive knowledge of child
pornography, but it is important to stress that this has been acquired within a closely
controlled professional and legal framework, and at all times, appropriate professional
and moral controls have been adhered to. We have taken considerable efforts to not
identify individuals or processes in our discussions. We are very aware of the dilemma
any author faces in this area of providing sufficient information to enable appropriate
professional discussion and debate without fuelling prurient interest or fantasy. We
are also very aware that a book of this kind can be read with intentions very different
from those of the authors, and indeed can be misused. We hope that we have guarded
against this.
Many organisations have contributed to this book, in one way or another. We owe
debts of gratitude to: the Governors and staff of HM Prisons Wakefield, Strangeways,
Channingswood, Winchester and Wandsworth, and to Cork and Limerick Prisons;
to the staff of Salford and Eccles Probation Service and the NSPCC Dove Project;
to Greater Manchester Police, the London Metropolitan Police, the National Crime
Squad, Hampshire Police, An Garda Siochána and Interpol; to the Wolvercote Clinic.
Amongst many individuals, we particularly wish to thank: the staff of the COPINE
Project, especially Graine Murphy, Emma O’Dwyer, Mary Vaughan and Gemma
Holland, and our colleague Noreen Moynihan for her secretarial help and support;
viii

Bob McClachlan, Hamish McCullough and Terry Jones and their respective staff;
George Bullock and Paul Wright and their colleagues; Sarah Ward; Angela Cope and
Louise Wright; Donal Findlater and Joe Sullivan. We wish also to thank the many
offenders who gave permission to engage in the research that underpins this book;
we hope that in telling their stories they help to redress some of the damage done.
The views expressed in this work are solely those of the authors, and we take full
responsibility for them.
This book was written whilst both of us were on leave of absence from University
College Cork, and we wish to thank the President of the University, Professor
G.Wrixon, for facilitating our leave. The table used in Chapter 2 to illustrate a
typology of paedophile picture collections was previously published in The Police
Journal, 74 (2000), 97–107 and reproduced with the kind permission of Vathek
Publishing Ltd. Some of the material presented in Chapter 5 was previously published
in CyberPsychology and Behaviour, 4(5) (2001), 597–608 and is reproduced with the
kind permission of Anne Liebert Publishing Co. The authors gratefully acknowledge
assistance received from the University College of Cork Faculty of Arts Research
Publication Fund.
Whilst not always helped by their presence, we are nevertheless grateful for the
contribution of Alice, Cathy and Josh. Tuff was a benign influence, but generally
speaking Francis got in the way.

EQ and MT
Restábal and Cork
 Chapter I
Introduction

Awareness and recognition of the problems of the sexual abuse of children has grown
enormously over the past two decades amongst both professional and lay
communities. From being a largely unnoticed and hidden problem, it now commands
government and media attention as a major social problem. However, not all aspects
of the sexual abuse of children, either in the past or currently, command equal
attention. Until recently, child pornography was not seen as a particularly significant
element in the array of activities related to sexual abuse. If it was recognised, it was
seen as a rather small and essentially specialist correlate of a much broader and more
significant problem. Although we have little knowledge of the role that child
pornography might play in the sexual abuse of children, this was probably an
appropriate perception at least until the 1990s. However, since the mid–1990s, we
have seen a change in the nature of child pornography. This is primarily but not
exclusively in terms of access to it, and its distribution. Associated with this, there has
been growing media attention given to child pornography, both in itself, and with
respect to child pornography on the Internet. Indeed, it might be argued that the
problem of child pornography has leapt from a situation of general ignorance and
inattention to one of massive media and political attention. There are almost daily
news reports of arrests of individuals either in possession of, distributing, or creating
child pornography. The issue of child pornography has, for the moment, become a
major area of law enforcement activity, and parallel social concern.
Yet, paradoxically, we know relatively little about child pornography, and it is not
an area that has attracted much systematic research effort. If we move from the media
dramatisation to ask questions about its nature, its relationship with sexual abuse of
children, and its broader relationship with the Internet (either as a medium of
distribution, or as a factor in itself) we have remarkably little knowledge. Throwing
some light on to what child pornography is, how it is produced, and how and why
it is distributed and collected are the central aims of this book.
At first sight, asking questions about child pornography may seem largely
irrelevant. After all, it may seem obvious that the explanation lies in simply deviant
sexual interests, which find expression in photographs of children. That the subjects
of the photographs are children rather than adults would seem to simplify or negate
any potential debate about human rights issues and freedom of access, which has
dominated questions over the right to produce and access adult pornography. In the
2 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

case of child pornography, as with child sexual abuse, we tend to conclude that there
is an imbalance of power between the child in the picture and the adult who produced
it, such that the child cannot in any meaningful sense ‘choose’ whether or not to be
in the photograph. This might help us to place into perspective issues related to the
production of child pornography; but does this imbalance equally apply to the viewer
of child pornography? In what sense is the viewer engaging in the process of abuse?
And given that sexual arousal related to photographs necessarily also relates to fantasy,
are we in an oblique way attempting to control fantasy, rather than behaviour, when
we move away from seeking to control production to controlling the viewing of child
pornography? These are difficult questions to answer.
An equally difficult issue lies in deciding what actually constitutes child
pornography. Examining photographs from the seized collections of offenders
demonstrates that a wide variety of images are collected and in some sense used by
adults sexually interested in children to fuel their fantasies. This raises complex issues
about the nature of pornography when we attempt to define it by objective measures
as opposed to looking at the function it has for the individual and the use to which
it is put. In doing this it raises equally complex and fundamental issues about sexual
interest in children, and why and how that interest finds expression in child
pornography.
This book also addresses a wider context, however, in that the primary
contemporary sources of child pornography relate to the Internet. We can regard the
Internet as simply a medium of distribution, but, at least in the context we are
concerned with, the Internet itself also has an important psychological role to play
in the development and propagation of child pornography. Child pornography and
the Internet represent an almost paradigmatic example of contemporary crime - the
bringing together of sexual exploitation of children and the new technologies. This
challenges and extends our understanding of the relationship between man and
computers, and the role that the computer might play in the sexual exploitation of
children. As well as exploring the role of the Internet, the analysis presented in this
book also draws on work from three substantive areas—adult sexual interest in
children, notions of community and virtual community, and the psychology of
collecting. Pulling together the threads from these diverse areas will help to place the
role of child pornography and the Internet within a broader context, with implications
for law enforcement, social welfare intervention and public policy.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
As soon as we examine what we mean by child pornography, we begin to encounter
uncertainties and confusions. The terms ‘child’ and ‘pornography’ on their own are
themselves contentious, with complex and sometimes contradictory meanings. The
ways that we define what it is to be a child are socially and temporally situated, as are
views about the appropriateness of adult sexual interest in children and what
constitutes pornography. Given this, definitions of child pornography can therefore
be quite complex.
 INTRODUCTION 3

A necessary central quality of child pornography is, of course, that a child is in a

photograph. What national laws define as a child quite reasonably relates to
chronological age. However, an immediate and obvious problem is that different
jurisdictions set different ages for what constitutes a child. Consistent with the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, in the West we tend towards an allembracing
view that childhood ends at 18, and seek to extend legal protection from sexual and
labour exploitation to all below that age. The age of consent for sexual activity (which
may or may not be related to what we mean by a child), however, is more likely to
be 16 (and even 14 in some jurisdictions). In contrast, social and psychological
insights into what constitutes ‘achild’ emphasise that it is not simply a chronological
judgement, but it is also asocial and cultural statement. Western concepts of
childhood, with assumed relationships with parents, and the notion of dependency,
are not necessarily shared in all societies, and views about the appropriateness of child
labour (and child sexuality) vary between cultures.
Even in a narrow technical sense related to photographs of children, we can
encounter difficulties. When viewing a picture in the absence of information about
the individual photographed, attempting to determine an age may become a matter
of complex judgement. Whilst decisions about whether a person photographed is a
child are not problematic when the individual is very young; when we move into
adolescent years such decisions, when based on visual evidence, are much more
difficult to make. There are enormous individual variations in the normal
development of secondary sexual characteristics, making visually based judgements
about age very difficult.
However, assuming a child is involved, what then constitutes pornography? In
some jurisdictions, pornography is linked to notions of obscenity; in others it is linked
to sexuality and sexualised behaviour. As we will see in Chapter 2, this can make a
critical difference as to how any given putative example of child pornography is
regarded.
These differing criteria mean that it is quite possible for a picture to be regarded
under laws that emphasise sexual qualities as child pornography but to fail in
jurisdictions where obscenity or public morality definitions prevail. Photographic
work that might be defended against accusations of obscenity and indecency on
artistic grounds, such as the photographs of her own nude children taken by the well-
known photographer Sally Mann, might well also be regarded as sexual depictions
in jurisdictions where potential sexuality is emphasised. Although Mann herself rejects
any accusation of sexuality in her photographs, Kincaid (1998: 320 fn 98) cites an
art critic who praised her photographs ‘because they beautifully demonstrate that
being pure and innocent has nothing to do with being sexless’, which, to say the least,
demonstrates the tensions involved in making judgements about this kind of
photograph. Naturist material may similarly be difficult to categorise. Naturism is a
legitimate activity, and presumably photographs of naked children and adults
involved in naturist activities are, in their context, appropriate.
A major difficulty relates to what, in the context of adult images, might be regarded
as erotica. Pictures of this kind would generally be regarded as child pornography
4 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

where reference is made to sexual qualities, but might not if obscenity or indecency
criteria are used. For example, erotica can be described as sexually explicit material
that depicts adult men and women consensually involved in pleasurable, non-violent,
non-degrading, sexual interactions (Marshall and Barrett 1990), whereas
pornography might be thought to depict activity that is non-consensual and where
one of the participants is portrayed as powerless or nonconsenting. In later discussions,
we will explore further the issue of power as an element in the production of child
pornography. If we take the view that a child cannot give informed consent, whatever
the visual representation suggests, quite clearly in erotica of this kind questions related
to consent could not be at issue.
At its worst, child pornography is a picture of a child being in some sense sexually
abused. That is to say, at its worst, it is the portrayal of a sexual assault and as such
it is therefore the picture of a serious crime in progress. In most Western countries
not only the production but also the possession of that photograph (or video or cine
film) is itself an offence. Generally, but not exclusively, an adult (often a man)
commits the assault portrayed against a younger girl or boy. The person holding the
camera is also generally an adult, who in some way directs the abusive content of the
photograph. But a picture might as readily involve two or more children of either the
same or different sexes. However we construe this, of course what follows is that such
a picture is also the picture of a crime scene.
The media accounts of child pornography quite properly emphasise this extreme
sexual quality of the pictures, and draw the inference that all child pornography is
necessarily related to ongoing sexual assaults on children. When we see prosecutions
associated with child pornography in the courts, however, the offences may indeed
relate to the production of such material, but may also relate to its possession and also
its distribution. The distribution and collecting of child pornography may well
separate the viewer from the source, and thus, not all offenders involved with child
pornography are necessarily involved in direct sexual assaults on children, but may
view or collect pictures of sexual assaults. In a sense, this constitutes a form of
secondary assault, as distinct from the original primary assault. But this raises the
issue of the relationship between sexual assaults on children, taking such pictures,
and the viewing and collecting of child pornography. Some authors have asserted that
child pornography is a ‘sideline’ in which ‘all else is subordinated to the act of
molestation’. This may be the case with respect to the production of child
pornography, but the active engagement of many people in its collection and
distribution suggests that the situation is more complex than that Child pornography
raises issues about the nature of adult sexual interest in children, sexual assaults on
children, and sexual fantasy about children. It seems to identify within the category
of individuals with a sexual interest in children a range of behavioural and
psychological qualities that extend our current understanding of sexual abuse of
children beyond actual physical assault.
Indeed, the range of people involved in child pornography offences seems to cross
boundaries of class, income and profession. Doctors, technicians, businessmen,
teachers, media personalities, policemen: these are just a few of the kinds of people
 INTRODUCTION 5

who have been found guilty in recent criminal proceedings of possession of child
pornography. Offenders are not always adult males; women are also involved. Nor is
age particularly relevant; children as young as 13 have been involved in the
distribution of child pornography, and men as old as 75 have been convicted for the
production of child pornography. We have no idea how many people collect or possess
child pornography. Nor do we have any idea of the extent of the broader issue of
adult sexual interest in children. But all our knowledge of offending suggests that the
number of people involved is considerable. However, occasionally, there are glimpses
we can make into this world. On 14 November 2001, abc News.com reported the
results of an FBI investigation into a child pornography web site operated by Landslide
Productions. This company’s web site sold subscriptions to web sites offering child
pornography. Landslide Productions grossed $1.4 million dollars in one month, and
on investigation revealed 35,000 individual subscribers within the USA. This is the
largest such site to be detected to date, but indicates the scale of both the interest,
and the potential profit.
Why does this occur? What is it that sustains the behaviour of collecting child
pornography that exposes those involved to what in the current climate is a very real
risk of a long prison sentence if caught? What role does child pornography play that
it should seemingly draw in people who otherwise might lead lives with no contact
with the law enforcement authorities? These are important issues about which we are
only now beginning to gain some understanding: later chapters will explore these
issues in much greater depth.
The phrase ‘at its worst’ was deliberately used earlier in the discussion when
referring to what we might call child pornography. That is because not all pictures
are pictures of a sexual assault in progress. Some pictures that we might regard as
child pornography are of naked children posed in sexually provocative ways; others
are of clothed or partially clothed children posed, or with some degree of underwear
showing. As noted above, sometimes pictures of this kind when involving adults are
termed ‘erotica’. The link between them all is that they in some way serve a sexual
purpose, not necessarily (or even at all) for the child concerned, but for the producer
and viewer. Some legal definitions of child pornography (as discussed above) recognise
this, but the presence of such photographs also draws our attention to personal and
essentially psychological qualities of child pornography for the viewer. The
photographer creates a photograph, either deliberately or adventitiously, and the
viewer constructs from that photograph some sexual meaning. It is that cycle of
production and viewing that characterises the process of child pornography. Central
to our understanding of this are notions of sexual fantasy, sexual arousal and sexual
behaviour.
In addition, we know that those who collect child pornography do not restrict
their collections to small numbers of photographs. Such people may collect thousands
of images. Given this number, it is unlikely that the collector can know the detail of
what he has, and most certainly an individual cannot engage sexually (through
masturbation, for example) with so many pictures. Why then are collections often so
large? What psychological functions might these collections play? We also know that
6 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

adults sexually interested in children can be highly specific in targeting preferred

pornography, which may relate to particular physical characteristics of a child or
children, or may relate to activities portrayed in the images. Indeed, this may be the
principle around which their collection is organised.
Clearly, child pornography has, as its primary function, some element of sexual
arousal or fantasy. A central question that follows from this is what role does such
material play in sexual behaviour, as opposed to fantasy. To answer this, we need to
explore the relationship between sexual arousal and fantasy, collecting behaviour and
the likelihood of actual sexual assault against a child. Certainly, in the context of adult
pornography, there is some evidence to suggest that sexually aggressive behaviour
may increase after exposure to photographs containing violent or coercive images. Is
that the case with respect to child pornography? Or does engagement with child
pornography serve to displace potential assaultive behaviour with other more
acceptable forms of sexual activity (such as masturbation), thereby protecting against
sexual assaults?
To continue our brief discussion of the nature of child pornography pictures, not
every picture that is attractive to an individual with a sexual interest in children is
necessarily pornographic or even highly sexualised in its content. Non-sexual pictures
of children are, for many individuals, attractive objects to collect and presumably
fantasise over. Following through on this point emphasises a fundamental difference
of view between legal definitions of child pornography, and psychological accounts
of what constitutes pictures attractive to adults with a sexual interest in children.
Pictures are both taken and collected for a variety of reasons; the uses to which the
viewer might put pictures are complex, and producers of child pornography recognise
this. Legal definitions of child pornography generally fail to deal with this issue.
To add to the complexity in terms of the practical management of child
pornography, quite commonly children involved in more extreme examples of its
production may also have non-pornographic pictures taken of them. For example,
in 2000, a 14-year-old US child who had been involved in the production of large
amounts of child pornography, including a Russian pornographic video, was also
extensively photographed in non-pornographic settings on numerous occasions.
These pictures, entirely legal and widely available on the Internet, in many respects
complement and extend the illegal pornographic material of the same child. They
may provide contextual material about the child, making them more ‘real’ to the
offender and fuelling sexual fantasies.
There is also a sense in which the legal specification of child pornography in a
jurisdiction shapes what material is produced. During the year 2000 there emerged
a number of commercial sites on the World Wide Web offering erotic pictures of
children for payment. The pictures were erotic in the sense that the children were
posed in states of partial or full undress, but the pictures had no explicit sexual content.
Adults were never present in the pictures, and the poses adopted were in the main
not necessarily sexually provocative (although often genitalia were focused on). The
pictures appear to have been very carefully produced to fall just within the limits of
what constitutes legal pictures in the country that hosted the web site. To summarise,
 INTRODUCTION 7

it seems clear that, whilst we might start with a relatively simple framework from
which to understand child pornography, closer inspection reveals complex themes
and issues.
Throughout this book we have used the term ‘child pornography’ to describe its
subject matter. This is, as we will see, in some cases a legal term, and in any event it
is a term with wide currency. However, its continuing use does present some
problems, notably in terms of the comparisons it invites with ‘adult pornography’.
The issue here is our often-ambivalent view of the nature of adult pornography, and
the sense in which that ambivalence might leak into the way we think about child
pornography. Adult pornography can be bought in respectable bookshops, it is
available from newsagents (even if on the top shelf); we see frankly pornographic
advertisements for new cars, we may be sent mildly pornographic calendars. There
is often a sense of titillation, of adolescent manly mild rudeness, associated with adult
pornography that inappropriately diminishes its abusive content.
A better term than child pornography would be ‘images of sexual abuse’, or more
simply ‘abuse images’. This unambiguously expresses the nature of child
pornography, and places it firmly outside of the range of acceptable innuendo and
smutty jokes—perhaps this should apply to adult pornography as well. However,
notwithstanding this, we have chosen to use the term ‘child pornography’, primarily
because it has wide currency and in the current climate at least is the conventionally
acceptable term; we use it, however, in the knowledge of its inappropriateness to
describe the reality of the images we are concerned with.

Concerns over child pornography

Many things drive concern over child pornography, but the principal factor for most
people concerned about this area relates to child protection. With the advent of new
technologies, demonstrating an interest in child pornography has moved from furtive
and often expensive purchasing of magazines and videos to being able now to
download vast numbers of photographs without payment, in large quantities and in
the privacy of one’s own home. This seems to represent a reduced risk to the individual
to acquire material, allows for the size of collections to grow and creates a constant
demand for new and novel material. Meeting the demand for new material inevitably
means that more and more children are involved in the production of child
pornography. Also, for those with a sexual interest in children, new technologies such
as digital cameras mean that those interested in viewing can also very easily become
producers. Both still and moving photographs can now be produced with no third-
party involvement, and with apparent total security. Such technology can even allow
the online abuse of children, directed by others from any distance.
But, whilst it is important to create an environment in which children are not
abused, it is also necessary to recognise the limits that protection can take. In
particular, recognising that individuals with a sexual interest in children might
sexualise what may, in other contexts, be appropriate photographs points to the need
for a discriminating approach. It is the link between child pornography and sexual
8 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

abuse that makes child pornography inappropriate and illegal; it is not the fact that
people might generate obscene, deviant or inappropriate fantasies around some
photographs. Creating a pragmatic balance between freedom of thought and
expression (and recognising that these cannot be controlled), and child protection is
the challenge we face in this area.
However cautious we must be in making inferences about civil libertarian and
other issues related to non-pornographic material, we also need to be aware of the
context in which much of this material is produced. The case referred to above of a
boy subjected to both pornographic and non-pornographic photography also serves
to highlight a further, even more disturbing, factor in the production and distribution
cycle of child pornography—the involvement of organised crime. The photographer
of this child was allegedly paid $75,000 to produce a video by Russian organised
criminal sources involved in the commercial distribution of child pornography. This
is by no means a typical situation, and, for the moment, we can say that child
pornography distribution, and in most cases production, remains a complex
international conspiracy not primarily driven by money; but alarmingly it is one in
which money seems increasingly to be a factor. But regardless of issues of payment,
this emphasises the fact that the child involved in this transaction was essentially a
commodity, to be used primarily in this case for the generation of profit, but in other
cases for sexual fantasy. As far as the distributors are concerned the pornographic
material produced is simply a product, although clearly that product gained its value
from its sexual content.
What commercial involvement emphasises more clearly than domestic production
is the sense in which the pictures that constitute child pornography are disembodied
and disconnected; they are unreal representations, a symbol of something rather than
a reality. That they are of real children is, of course, significant and crucial, but
photographic representations (and video representations) are creations rather than
reality. It is not the particular child that is important, but an image of a child that
meets certain visual requirements (in terms primarily of looks and actions performed).
But the cycle of child pornography does involve real children, and we know that the
content implicit in sexual photographs of children also finds expression in reality.
The smiling face of the child in a photograph is also the face of a child subject to a
serious crime. Once captured on a photograph, the image remains. The child is forever
frozen at its age at that time, and is available to anyone who has the means to acquire
it. Child pornography therefore represents and preserves that abuse or sexualised
image for as long as that photograph (or video) remains. The relatively innocent other
photographs that were taken of the child referred to above (and regrettably of many
others) need to be seen in this broader context.
In the past, obtaining child pornography was difficult. It required a measure of
physical exposure of the person involved to being identified, in that a visit to a
specialised sex shop was required, or a name and address had to be given to a mail
order organisation. The private exchange of pictures between individuals also took
place, but again the danger of identification remained. Pictures (in the form of single
images, magazines, cine films and latterly videos) may have been costly to obtain from
 INTRODUCTION 9

commercial sources, because even if they were not illegal, open acknowledgement of
a sexual interest in children is not something that has ever been tolerated in
contemporary Western societies. Recognising this, the retailers of child pornography
could charge large amounts of money for their material. But now circumstances have
changed. Whilst the open commercial sale of child pornography is now no longer
tolerated in any Western country, paradoxically the availability of child pornography
is easier and in more plentiful supply than ever before. This is because of the Internet.
The Internet enables the speedy, efficient and above all anonymous distribution of
child pornography on a global scale. Anyone with a modicum of technical expertise
can access child pornography through either the World Wide Web or newsgroups.
Furthermore, much of the Internet-related pornography is free. Child pornography
is one of the few commodities that can be transferred over the Internet, in the sense
that the information required to construct a picture can be rapidly and easily
distributed over an existing widely available network. Thus, the Internet enables in
this case not just the passage of information, but also the delivery of a product—a
picture or video sequence provided the recipient has the software to decode and
construct a picture.
The information passed over the Internet that constitutes a picture is a perfect copy
of an original, which can be reproduced endlessly without loss of definition or any
other qualities. Once a picture has been copied and distributed over the Internet, its
further distribution is wholly out of control. If a picture has been transmitted to an
Internet source, removal of the original source, therefore, has no effect on the
subsequent distribution. What this means is that once a picture has been copied and
distributed on the Internet, it is essentially always available. It can always be further
copied, it can always be distributed, and it always remains. The only certain way of
eliminating a picture is to trace and eliminate every copy, an impossible task given
the global scale of distribution of these images.
Such distribution of images is not random, nor do those with a commercial interest
in its production solely drive it. People coming together on the Internet, to a large
extent, form a community. Communities may constitute a few people or thousands.
Membership of communities formed on the Internet is constantly changing and
evolving as people respond to this medium. For those who have a sexual interest in
children, such communities are used to normalise those interests but are also used to
share and trade information, and particularly photographs of children. Individuals
approached through such communities help to provide ‘missing’ pictures from series,
help solve technical problems in the trading of material, give advice about security
issues to prevent detection by the law and offer fantasy stories to complement the
images of children. The communities themselves, if children are also involved, may
also be used as a means of contacting children or trading information about children.
Child pornography is not exclusively a cybercrime, for not all collectors of child
pornography necessarily use the Internet to acquire child pornography. But the
Internet is the most visible and significant contemporary medium for the distribution
of child pornography. And because the commodity of visual images is uniquely a
product that can be distributed over the Internet, the bringing of child pornography
10 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

into cyberspace has resulted in exaggerating and adding a significant new dimension
to the contemporary social problem of child sexual abuse.

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

The past twenty years have seen an enormous growth in concern about adult sexual
abuse of children. It has become a major area of both research and practical social
welfare intervention. The periodic scandals related to inadequate childcare and
especially sexual abuse in residential settings have raised legitimate questions about
how we treat vulnerable children. But research has also emphasised the familial base
of most child sexual abuse.
There are a number of psychological and criminological theories of child sexual
abuse, which stem from a variety of disciplinary foundations. These include
psychodynamic, behavioural, biological, socio-cultural and global theories. Until
fairly recently, the most prominent theoretical stance was psychodynamic. Essentially,
the offenders’ underlying motivation was constructed as being not sexual in nature,
but involving the expression of non-sexual needs and unresolved life issues. Assault
was then viewed as a ‘pseudo-sexual act’ or sexual behaviour that was used to meet
non-sexual needs. This model went on to categorise child molesters into two basic
types, according to the nature of their motivation. The regressed offender was seen as
someone who had developed age-appropriate sexual orientation, but who, under
particular circumstances, regresses to sexual involvement with children. The fixated
offender was someone whose primary sexual interest was in children.
Within the last fifteen years there has been increased interest in examining the
empirical relationship between child molestation and a wide variety of psychological
variables. Such variables include social and interpersonal factors, cognitive states,
childhood, family and attitudinal factors. Within this framework, Finkelhor’s (1984)
Precondition Model is perhaps one of the most widely known models of child sexual
abuse. According to this model four preconditions need to be met before sexual abuse
can occur:

(a) motivation to sexually abuse;

(b) overcoming internal inhibitors;
(c) overcoming external inhibitors; and
(d) overcoming the resistance of the child.

Finkelhor (1984) intended the Precondition Model to be a general blueprint for all
kinds of sexual abuse, but he did, however, highlight the importance of two
dimensions to classify child sexual abusers: (a) strength of motivation; and (b)
exclusivity of sexual preference. According to the Precondition Model, the dimension
of Motivation has three components:

1 emotional congruence—the offender has an emotional need to relate to children;

2 sexual arousal—children are a potential source of sexual gratification; and
 INTRODUCTION 11

3 blockage—adult sexual and emotional gratification are unavailable to the

offender for a number of reasons, e.g. low social competence and sexual anxiety.

Although Finkelhor (1984) argued that most sexual behaviour involves some
nonsexual motivation, the Precondition Model places great emphasis on sexual
arousal, with respect to motivation, and sexual preference as an important dimension
of child sexual abuse.
The role of fantasy in the broad issue of adult sexual interest in children is little
understood but it is clearly a significant variable in child pornography. In a general
sense, the relationship between fantasy and action remains obscure. Authors such as
Margison (1997) asserted that in paedophilia the move from fantasy to action is
critical, while Howitt (1995) noted an imperfect match between fantasy and action.
He suggested that the idea of fantasy could be seen in one of two ways—in a
psychoanalytic sense where the fantasy acts as wish-fulfilment and is therefore separate
from everyday life (much like a safety-valve), or it could be viewed as fantasy being
a precursor to action. It may be, as suggested by Seto et al. (2001) that those who are
predisposed to sexually offend are the most likely to show an effect from pornography
exposure and are also the most likely to show the strongest effects. Predisposition to
offend is likely to mean the seeking out of pornographic and fantasy material, which
is less likely in those without a sexual interest in children.
An important conceptual consideration highlighted in recent years in the academic
literature is the role played by cognition or thought processes in adult sexual interest
in children. Such cognitions include the decisions made by the person with a sexual
interest in children that place him at risk for offending, the high-risk situations that
threaten his control, and the thoughts and feelings that can lead to offending
behaviour. Nelson et al. (1988) stated that a number of common risk factors can
precipitate offending behaviour. These include the presence of a potential victim, the
use of disinhibitors such as alcohol or drugs, interpersonal conflict, rationalisations
for engaging in the behaviour (such as those obtained from support networks on the
Internet) and negative affect or mood. Cognitive distortions are regarded by many
as the ‘sine qua non of the paedophile’ (Howitt 1995:92). Although there is no one
conceptual model which addresses cognitive distortions alone, there are many theories
and models of child sexual abuse which refer to cognitive distortions as an important
facet of such offending behaviour. Cognitive Distortions, according to Howitt (1995)
‘provide offenders with an interpretative framework that permits them to construe
the victims and motives of others as sexual and allows them to justify and excuse
themselves (and others) their offending behaviour’ (93). As with the majority of
cognitive explanations, it is unclear whether the faulty cognitions, such as ‘Having
sex with a child is a good way for an adult to teach a child about sex’ are post-offence
rationalisations, or are in existence prior to offending. This whole area is one of great
significance in understanding child pornography, and is discussed later in much
greater depth.
12 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

THE PAEDOPHILE
The person who is sexually interested in children is often termed a paedophile. The
Paedophile Liberation Front, a mutual support group for those with a sexual interest
in children, define a paedophile as ‘an adult that is sexually attracted to children.
“Sexually” means that this person may like to touch you, rub your body against his,
be very affectionate and cuddly. He (or sometimes she) may also wish to touch your
private parts, or have you touch his. In short, a paedophile likes to do with children
what everybody else likes to do with adults.’
As portrayed in accounts like this, paedophilia is not only a sexual orientation but
also a way of life and has a whole subculture to support it. Within this subculture,
discriminations are made between paedophiles and child molesters (sometimes called
predators). From this perspective, child molester is a negative term, and is generally
used to refer to people who sexually abuse children, whereas paedophilia indicates a
sexual interest in and love of children, which may never be acted upon. Indeed, within
the context of the Internet, many paedophiles would argue that looking at
photographs provides a safe outlet for feelings that might otherwise lead to a contact
offence.
Using the term paedophile in some measure draws on positive connotations. The
term paedophile in origin means ‘lover of children’, a socially positive and on the
whole desirable state. However, the context most commonly used, and of concern to
us, makes reference to sexual love or desire. Within Western society, such sexual love
is a source of concern when the object of that emotion is a child. A better term may
be to refer to adults with a sexual interest in children, but this is both unwieldy and
lacks common acceptance. In this book, paedophile is sometimes used for the sake
of brevity of expression. It should be noted, however, that use of the term does not
imply a blurring of the distinctions between affection and sexual desire, nor does it
imply an acceptance of the appropriateness of sexual interest in children.
Lanning (1992) developed the first typology of paedophilic computer offenders,
which proposes two broad categories. The Situational Offender (dabbler) is described
as being either a teenager who searches online for pornography and sex or an
impulsive/curious adult who has discovered an unlimited access to pornography and
sexual opportunities. He describes the behaviour of such ‘dabblers’ as being less
persistent and predictable than that of preferential offenders. The Preferential
Offender, in contrast, is either sexually indiscriminate with a broad interest in sexually
deviant activities or a ‘paedophile’ who has a definite preference for children. He
distinguishes these two subtypes by assserting that the paedophile will collect mainly
child-focused material whereas the indiscriminate preferential offender will have a
wide-ranging collection, which will include pictures of children.
According to Lanning the sexually indiscriminate offender will be less likely to
commit a hands-on sexual offence with a child (especially a prepubescent child) than
a paedophile. Also included are other ‘miscellaneous’ computer offenders such as
journalists who trade child pornography as part of a news story, pranksters who are
playing dirty tricks, older boyfriends who are attempting to entice adolescent girls or
 INTRODUCTION 13

boys and concerned citizens attempting to combat the problem (Lanning 1995:13).
Central to this classification is an assumption that those who are active on the Internet
begin with the intent of actively seeking paedophilic material, and/or to join a
paedophilic community. This implicitly suggests that the preferential paedophile
poses a significantly greater risk of committing a hands-on offence.
An area of obvious great concern is the relationship between paedophile interests,
child pornography and sexual offences against children. It must be noted that we have
very little systematic evidence on the relationship between involvement with child
pornography and sexual assaults on children. We do know, however, that not all who
are convicted of sexual assaults on children express an interest in, or knowledge of,
child pornography. What systematic evidence there is that addresses these issues
primarily relates to adult situations, and effects on child-related offending can really
only be suggested by inference. The most intensively examined area relates to the
effects of pornography on indicators of rape. In a paper reviewing the effects of
pornography in the aetiology of sexual aggression primarily directed at adults, Seto
et al. (2001) concluded that ‘overall, there is little support for a direct causal link
between pornography use and sexual aggression’, although it should be noted that
the evidence can be contradictory. They also noted that the role of pornography in
other areas such as child molestation is much less well researched.
Durkin (1997) outlined paedophilic misuses of the Internet emphasising that it
acts as ‘an outlet for sexual gratification and as a social consolidation mechanism’.
He also raised the issue that the supportive environment available on the Internet to
paedophiles may be influential in encouraging some of them to commit sexual abuse
of children. The Internet has made a huge impact on paedophile networking allowing
communication and access to unlimited numbers of likeminded people (Durkin and
Bryant 1995). The supportive environment offered by the Net involves both social
consolidation and validation, and, because of that, Durkin and Bryant suggested that
there is a distinct possibility that some paedophiles may refine or act upon their
deviant proclivities because of their exposure to the Internet. This, they note, is an
unprecedented development in the area of paedophilic behaviour.

THE INTERNET
The relationship between the individual and the Internet is a fascinating one. In one
sense, the Internet is merely a means of communication, facilitating the exchange of
information in unique, rapid, convenient forms. There is increasing evidence,
however, of the Internet itself, and the social and psychological processes that are
involved in accessing it, being both a process and factor in its own right that is both
cumulative and additional to other means of communication. In the context of
concern to this book, there is growing evidence of the Internet playing a part in the
facilitation of adult sexual interest in children, not merely through the transfer of
child pornography, but by providing a supportive context and by changing
opportunities individuals might have for contact with children through chat rooms,
web sites and e-mail.
14 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The existing models of offending behaviour tend to examine the attributes of the
offender without reference to the process of offending. Many of the offender models
tend to be static rather than dynamic, the problem lying within the individual rather
than in the socially changing and constructed interaction between the individual and
his world. However, Granic and Lamey (2000) have suggested that through Internet
experiences people have come to reinterpret society, relationships and even the self.
The possibility that people are changed by and subsequently contribute to change
through the Internet is highly relevant to the area of sexual offending. Through the
Internet we see a potential change in the offender’s beliefs, values and cognitive styles.
The fact that through the Internet users can in the main go anywhere and say anything
without any official governing body restricting those actions means that for some
people this will be their first experience of acting outside the confines of a conventional
hierarchy. Granic and Lamey made the important observation that ‘conventional
hierarchies are disrupted by a distributed, decentralised network in which power is
spread among various people and groups and one voice does not dominate or pre-
empt others’ (ibid.: 104). Such experiences may empower some people such as sex
offenders who have otherwise been marginalised in conventional society. Those who
have never been able to function at an optimal level in the real world may feel that
they have the chance to do so now that conventional structures are broken down.
Holmes et al. (1998) have even suggested that the computer might act as a catalytic
or facilitating mechanism for new forms of deviant behaviour and that the computer
can be a mechanism of metamorphosis.
Not only is it apparent that for some individuals the Internet presents an
opportunity to access material that may be problematic from a judicial perspective,
but also there is emerging a literature that suggests that the nature of the Internet
itself may be problematic for the user. A study by Morahan-Martin and Schumacher
(2000) suggested that in their sample men were four times more likely to have a
problem controlling their use of the Internet than women. They asserted that this
was possibly because males were more likely to use applications, such as Internet
games, Netsex and Internet gambling, that these authors associated with more
compulsive use. They also gave some understanding about the experience of being
‘online’, which has relevance for those sexually interested in children.‘On the Internet,
one can self-present from the relative safety of a computer screen. Social contact over
the Internet does not involve face-to-face communication and can even be
anonymous, which can lessen social risk and lower inhibitions’ (MorahanMartin and
Schumacher 2000:25).
This is similar to the findings of Turkle (1995) who suggested that the Internet
allows users to try out new ways of relating, new roles and identity and even to switch
genders. It has even been suggested that the Internet can produce altered states of
consciousness, which are the result of intense and immediate interactive feedback
(online) that responds to other users’ individual commands and which differentiates
it from other, more passive, entertainment and communication technologies
(Bromberg 1996).
 INTRODUCTION 15

The effects of the Internet per se may be evident in other ways. The media frequently
contain comments related to the amount of pornography on the Internet. This
comment is usually made with reference to adult pornography, although it could as
readily be made with respect to child pornography. The nature of the Internet,
however, makes quantification of comments of this kind very difficult, but there is
some evidence that the use of the Internet as a medium for the distribution of
pornography has changed the type of at least adult pornography available. Barron
and Kimmel (2000), in a comparative study referring to adult pornography available
from magazines to video to the Internet, suggested there has been an increase in ‘both
the violence and the amount of misogyny—women as victims - contained in the
images’. In many ways, child pornography is necessarily nonconsensual, and although
sadistic child pornography or the portrayal of violent scenes involving children is
relatively rare, the processes described above may well be reflected in the increased
availability and qualities of child pornography. Certainly, there is at the moment
some evidence that the age of children in new child pornography is getting younger.
In terms of the management of child pornography, and its control by law
enforcement agencies, the Internet presents special difficulties. One essential quality
of the Internet is that it knows no national borders, and presents equally to all who
can access it an enormously valuable resource. A user can as readily access a site in his
or her own country as in any other, and information can be almost instantaneously
passed around the world at virtually no cost to the user. In terms of the concerns of
this book, however, this presents quite special problems. For example, what is legally
appropriate in one location may not be elsewhere, but access to it through the Internet
cannot in the main be controlled by any national jurisdiction. Given that a picture
is uniquely in Internet terms a commodity, that commodity can be moved between
people with ease. And given the nature of the Internet, and the way information is
organised, unless special procedures are put in place it is essentially untraceable if the
sender wishes it to be. Both formal and informal means of contact between people is
possible using the Internet, adding further to the complexity of its management and
control.

Control of the Internet

Attempts to control child pornography on the Internet have brought into focus critical
issues related to the nature of the Internet as a medium of information transmission,
and the social context in which that information is transmitted. A central issue for
policy makers is the problem of reconciling freedom of speech and limitations on
censorship of the Internet with the very evident child-protection problems presented
by the production, distribution and viewing of child pornography. International co-
operation in terms of legislative harmonisation has tended to separate the regulation
of child pornography from broader censorship issues of the Internet. In part, this has
been done as a means of avoiding controversial problems related to differing national
perspectives on censorship, and also as a way of encouraging the development of e-
commerce by minimising the regulatory framework applied to the Internet A
16 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

particular problem in regulating the Internet is the sense in which no single national
framework can apply to it.
Focusing attention on the management of child pornography has undoubtedly
helped in the development of a common international agenda in the emergence of
protective legislative frameworks. However, this development has also tended to
divert legislative and policy attention from the broader problem of the regulation of
adult pornography, and explorations of features in common with child pornography.
At least for some individuals, an interest in child pornography is a step along a path
of access to pornographies in general; this emphasises the more general issue of the
need to encourage the development of a broader regulatory environment (see Edwards
2000 for a discussion with respect to British obscenity laws). The increasing evidence
of organised criminal involvement in the trade in child pornography and its links to
the sex industry adds further emphasis to this point. The recent Cybercrime
Convention, if ratified by individual states, will make some significant changes in
international police practice and legal harmonisation. But despite the fact that the
Convention contains specific reference to child pornography, it largely has an anti-
terrorism focus, rather than a child-protection one, and its practical significance
remains to be demonstrated.
The distributed and essentially uncontrollable qualities of the Internet present
enormous challenges for law enforcement agencies tasked with the management of
child pornography on the Internet. A central area of difficulty relates to who will
actually take ownership of investigations into, for example, cases of production of
new child pornography, when all that is known is that a new picture or series of
pictures has emerged? If a picture contains no clues as to location, then what police
force will take the responsibility for investigation? Given the geographical basis on
which police forces operate, this is a very real problem. International agencies such
as Interpol obviously have a role to play in terms of co-ordination, etc. But Interpol
does not have the authority or capacity to mount national investigations.
It can be argued that the Internet industry occupies a critical role in any discussion
about regulation of the Internet. Initiatives to encourage self-regulation amongst
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offers an alternative to legislative intervention, with
the added bonus of a significant international dimension, at least amongst the larger
ISPs. Recent US legislation will facilitate this development, as will the emergence of
national structures, such as the Irish Government’s Internet Advisory Board. A critical
issue relevant to this is a recognition of the link between child pornography picture
collection, and engagement with chat and other forms of communication with
likeminded individuals. Much of this communication relates to exchange of fantasy
(but presumably, at times, real) accounts, although there is clear evidence of
individuals learning security procedures, and gaining information generally about the
location of supportive material. In practical terms, meaningful legislative attempts to
control fantasy and personal communication are difficult in the extreme to develop,
and impossible to apply, as well as presenting major human rights issues. A more
effective way of addressing this problem is through individual ISPs, through their
terms of service, which will effectively allow control over chat rooms and other
 INTRODUCTION 17

communication protocols where obviously illegal material, such as pictures, is not

involved. The challenge here, of course, is the development of effective international
self-regulatory frameworks for ISPs.

LOOKING AHEAD
In the following chapters, we will attempt to explore what child pornography is, how
it relates to the Internet, and crucially, how the Internet uniquely creates and develops
processes that facilitate the collection and distribution of child pornography. Child
pornography is an emotional issue, and quite naturally the debate around it has largely
been characterised by strong moral and political imperatives, rather than reasoned
debate and understanding, One of the main objectives of this book is to try to develop
a systematic and reasoned understanding of child pornography. It does not seek to
diminish its seriousness nor to condone or excuse its production, distribution or
collection. But this work is produced in the belief that understanding and knowledge
will help better control and limit its availability.
Throughout the book the significance of three broad themes are stressed as being
central elements that help our understanding of child pornography and the Internet.
The first theme obviously relates to sexual behaviour and sexuality. Child pornography
is sexual both in intent, and in reality. However, it is important to recognise that
associated with sexuality are notions related to power and control. The second theme
relates to the significance of a sense of community, which finds virtual expression in
the context of the Internet. In the sense used here, community embraces an array of
facilitative and supportive elements, as well as serving a normalising role. The third
theme relates to processes, which in Internet terms find expression in collecting; it may
also embrace notions of risk taking and the significance of anonymity.
The book is structured in terms of chapters addressing individual issues. Chapter 2,
The nature of child pornography’, explores the factors involved in the production of
child pornography, and considers its nature and content. It places child pornography
within a historical context, particularly relating it to social and political changes in
the 1970s and explores what constitutes contemporary child pornography as reflected
in the material collected. Based on empirical analysis it develops a classification
taxonomy, illustrating the above through empirical and case study examples.
Chapter 3 explores the area of ‘Adult sexual interest in children’ reviewing our
understanding of adult sexual interest in children, with a particular emphasis on
psychological approaches. This includes offender typologies, cognitive accounts,
empathy, theory of mind and insider accounts.
Chapter 4 brings together the major themes of ‘The Internet, Child pornography
and Adult sexual interest in children’. This chapter introduces those aspects of the
Internet that relate to and facilitate adult sexual interest in children. This includes
the computer as a catalyst, the process of normalisation, access to and manipulation
of images, and accessing both adults and children. In Chapter 5 we introduce
‘Metamorphosis’. This chapter explores contemporary knowledge about how people
engage with the Internet and how, through that engagement, they may be changed.
18 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Particular points of reference include self-representation, new roles and identities,

changing socialisation and new ways of relating, and reinterpretation of society,
relationships and the self.
Developing further the theme of the role of the Internet, Chapter 6 introduces the
notion of ‘A virtual community’. In this chapter we examine the importance of
community in relation to offending behaviour. In particular, we explore how
offending behaviour is facilitated and developed by virtual structures on the Internet.
It uses examples from Internet Relay Chat involving paedophile communication to
demonstrate two aspects of community: a hierarchy of membership and developing
ways of protecting ‘the group’.
Chapter 7 moves the discussion on towards more psychological issues, in a
discussion of ‘The process of collecting’. This chapter explores the psychology of
collecting behaviour, with particular reference to the effects of the Internet. It focuses
on collections of pornography to illustrate the processes involved, comparing and
contrasting Internet-mediated collecting with other forms of collecting. It also
examines how aspects of both collecting and organising behaviour may function
socially, and the role this may have as forensic evidence. Extending the psychological
discussion, Chapter 8 addresses ‘A model of problematic Internet use’. This chapter
presents a process model of problematic Internet use, emphasising the various factors
influencing both the development of the offending process, and offending behaviour.
The final chapter, Chapter 9, ‘Issues for concern and conclusions’, draws together
issues arising in earlier chapters, with a particular emphasis on the role of changing
technologies, the role of the ISP industry and societal ambiguity towards child
sexuality.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS
This book does not contain any pictures, or indeed any descriptions that reveal the
nature of child pornography in that sense. Care has been taken to exclude reference
to names that might identify either victims or offenders. To that extent the reader is
insulated from the reality of the world from which, and in which, child pornography
is created and exchanged. Academic discussion or the reasoned debate of issues that
must characterise any systematic examination of a complex social issue necessarily
creates a distance between the reader and the topic of examination. However, the
research that this book draws on has involved continued access to and examination
of child pornography, its victims and the offenders. Both authors are involved in the
COPINE Project, and have drawn on their experience of forensic and clinical
psychology to develop the material presented here. The pictures that are the issue of
concern are of real children, and those pictures are a permanent and enduring record
of at least one aspect of their lives. The children’s stories are seldom told because,
despite all the contemporary attention given to this topic, we have very little
knowledge about the children who appear in child pornography – very few are
identified.
 INTRODUCTION 19

Many of the commonly occurring pictures on the Internet are more than thirty
years old. The individuals portrayed are now in their forties, perhaps in settled
relationships, perhaps with children of their own. Can we imagine the effects on their
family or friends of revelation of such pictures of this aspect of their childhood? Can
we have any sense of the effects on these adults of these records of parts of their
childhood? The pictures we are concerned with, therefore, are more than just visual
representations. Even the more innocent and less offensive pictures belong in a
complex context of the child’s life at the time the photographs were taken, and need
to be treated with the respect this implies. Ill-considered efforts at the identification
of victims in such circumstances could greatly add to negative consequences for the
individuals involved.
At the moment, the primary driving force in the management of child pornography
is the law enforcement community. Until recently, child pornography was rarely
identified as a factor in child sexual abuse, not necessarily because taking sexual
photographs of children did not occur, but because, in the main, social welfare
intervention with survivors of child sexual abuse has not seen it as a particularly
relevant factor in treatment or counselling. The current ease of availability, and the
sheer volume of child pornography on the Internet, has drawn our attention to the
existence of child pornography in a very dramatic way. But we need to remember
that child pornography was not invented in the 1960s when there was the first upsurge
in public availability. Nor is it an invention associated with the development of
photography. Child pornography (like adult pornography) is a feature of sexual
activity, and has always been produced in different forms, using whatever the
contemporary media of the time were. What we are grappling with now is a coming
to terms with its existence and, in doing so, trying to understand what it is, what role
it plays, and in consequence, developing means of at least controlling its production
and distribution. To do this, we need to move understanding out of narrow law
enforcement and social welfare arenas, and to develop a more systematic
understanding of both child pornography, and the principal means of distribution,
the Internet. The principal aspiration of the authors in writing this book is to
contribute to that process.
20
 Chapter 2
The nature of child pornography

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

As we noted in Chapter 1, over recent years offences related to the production,
possession and distribution of child pornography have assumed great prominence.
Our attention has been focused on these crimes by what at times has been intense
media coverage. Paradoxically, however, because possession of child pornography is
now in the main illegal and also because by its nature it is an underground activity,
there is little public knowledge of what it actually is, its attributes, or even the processes
involved in its creation. We might even be misled into thinking that it is a new
phenomenon, something that has its origins in the late twentieth century.
In this chapter, we will explore issues related to the nature of child pornography,
its features and the legal and psychological factors related to it. Our obvious starting
point in examining the nature of child pornography is that it relates in some way to
the sexual abuse of children—that ultimately is why we are concerned about it, and
why it merits the attention it receives. Later in the chapter we will introduce and
contrast some of the legal and psychological approaches that aid our understanding,
but for the moment it is sufficient to note that our concerns about child pornography
are grounded in the association of it with what in general we regard as inappropriate
and at times illegal sexual interests in children. We can approach these qualities of
child pornography in two ways: from the perspective of production, and from the
perspective of viewing.

Production
We have noted in Chapter 1 that, at its worst, child pornography is a picture of a
sexual assault on a child. Given this, it is relatively easy, therefore, to bring into focus
our concerns about the production of child pornography. To produce it, someone has
to assault a child, or pose a child in a sexualised way, and to make a photographic
record of it. For the purpose of our discussion, in the following, unless otherwise
noted, no particular distinction will be made between still photography, video and
cine photography, all of which are subsumed under the general label of photograph.
Although comments later in this chapter will make reference to adventitious
22 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

photographs and to the complexity of deciding what actually constitutes child

pornography in specific circumstances, we can confidently assert that in general child
pornography is never accidental; it is constructed by the photographer, the child is
posed and the actions that take place are deliberate and intentional. Sexual interests,
and often sexual assault, lie at the very heart of the production of child pornography.
We can illustrate the deliberate quality of child pornography in a very simple way.
A common characteristic of child pornography is that the subject is generally smiling;
it is rare to see pornographic photographs of a child in distress. Smiling is important
because it suggests the child is happy, even enjoying, what is happening. In terms of
fantasy generation, it supports the image of the compliant sexually involved child
who willingly participates in the sexual behaviour being portrayed. Comments about
pictures from collectors make clear their rejection of photographs that do not meet
such fantasy requirements. ‘I didn’t like the ones where the girls weren’t pretty… I
didn’t like the ones where there were quite a lot where er…they you know the victims
were obviously in distress’(KQ). A clearer reference to the significance of ‘smiling’
and ‘happiness’ can be seen in these quotations: ‘But I made sure the pictures I had…
the children didn’t look like they were being hurt. They actually looked happy a lot’
(EI). This quotation further illustrates this theme: ‘the girls who appeared in these
shots…had this air of you know enjoying themselves…you know…they were doing
it because they wanted to’ (MQ).
Insights into the process of production of child pornography are difficult to come
by, and generally speaking, video footage, for example, either has no sound track, or
simply has music recorded on it. However, from time to time, videos emerge that
have sound tracks that give the voice of the photographer whilst the filming is taking
place. These videos reveal the process of making video sequences, and the extent to
which the photographic activities are directed. More to the point, such audio material
shows how instructions to ‘smile’, and ‘look at the camera and smile’ occur frequently
throughout the photographic session. The smiling image is a construction recognised
as both desirable and necessary by the photographer. Instructions are not necessarily
benign; occasionally, the bribes and threats made by the photographer to induce the
child to do what is required can also be heard, further emphasising the ease with
which a covert coercive context can change through photography to an overtly
coercive environment. This can be illustrated by the following quotation from a man
who was involved in producing increasingly explicit child pornography involving one
young girl. ‘I was quite persuasive…not in a violent way… I was using like tactics
like if you do this I’ll treat you to something…so like trying to offer her stuff to…
because before that she hadn’t really resisted to any of the activities as such apart from
the oral sex, which she did not wanna do’ (ES).
We can reasonably assert, therefore, that the production of child pornography is
never accidental. It is a construction and its content is both deliberate and stylised to
meet certain implicit and explicit requirements. To complete this brief discussion,
there are two broad kinds of context that we can identify in which child pornography
is produced. The first relates to private production, for the use of the producer. The
photographer is almost invariably a parent, guardian of some kind, or someone from
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 23

the immediate family circle of the child when young children are involved. However,
for older children, especially boys, this may also be someone not immediately in the
child’s family circle. The second relates to production with a view to further
distribution, either between a small circle of likeminded people, or perhaps with
reference to some commercial context. In this case, the photographer again is most
likely to be someone from the child’s immediate circle of family or friends. The
implications of this simple distinction will be considered later.

Viewing
We can think of viewing as including the possession, collection and distribution of
child pornography. This is a more diffuse activity than production, however, and
bringing into focus our concerns here is rather more complex. Indeed, use of the term
‘viewing’, although it describes in part what people do with child pornography, may
be itself problematic. Date (1990) has observed that paedophiles talk about ‘viewing’
pictures or images, and use of the term ‘viewing’ is also a feature of the COPINE
research interviews.‘Viewing’ implies some level of passive observation, but, as Tate
concludes, ‘pedophiles don’t simply view the material they collect, they catalogue and
index it as well’ (112). We might add that they also sexually interact with it through
masturbation and fantasy. What is significant in relation to child pornography is the
way that the viewer engages with the material downloaded.
An important if obvious starting point is that there is generally no direct link
between the viewer and the child photographed; the viewer is distanced in place, and
time, from the person photographed. The viewer, therefore, unlike the photographer
does not engage in the particular sexual behaviour portrayed, other than in
imagination. We do know, of course, that viewing child pornography can be
associated with sexual behaviour of the viewer, notably masturbation, and that for
adults with a sexual interest in children, child pornography serves an important
function in generating and sustaining masturbatory fantasy. Thus, even at this level,
viewing child pornography is not a passive act, and usually involves sexual behaviour.
In general, however, that behaviour is solitary, confined only to the viewer. However,
in addition, child pornography can also play a part in sexual behaviour in other ways
as in, for example, a part of the grooming process used by paedophiles to become
close to and sexually de-sensitise children (Durkin 1997; Healy 1997). Tyler and
Stone (1985) have suggested that child molesters who possess child pornography in
any form use such material to facilitate the seduction of new victims. A child might
be shown child pornography as part of the process of breaking down inhibitions,
cementing relationships, etc. This is not uniquely related to child pornography,
however, as adult pornography may also be used in the same way. (This issue is
discussed in later chapters.)
Why then do we seek to control the engagement through viewing of child
pornography? Its production in the main involves a sexual assault, but why should
viewing (and possession) be a problem? Indeed, Edwards (1994) sought to establish
the position that the structure of sexuality within visual imagery (in this instance nude
24 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

images of children) ‘is as much a social factor as a human one’ (38), and that nudist
images of children do not compromise the integrity of the subject. This position
allowed her to argue that: ‘The nudity portrayed by Sturges was, in effect, sexualised
by the legal action of the FBI and the San Francisco police’ (42) in their seizure of
his photographs. It is clear that in liberal democracies the answer to this dilemma
cannot lie in seeking to control inappropriate sexual fantasy amongst viewers. It is a
reasonable assumption that many people have at different times many sexual fantasies
that are inappropriate, or even illegal. We cannot know anyway, of course, what an
individual fantasises about unless they tell us, or unless they engage in behaviour
affecting others that in some way reveals the nature of that fantasy. We need more
substantial reasons than inappropriate fantasy to justify viewing child pornography
as a serious criminal offence.
The following are some of the reasons why we might be concerned about viewing
child pornography:

1 It requires that a child be abused to produce it. The process of production requires
the photographer to create a situation where a child is either directly abused, or
posed in sexualised ways, and as such it is a product of an illegal and inappropriate
act. The viewer is in a sense aiding and abetting that process, by providing a
market for the material and for making evident (through Internet activity, private
contact or through payment for commercial material) a demand.
2 A photographic record in whatever media preserves the pictures of that abuse.
At worst, therefore, it is a permanent record of crime, and serves to perpetuate
the images and memory of that abuse for as long as it exists. Distributing and
viewing child pornography, therefore, ensures the continued and even increased
availability of the pictures. The implications of this for the family of the child
and the child itself may be very severe and traumatic; it also represents a violation
of the child and its family’s privacy, and generally a visible demonstration of
abuse of position or relationship. This becomes of greater significance in the
context of the Internet. Once a photograph is digitised and distributed on the
Internet, it can be perfectly reproduced endlessly by anyone in possession of it.
In the case of a normal photograph, destruction of the negative severely limits
the likelihood of that photograph being reproduced; in the case of Internet
images, the only way to control reproduction of a photograph is to destroy all
copies—an impossible task once a picture has been posted to an Internet source.
3 By generating inappropriate sexual fantasy in an individual, we may be concerned
about the risk of fantasy becoming reality; concerned that by watching a sexual
assault, it normalises the activity and encourages the viewer subsequently to
commit such an assault. Intellectually this may seem a reasonable fear, although
empirically, the evidence, such as there is, tends to discount it (Seto et al. 2001),
at least in so far as adult pornography is concerned. On the other hand, research
by Carter et al. (1987) examined the reported use of and exposure to
pornographic materials by two groups: convicted rapists and child molesters.
While both groups indicated similar prior exposure, child molesters were more
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 25

likely to use such materials prior to and during the commission of an offence.
This was similar to the findings of Marshall (1988) which suggested that within
his sample, slightly more than one third of child molesters had at least
occasionally been incited to commit an offence by exposure to pornographic
material. A much clearer risk lies in pornographic material becoming the model
that encourages and generates viewers to take photographs themselves—in other
words, for some people it provides the stimulus (when other circumstances allow)
to cross the boundary from viewing to abusing. ‘I would say it fuelled my interest
that I had anyway that was in me…but it seemed to reinforce it and…de me
want to act on it’ (DX). Whether child pornography per se creates that stimulus,
whether the social context in which child pornography is traded (especially on
the Internet) is the critical factor, or whether it facilitates and gives expression
to an intention already formed is not clear. However, that there is a relationship
of some kind for some individuals is quite clear. The following interview
quotation makes this association very apparent: ‘When I made this video tape I
was copying these er movie clips…hat I’d downloaded er…I wanted to be...doing
4 what they were doing’ (KQ). Child pornography can act as a learning instrument
in the ‘grooming’ process, whereby a child is de-sensitised to sexual demands
and encouraged to normalise inappropriate activities. Burgess and Hartman
(1987) suggested that ‘child pornography is produced at the psychological
expense of the photographed child’ (248) because the use of such photography
binds the victim by normalising the acts and ultimately by acting as a source of
blackmail for the child. Silbert (1989) suggested that ‘One of the most destructive
impacts on juveniles of their participation in pornography is the silent conspiracy
into which they feel bound by the offender’ (227). Children who have been
identified as the victims of pornography are unlikely to talk about the abuse. In
their study of ten such children, Svedin and Back (1996) suggested that ‘The
children are filled with shame when they talk about their experiences and there
is a great sense of degradation and blame and fear of the possible consequences
of exposure’ (64). What is especially sad is that there is evidence that very
vulnerable children, particularly those from underprivileged homes or where
childcare is lacking, are likely to be most at risk of being photographed (Collings
1995). Where very young children are photographed, such exploitation has
largely been by their own parents or others involved in their care (Lanning and
Burgess 1989). The process of de-sensitisation might also affect the viewer, who
seeks to maintain arousal by seeking out new, or more sexually extreme, material:
‘it was a slippery…slope erm a very unhealthy slope that I was going down…
erm I suppose in a lot of ways I was becoming de-sensitised to it…the more I
was seeing the less it was bothering me…and the more I was seeing the more I
was thinking this is er perfectly acceptable behaviour because…there’s so much
of it there you know it can’t be that bad’ (KQ).
5 A consequence of viewing sexual pictures of children is that it may sexualise other
aspects of childhood and family life. However, there seems to be a broad
consensus in contemporary Western society that childhood and family life should
26 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

not be encroached on in this way. This is a more general issue than the specific
examples given above, and makes assumptions about the nature of society, and
the role of children in society. Whatever individual views on this might be, it is
none the less a source of concern. Kincaid (1998) draws our attention to the
social and psychological consequences associated with media and other accounts
of child molesting; how much greater then is the damage done by actual
photographs of a child being molested?

To summarise, what then is the problem with child pornography? For the producer,
the situation is clear—they photograph offences, and maybe participate in them.
Engaging with child pornography through viewing, collecting and distributing, whilst
not directly abusive, nevertheless contributes to the process of abuse, and supports
and nourishes the production of child pornography. This, therefore, identifies the
problem; what then is child pornography?

WHAT IS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY? LEGAL AND

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Because of its emotive nature, and also because possession is in the main illegal,
research into the nature and extent of child pornography is limited. Such published
material that there is tends to be primarily from law enforcement perspectives,
meeting rather narrow ends and tending to focus on somewhat limited evidential
perspectives. In what is one of the most significant early contributions to this area,
Lanning (1992) outlined a behaviour analysis of child molesters that described the
role of child pornography in their offending behaviour. Unusually, in this paper he
discussed the characteristics of child pornography collections, drawing attention to
their importance for the collector, their constancy, the degree of organisation of the
collection, their permanent qualities, and the extent to which the material they
contain is both concealed and shared. Provocative as this analysis is, unfortunately a
major weakness of this work is its lack of empirical verification, relying instead on
the experience of the author in law enforcement work in this area.
However, Lanning (1992:24–6) introduced the important distinction between
child pornography (‘the sexually explicit reproduction of a child’s image’) and child
erotica (‘any material, relating to children, that serves a sexual purpose for a given
individual’). The significance of this distinction is to emphasise the potential sexual
qualities of a whole range of kinds of photograph (and other material as well) not all
of which may be pictures of sexual assaults. The implications of that distinction in
the context of the Internet could not at that time be fully explored by Lanning,
although he did, in that and later work, clearly recognise the significance of the new
technologies. The operational implications for law enforcement agencies of that
distinction are significant, however, and can be seen in the way in which investigative
agencies frequently divide evidential material into three categories:
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 27

1 Indicative—material depicting clothed children, which suggests a sexual interest

in children;
2 Indecent—material depicting naked children which suggests a sexual interest in
children;
3 Obscene—material which depicts children in explicit sexual acts.

This kind of categorisation may be helpful for law enforcement agencies in the initial
stages of investigating child pornography cases. But it is too broad, and because of
that does little to progress our understanding. Furthermore, it adds little to our
knowledge of the qualities of offenders involved in either production or possession
of child pornography, or of the features of adult sexual interest in children. It also
tends to deflect attention away from a more discriminating analysis of the photographs
themselves, and the relationship between the child, the photographer, the photograph
and the viewer. Boyle (2000) made a similar point within a larger framework related
to pornography in general, suggesting that research has been over-concerned with the
‘effects’ of pornography, and neglects to consider the harm done to women, men and
children in the production of pornography. A major weakness in contemporary work
in this area is that it does not consider how individual consumers use and understand
pornographic or other photographic media nor does it acknowledge their choice,
responsibility and accountability for their behaviours.
A particular absence in the literature is any attempt to understand the nature of
photographs of children, or their significance for the user. Indeed, simple descriptions
of the content of child pornography photographs are rarely referred to. An exception
to this is Tate (1990), who commented on how the material ranged from ‘revealing
stills of naked children, through more explicit shots of their genitalia thumbed apart
to the recording of oral, anal and vaginal abuse and intercourse’ (15–16). Even a more
focused recent review of knowledge of awareness of the legality of images on the
Internet from a legal perspective (McCabe 2000) failed to distinguish between kinds
of image other than real and pseudo-images (which present particular legal problems),
as we will discuss below.
A detailed account of the extent and qualities of child pornography was given by
Taylor (1999). This presented an overview of the situation at that time, particularly
with respect to the Internet. However, given the extensive involvement of the Internet
in child pornography distribution, the account also served to summarise the more
general picture of adult sexual interest in children and the Internet. More hidden
areas, such as the production and distribution of child pornography videos, are much
less well understood, but there are grounds for thinking that video production is the
major contemporary ‘primary’ source of child pornography, with the Internet at the
moment serving as a medium for distribution rather than production. This may well
change, however, as digital photography becomes more widely available. It is
important to stress that at the moment the underground production of video child
pornography may run parallel with, but be essentially unrelated to, Internet
technologies for its distribution.
28 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Just as child pornography photographs are not accidents, so, as we noted above,
collections of child pornography are not accidents; they result from deliberate choices
by an individual to acquire, in some sense, sexual material. However, it is important
to note that the sexual or erotic nature of the images lies both in the objective qualities
of the material itself, and in the mind of the collector (Howitt 1995). Indeed, Edwards
(1994) took this argument further when she asserted, ‘But word—or image-based
representational practices are not sexual practices, and any analysis of image based
representation, must take into consideration the political, economic and cultural
context of production and exchange’ (39). Furthermore, it is reasonable to assume
that the collecting choices made reflect in some sense the ‘value’ to the individual
collector of the material he has access to. Date (1990) suggested that with child
pornography, ‘the younger the child or the more bizarre the acts depicted, the greater
its value for exchange purposes’ (24). Whether or not the choices made by the offender
predict or influence subsequent behaviour in any way (in terms of further collecting,
making contact with others with similar interests, or seeking out children to assault)
is far from clear but is deserving of further investigation. A central issue here is the
better understanding of the pro cesses of collection, the factors that influence
collecting behaviour, and the relationship between collecting and the collected
material. We can identify two broad perspectives, legal and psychological, that are
relevant when considering this issue.

Legal perspective
The legal perspective relates to what is defined in legislation as child pornography.
From this perspective, what constitutes child pornography may vary from jurisdiction
to jurisdiction depending on how national legislatures have framed and expressed
laws related to child pornography. A by-product of this is that the responses of law
enforcement agencies dealing with the problem are necessarily limited, focused and,
in the absence of international agreement, also limited by national boundaries and
legislation.
When the significance of a photograph in terms of labelling child pornography is
determined by legal definitions, necessarily photographs that fall outside that
definition tend to be either ignored, or not evaluated, because they may be seen as
secondary or incidental to the main focus of prosecution. Furthermore, as we noted
above, because of jurisdictional differences, photographs that may be illegal in one
jurisdiction may be legal in another and vice versa. Given the international qualities
of the distribution of child pornography using the Internet, this raises amongst other
things the need to improve harmonisation of laws between states in the development
of common policing strategies. However, as a first step and even given jurisdictional
difference, an objective means of judging the nature of collections independent of
legal provision would aid understanding and give a basis for international comparison.
In Chapter 1, reference was made to the different kinds of legal emphasis applied
to child pornography, reflecting the core qualities of obscenity, sexuality and
sexualised, or indecency. The emphasis adopted in legal provisions can make a critical
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 29

difference as to how any given putative example of child pornography is regarded.

For example, a critical test of obscenity in the US relates to the ‘Miller Standard’, the
result of a United States Supreme Court decision, Miller v.California. In order to
make a judgement of obscene (not simply about child pornography, but about any
written or visual media), the following test must be satisfied:

1 Whether the average person applying contemporary community standards

would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests;
2 Whether the work depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct
specifically defined by the applicable state law;
3 Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value.

From this we can see that, as far as the Miller test is concerned, the notion of obscenity
is socially constituted, may change over time and inevitably because of this lacks
objective verification and consensual agreement.
In April 2002, the US Supreme Court in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, ruled
that the First Amendment protects pornography or other images that only appear to
depict real children engaged in sexual behaviour. The effect of this has been to require
proof that a picture was of a real child (as distinct from a potentially ‘virtual’ child)
before proceedings related to possession of child pornography can be taken. The
implications of this judgement are quite profound in terms of establishing the legal
position of child pornography, and effectively mean that unless a photograph can be
demonstrated to be of a real child, its possession and distribution is not an offence.
This therefore places current US law in this area dramatically out of synchronisation
with international developments in this area.
In other jurisdictions, such as the Republic of Ireland, reference is made in the case
of child pornography to the sexual qualities of the material. In the Child Pornography
and Trafficking Act 1998, child pornography is defined as any visual representation
that shows a child engaged in or depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity,
witnessing any such activity, or whose dominant characteristic is the depiction, for a
sexual purpose, of the genital or anal regions of a child. The International Criminal
Police Organization (Interpol) Standing Working Group on Offences against Minors
defines child pornography as: ‘the consequence of the exploitation or sexual abuse
perpetrated against a child. It can be defined as any means of depicting or promoting
sexual abuse of a child, including print and/or audio, centred on sex acts or the genital
organs of children.’ A similar emphasis on the sexual nature of the material can be
found in the UK’s Criminal Justice Protection of Children Act 1978, which was
amended in 1994 to state that, ‘It is an offence for a person (a) to take, or permit to
be taken or to make, any indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child;
(b) to distribute or show such indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs.’ The
emphasis in the latter on indecent, however, echoes the debate about the nature of
obscenity, with social and cultural factors again largely determining the attributes of
30 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

‘indecency’. The Sentencing Advisory Panel (2002) present a discussion of UK

sentencing guidelines related to possession of child pornography.
Legal definitions of child pornography have to be objective and expressed in terms
that allow the proper application of due process. In doing so, they necessarily reduce
what might be a complex definitional issue to something simple and identifiable and
create what are inevitably rather blunt instruments in application.

Psychological perspectives
Moving away from a legal perspective to a psychological one is not without its
problems. Svedin and Back (1996) define child pornography as ‘a text or an image –
i.e. photo, slide, film, video or computer program—that is intended to evoke a sexual
feeling, fantasy or response in adults’ (9). Expressing criteria in terms of a capacity to
generate fantasy may be problematic when objective definitions are required, but does
reflect the reality of people’s experience with child pornography. But as we have
already noted, it is not possible to control fantasy, and as will become apparent, the
range of materials that might evoke fantasy include photographs that can be found
in any family album or clothes catalogue. An alternative approach is to draw our sense
of what we mean by child pornography from the material that adults with a sexual
interest in children collect. By emphasising what is effectively a behavioural and
empirical approach to pictures attractive to adults with a sexual interest in children,
we focus on a range of discernibly different kinds of image (Taylor 1999) only some
of which may be illegal using one or other of the criteria outlined above.
If we look at the kind of material found in collections, or we identify what adults
with a sexual interest in children themselves say they like, the kinds of picture that
can be identified range from pictures of clothed children, through nakedness and
explicit erotic posing to pictures of a sexual assault on the child photographed. We
can make some objective sense of this by thinking of them in terms of a continuum
of increased deliberate sexual victimisation. Any particular example of a photograph
attractive to an adult with a sexual interest in children, therefore, can be located along
such a continuum of explicit or deliberate sexual victimisation. This continuum
ranges from everyday and perhaps accidental pictures involving either no overt erotic
content, or minimal content (such as showing a child’s pants or underwear) at one
extreme, to pictures showing actual rape and penetration of a child, or other gross
acts of obscenity at the other. Taking this perspective focuses attention not just on
illegality as a significant quality of pictures, but on the preferred type of picture
selected by the collector, and the value and meaning pictures have to collectors. Given
that collecting and viewing is what sustains and shapes the trade in child pornography,
this seems a reasonable approach.

A grading system
A by-product of thinking about pictures in this way is that such a continuum enables
the construction of a simple grading system that is of value in characterising the
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 31

content of child pornography pictures, and also offers a more discriminating approach
to indicate the qualities of such material. It may also contribute to improving our
knowledge of the factors that enable and sustain offender behaviour as the relations
between collecting behaviour and the picture material become clearer. Approaching
a photographic collection of an adult with a sexual interest in children in this way
may also assist in developing a more discriminating approach to the management of
offences by both law enforcement agencies and the courts.
As Taylor et al. (2001) noted, victimisation is the central topic to focus on when
analysing picture content, and when attempting to develop descriptive categories.
Whether a picture is accidental or deliberate, each time a picture is accessed for sexual
purposes it victimises (if only by proxy) the individual concerned through fantasy.
In a sense, the function of picture collections for the offender is repeatedly to victimise
the child concerned, and the victim status is exaggerated by continuing use. Relevant
to this, an important purpose of child picture collections for the user is that they
allow, in a sense, instant access to the child (or a child) as victim (Healy 1997). Actual
abuse is much more difficult, often involving complex and lengthy engagement with
the child before victimisation takes place. We might also note that knowledge of the
victims of child pornography is very limited, but it must be stressed that ultimately
concern about victims must play a central role in the management of child
pornography.
The table below summarises a ten-point category system for the grading of both
individual and serial child pornography pictures. It is based on a descriptive analysis
of the extensive collection of images in the COPINE database, and the experiences
of the COPINE Project team in reviewing and categorising material. This database
contains examples of most of the material publicly available, and represents a very
large sample of the total amount of material in public circulation at the moment,
with a particular focus on newer material. It is wholly based on Internet sources. From
this analysis, some ten levels of severity of photographs can be discerned based on
increasing sexual victimisation. Examples of individual images can be located along
this ten-point scale. The category system described here extends and develops the
Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) and the Recreational Software
Advisory Council (RSACi) rating system (Akdeniz 1997), but more directly focuses
on pictures related to adult sexual interest in children.
This categorising system quite deliberately includes pictures that do not fall within
any legal definition of child pornography, and given this, it is important to stress that
collections of photographs of children per se are not in themselves indicative of
anything inappropriate. It is the context to those photographs, and the way in which
they are organised, or stored, or the principal themes illustrated, which may give rise
to concern. Most families have extensive and entirely appropriate pictures of their
children, and such pictures are not in these terms indicative of adult sexual interest
in children unless they are in some sense inappropriately held. Furthermore, in the
same context depictions of children in their underwear, or naked, may well be entirely
appropriate. Commercial organisations involved in the production of underwear, or
children’s clothing, might similarly appropriately make use of photographs of partially
32 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Table 2.1 Taxonomy of different kinds of child pornography

Source: from Taylor et al. 2001.

clothed children. Such photographs can, however, be used inappropriately by adults

with a sexual interest in children. Within that inappropriate context, essentially
innocent pictures can fall within the category of indicative (level 1). Level 1 may
include most common pictures of children, either commercially taken or from family
albums. The reasons for inclusion of these kinds of photograph within the material
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 33

related to adult sexual interest in children, as noted earlier, is that the extent to which
a photograph may be sexualised and fantasised over lies not so much in its objective
content, but in the use to which the picture might be put. In his review of eleven case
studies of paedophilic sex offenders, Howitt (1995) draws attention to the significance
of this kind of relatively innocent photograph in promoting and sustaining sexual
fantasy. It is the context, therefore, rather than the explicit content of such
photographs that is significant, and the emphasis on context in understanding child
pornography cannot be overstressed.
This general debate is also relevant to considerations of the portrayal of children
and child nudity in artistic settings, as found in level 2 photographs. The qualities
required to make a judgement of ‘artistic’ may be complex, and are undoubtedly
outside the scope of this book, but there is no a priori reason to suppose that pictures
of context-appropriate naked, or partially clothed, children are necessarily
inappropriate. Of course, the motivations of the producer are significant, but more
importantly the context in which such photographs are viewed represents the critical
quality to focus on when making a judgement about the potential of a photograph
to be sexualised for a given individual. The display of such photographs within an
art gallery exhibition and in a clear artistic framework, for example, seems reasonable.
The presence of such pictures within collections of more clearly pornographic material
would, however, in these terms constitute prima facie grounds for supposing such
pictures to have the capacity to be sexualised by adults with a sexual interest in
children.
Most pictures will clearly fall within one category, but echoing the discussion about
artistic qualities, from time to time the boundaries between categories can be
somewhat blurred. The critical factor in so far as the typology is concerned is overt
sexual intent and content, which may in some circumstances be difficult to identify
or verify objectively. For example, some newspaper advertisements (such as those
advertising Calvin Klein underwear for young men) show pictures of boys and
teenagers in their underwear. Whilst having no explicit or necessarily intended sexual
connotation for the producer, many of these advertisements may nevertheless be
thought to emphasise and exaggerate sexual qualities inappropriately, however
implicitly, as part of the advertising strategy. The sexual qualities that such pictures
might have lie, of course, in the mind of the viewer rather than in objective reality,
although it should be noted that the significance of using the margins of sexuality to
advertise is not lost on advertising agencies which design and produce such
advertisements. Kincaid (1998) discussed this at some length. A more complex
example can be seen in an advertisement for a children’s charity, which shows a young
girl of perhaps 5 or 6 standing next to an open car door appearing to be solicited by
a kerb crawler, with other obvious prostitute figures evident in shadows in the vicinity
(Independent on Sunday, 25 June 2000). The child is wearing a normal dress, and has
not been posed in a provocative or erotic way. The intention behind the advertisement
was presumably to juxtapose a shocking image of an innocent young girl against a
background of prostitution, with the text making the point that ‘neglected as a child,
it was always possible Kim would be an easy victim for pimps’. However powerful
34 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

this juxtaposition of images may be (which is part of a series of similar advertisements),

this particular image rather than being shocking might well act as a source of
stimulation if an individual fantasises about underage prostitutes or child abduction,
or if the advertisement is seen as emphasising availability, rather than as a warning.
Conceptualising picture collections and child pornography in terms of this
continuum emphasises the sense in which sexualisation of pictures is a psychological
process. Legal specification of child pornography in terms of obscenity or sexual
content necessarily fails to capture the rich array of material that is attractive to the
adult with sexual interest in children. However, pictures that are collected by adults
with a sexual interest in children do not fall within a simple homogeneous category.
Legal specification and this proposed taxonomy do, of course, overlap, and in most
jurisdictions, pictures that could be categorised as level 6 or greater from the above
table are likely to be illegal, in that they clearly in some sense emphasise sexual
victimisation. In some jurisdictions, level 2 pictures (involving pictures of naked
children in nudist settings) may or may not be illegal, and unless a local law explicitly
prohibits sexualisable pictures of clothed children, it is unlikely that all level 4 and 5
pictures will be illegal. This highlights a major problem. Conceptualisations of child
pornography that equate it with obscenity necessarily focus on an ‘end’ product and
ignore the children as victims. Early work by Pierce (1984) suggested that there is a
blatant disregard for the dehumanising experiences encountered by children in the
production of all such material, and that the abuse of children emerges out of the
whole spectrum of pornographic trade, including the recruitment of subject, the
production and sale of material. This is particularly relevant to the debate about the
criminalisation of pictures of child nudity (see Grasz and Pfaltzgraf 1998).
In conceptualising picture qualities, level 3 pictures (surreptitiously taken
photographs of children showing either underwear or various degrees of nakedness)
represent a particular kind of dilemma, illustrating in part the issue raised above.
Typically, these are pictures of young children and toddlers playing at paddling pools
or beaches, either fully or partially undressed, or climbing on or playing with
playground equipment and showing their underwear. These photographs may not
necessarily be illegal in many jurisdictions, and indeed may be indistinguishable from
legitimate family photographs. Yet they can be argued to represent a very serious
example of sexual victimisation through photography. This may seem a paradoxical
assertion to make, for there is a sense in which there is no victim in these pictures, in
that the child and its caretakers, because the pictures are surreptitiously taken, are
more than likely unaware of what has happened. It is not uncommon to see pictures
taken with high-powered telephoto lenses, for example, such that the photographer
might be 50 or more metres away from the paddling pool or playground. Other
devices used are 90° lenses that disguise the photographer’s intentions (a particularly
effective ploy on beaches or at swimming pools). However, whilst the child and its
parents or caretakers may be unaware that they are being photographed, in many
respects these pictures are particularly corrosive and offensive, because they sexualise
situations that should be safe and secure environments in which children can play.
Perhaps the important issue here is that lack of knowledge of victimisation does not
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 35

Figure 2.1 Number of series of pictures at different grading levels.

Figure 2.2 Number of series at different levels for Child I.

Figure 2.3 Number of series at different levels for Child 2 (3–7), Child 3 (6), Child 4 (4–6),
Child 5 (1.5–3) (age range of photographs indicated in brackets).

necessarily diminish its gravity. The issues here are similar to those raised by Holmes
et al. (1998) in their discussion of the significance of ‘hidden’ pictures in pornography
in general.
Pictures at levels 8, 9 and 10 necessarily involve the presence of someone else in
the picture, either an adult, or an animal. These can be best thought of as a picture
of a sexual assault or rape in process, and clearly fall within all contemporary legal
definitions of child pornography, regardless of an emphasis on obscene, sexual or
indecent. The same argument applies to pictures in level 7, although the offender
may not be visible in the scene. Although not necessarily visible, the adult is present
as the director of poses.
The utility of this grading system can be seen when it is applied to a particular
example. One large grouping of pictures widely available on the Internet involves a
total of some thirty-six very young girls, aged between 1.5 and 7 years old. The total
number of pictures available probably exceeds 3,000, distributed in over 100
36 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

individual picture series each containing some 30–60 individual still pictures. In all
probability the still pictures are at least in part video captures. The pictures appear
to have been taken over a number of years, because in some cases the same child is
shown at different ages. By analysing the pictures using the grading system, a sense
of the nature and extent of victimisation shown in these pictures can be illustrated.
This can be seen in the Figures below.
As can be seen from Figure 2.1, most of the picture series fall within level 6 or
below (explicit erotic posing). To achieve this summary, each individual picture
within a series is viewed and categorised and the final series grade is based on the
highest level attained by any picture within the series. However, it is also clear from
the diagram that a significant number of the series show much greater levels of sexual
victimisation. When the pictures are analysed with respect to the particular children
involved, however, it becomes apparent that only five girls are portrayed in more than
two series of pictures. Grading of these picture series reveals that only these five girls
are portrayed in pictures of level 7 and above (pictures showing explicit sexual
activity). Figures 2.2 and 2.3 below illustrate this for the most frequently
photographed child (given the name, for our purposes, of Child 1), and for the other
four children (Child 2–5).

From Figure 2.2 we can see that Child 1 has been repeatedly photographed in
situations of extreme sexual abuse, and internal evidence from the pictures suggests
this occurred from ages 3 to about 7. Figure 2.3 illustrates the extent of sexual
victimisation illustrated for the other four children. It is noteworthy that the youngest
child, Child 5, has been photographed in situations meriting a grading of 8 (pictures
of children being subject to a sexual assault, involving digital touching, by an adult).
These photographs represent a very serious example of serial sexual abuse and
pornography production, which extends over a number of years, and embraces a
number of very young girls. At the time of writing, neither these children nor the
producer have been identified.

PSEUDO-PHOTOGRAPHS
Not all child pornography is what it seems. What are referred to as
‘pseudophotographs’ exist, which at first sight complicate the analysis. Pseudo-
photographs are constructed photographs, often very cleverly done with great
technical sophistication, using digital reconstruction techniques to create an image
that is not a photograph either of a real person, or of real events. Thus the head of a
child might be placed on to the body of a woman, where the body features are
manipulated to make it appear to be that of a child (breast reduced in size or
eliminated, and pubic hair eliminated). The child’s head may be someone of
significance to the individual - a niece, the child of a friend—and the pseudo-
photograph presumably plays a part in sexual fantasies around the child. Quite
commonly, pictures of well-known child film stars are modified so that they appear
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 37

either naked, or in some sexually provocative pose. Again, presumably these pictures
relate to sexual fantasies involving the famous model.
Other photographs may be created for less clear motives. A picture from a
wellknown series of pornographic photographs of a girl was modified by the addition
of an erect penis, and the girl’s head was replaced by that of a boy. In technical terms,
the image modifications to the genital area by the addition of the penis were very
competently undertaken with no obvious signs of modification. On the other hand,
the boy’s head superimposed on to the original girl’s was poorly done, with no effort
made to hide the modification. Given such obvious attention to the genital region
(in contrast to the head region) it is tempting to suggest that in this case the
construction of the pseudo-image was some kind of sexual act for its producer. The
amount of time involved in creating these kinds of photograph in particular is
considerable, and the creators often show great technical skill and competence.
Other forms of pseudo-image superimpose different unconnected pictures; for
example, a child holding a toy might be modified and superimposed on to a picture
of a naked man, such that the child appears to be holding not a toy, but the man’s
penis. In February 2001, a Renfrewshire social worker was charged with possession
of pornographic pictures made up of photographs of children’s faces cut from
magazines and pasted on to pornographic images downloaded from the Internet. This
man was caught after fire-fighters entered his flat to put out a fire, and found the
photographs amongst his possessions. For the future, it seems likely that as computer-
aided animation and 3D computer graphics become easier and more accessible, then
there will be a growth in animated child pornography, wholly constructed as
computer images.
The person portrayed in the resultant pseudo-picture, of course, does not exist. In
a sense, because these pictures are not real (that is to say the events they portray did
not happen, or could not happen as the ‘person’ portrayed does not exist) they might
be thought not to involve any victim. Legislative initiatives have, however, attempted
to address this problem. In the US, the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996
defines child pornography as ‘any visual depiction, including any photography, film,
video, picture or computer generated image or picture...where…such visual depiction
is, or appears to be, of a minor’. However, it seems that the Ashcroft v. Free Speech
Coalition judgement has overtaken this provision and rendered it inoperable. The
Irish Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1988 embraces pseudo-images by
defining child pornography as ‘any visual representation…that shows...or relates to
a person who is, or is depicted as being a child’.
Opponents of criminalising pseudo-child pornography have argued that this
material, because no child is harmed in its production, should not be drawn within
the framework of child pornography. Echoing some of the debate referred to earlier
in this chapter related to why viewing child pornography can be problematic, they
argue that because the historic purpose of criminalising production of child
pornography is to prevent children from being sexually abused, and because pseudo-
images do not involve actual abuse, they should not be criminalised. Indeed,
opponents of these measures, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have argued
38 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

that people’s thoughts are their private thoughts, and that prohibition of pseudo-child
pornography is a violation of free speech rights. The Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
judgement seems for the moment to support this view.
The issue here is contentious. However, it can be argued that, real or not, pseudo-
child pornography represents a form of victimisation just as real as child pornography,
and should be treated as such. In addition, as McCabe and Gregory (1998) have
indicated, abusers often use pornography to entice other children into posing for
pictures or movies, and therefore whether the child or situation legally exists is in a
sense irrelevant in these situations. Wasserman (1998) presented a useful review of
the legal issues involved in criminalising the production of such pseudo-photographs.
The psychological qualities of individuals involved in the production of these kinds
of image are unknown, although it is reasonable to suppose there are complex
individual motives at work.

PICTURE COLLECTIONS
The above taxonomy and grading system offers a means of categorising both series
of and individual pictures. It is essential to note that an important quality of picture
collections from the collectors’ perspective is that it is not simply an aggregation of
individual pictures. Pictures generally occur in series, and the series invariably has
either some sense of implicit or explicit narrative quality, or a common thematic link.
Narrative qualities might be a sequence of pictures showing a child undressing, or
engaging in some particular act. The addition of text to pictures may serve to
exaggerate their narrative qualities. Recent developments have seen the addition of
text to particularly disturbing still photographs of very young children that almost
include the viewer in the process, adding a disturbing new dimension to what are
already worrying pictures. A characteristic of much recent child pornography on the
Internet is that still photographs are in fact video captures. The process of capturing
still images from videos in many ways emphasises and exaggerates the narrative
qualities of the original video, and the quality of contemporary video capture
technology makes the resultant photograph largely indistinguishable from still
photographs. Such narrative qualities make grading of these picture series by the most
extreme picture example an appropriate way of characterising picture series. In a sense
the narrative generally leads to and culminates in the most extreme picture or pictures.
Thematic links between pictures, on the other hand, might relate to particular scenes
or acts. Series of pictures may focus on oral sex, sex between children, or perhaps
pictures of children showing their underwear.
Both narrative and thematic linkages serve important qualities for the collector,
both in terms of sustaining and generating fantasy, and in terms of personalising and
engaging with the child victim. They also play an important part in structuring
collecting behaviour, in that filling gaps in series may be an important factor in
determining selection of material to acquire. Interviews with offenders suggest that
finding pictures that fill gaps is highly reinforcing to the collector, and may add
psychological value to a series.
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 39

As with all pornography, child pornographic pictures are strikingly stereotyped.

In a sense, there are only a limited number of poses possible, but the poses portrayed
are remarkably similar across picture series and children, to the extent that it is not
always possible to tell different series apart, especially with close-up photographs
where faces or other identifying qualities may not be visible. This stereotyped quality
itself suggests implicit narrative properties of photographs, and some collectors seem
to respond to this in terms of their efforts to complete picture series:

you know I suppose I was deliberately going for groups…em…so you get like
an idea of the full event that was going on so I suppose like I come back here
it’s probably more like action which is probably later on I went down to em…
movie format…I you know so you get an idea of…the full continuation rather
than just one photo…or like a snapshot. (TS)

There is some reason to suppose that these standardised and stereotyped poses serve
a further purpose of giving structure to, and providing a sense of ‘instructions’ for
new people to the area to copy, or to enable fantasy fulfilment. Thus, some offenders
refer to imitation of poses, within preferred pictures, when accounting for their own
pornographic production. Common themes evident in the photographs are also seen
in text-based child pornography, and in many ways are similar to adult fantasies, only
with the substitution of a child:

Fantasies…it would basically run like I take the young girl on a date…and then
we’d go home and then she’d we’d…you know the stuff that adults do which
would lead to sex and would involve her masturbating me and then me giving
her oral sex. (QH)

The central significance of a series of pictures to the collector (discussed in greater

depth in Chapter 7) does not invalidate the emphasis on discriminating between
individual pictures described above. In terms of the categorising process, a picture
series can be characterised in terms of the highest level achieved by individual pictures
within a particular series. It needs to be emphasised that the end point of a narrative
series (in terms of the extent of sexual victimisation) is the most significant aspect of
that series, and for the purpose of categorisation can serve to discriminate the qualities
of the series. The process and features of the emergence of a picture series are also
relevant factors. A similar argument may also be applied to the categorisation of video
sequences.
Locating a picture, or a series of pictures, at some level in the taxonomy outlined
above may not in itself always be a complete and sufficient characterisation of a
particular collection of pictures. Other issues surrounding the material may also play
a part in determining the sense of extent and severity of sexual victimisation. Factors
that indicate greater severity within a given level may be:
40 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

1 In so far as collections are concerned, its size and the quality of its organisation.
Size of collection may be indicative of the degree of involvement in the processes
of collecting material, and the extent to which an individual has become absorbed
within the adult sexual interest in children community. Obsessional sorting or
organising of the material is also an indication of the offender’s involvement with
the pictures and the amount of time spent ‘offline’ engaging with the material.
Complex categorisation systems may also be indicative of involvement with
trading photographs.
2 The presence of new/private material. This may also relate to the extent to which
the collector has access to producers, or to the circle around which new and
valued material circulates. Again it may be indicative of the degree of involvement
in the child pornography world.
3 In terms of production factors, the addition of suggestive text either indicating
the availability of the child, or exaggerating the suggestive qualities of the
photograph.
4 The age of the child. Recent evidence (Taylor 1999) suggests that the age of
children in new child pornography is reducing. Very young children (of 5 and
under) may be particularly vulnerable to involvement in child pornography, in
that they may be more susceptible to what for an older child would seem
inappropriate, such as requests to undress. Very young children may have little
or no awareness of the sexual context to what they are being asked to do or its
inappropriateness, and may be subject to sexual victimisation without the same
risk of disclosure to adults. In these circumstances, there is a greater imbalance
in power between perpetrator and the victim, and the lack of language skills may
reduce the child’s capacity to disclose the assault. Pictures involving babies are
particularly distasteful, in that they necessarily exploit situations of total
dependency.

FEATURES OF CONTEMPORARY CHILD

PORNOGRAPHY
There is little objective evidence about the extent and availability of child
pornography. Media headlines of police seizures of collections involving 50,000
photographs may make good copy, but do little to give a sense of the scale of the
problem. In any event, counting the number of photographs available is not the way
to approach this issue. The number of pictures available is a rather arbitrary and fluid
thing, related as much to the producer’s whim as to objective qualities. For example,
given that many still photographs come from videos, the number of video captures
that can be made from a 30–minute video may range from two or three to many
thousand, depending on the interests, energy and technical capacity of the producer.
One objective approach to understanding the extent of available material is to draw
on the information contained within the COPINE archive of child pornography.
This archive is drawn from pictures downloaded from newsgroup postings, and it is
therefore a sample of the material that is publicly available. The archive takes two
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 41

forms: first, old pictures which are known to be over 15 years old, and second, a
searchable archive of new (less than 10 years old) and recent (10 to 15 years old)
pictures. The second archive is made up of pictures that are collected from in excess
of sixty newsgroups known to carry child pornography, which are regularly
monitored. Both archives underrepresent children over the age of 12–13, when the
onset of puberty makes age determination difficult from pictures. The new and recent
archive focuses on levels 6–10 in the above typology and is a large, and probably
representative, sample of new photographs in the public domain.
In total, the archive includes in excess of 150,000 still pictures and 400+ video
clips. Of the 150,000 images, more than half are of girls. Of those pictures of girls
categorised as level 7 and above, about 7 per cent are new. Approximately 26 per cent
of similar level boy photographs are new (categorised as level 7 or above). In these
new pictures, some 40 per cent of the girls and over 50 per cent of the boys are between
the ages of 9 and 12, the rest being younger. The vast majority of both sexes of children
depicted in the new pictures of level 7 and above are white Caucasian, with Asiatic
children more likely to appear in posed images (levels 5 and 6). There is a marked
absence of black children in any of the age groups, and as yet there is little evidence
as to why this should be the case. Anecdotal information from the COPINE
interviews with offenders suggested that many collectors show a preference for thin,
fair children, where genitalia are clearly visible and where there are no secondary
sexual characteristics.
During the year 2001, photographs of new children appeared in the newsgroups
monitored by the COPINE Project at a rate of about two new children per month.
This is highly variable, but there is evidence that the age of the children (particularly
females) is getting younger, that there is an increase in ‘domestic’ production (where
the settings are family rooms), and that there has been a growth in the number of
photographs of Eastern European children. During the year 2002, there has also been
an increase in the number of pictures whose origins appear to be commercial web
sites, based in South America or Eastern Europe; these pictures tend to be in levels 5
and 6. These, and the emergence of more explicit child pornography from Eastern
Europe access to which involves payment, seem to represent a new and disturbing
growth in commercial exploitation of the market for child pornography.
From the photographic evidence available, it can be estimated that over 400 of the
children included in the new/recent material have been subjected to serious sexual
assault (being present in pictures categorised as level 7 and above). Of the 2,000
children who have been photographed while posing naked (levels 5 and 6), it is
reasonable to assume that a number of these will have been sexually assaulted, either
outside being photographed or without the images being publicly distributed yet. It
is also reasonable to assume that the figures given here are an underestimate of the
numbers of pictures in circulation as the amount of material in private circulation is
unknown. However, given that new material regularly appears, it seems reasonable
to assume that the underground production and distribution of child pornography
is considerable.
42 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
As noted above, the COPINE archive consists of two parts; one archive being pictures
older than about fifteen years, the other being of more recent pictures. This division
is somewhat arbitrary, but is a useful rule of thumb to delineate new material from
old. In pre-Internet times (and in some circumstances currently too) it can take a
long time for underground pictures to circulate and be distributed, and whilst fifteen
years may seem a long time, it seems to embrace the cycle of production, private
distribution and eventual public dissemination. Unless videos or still photographs
are seized as a result of police or Customs action, we are unaware of them as a problem
until they begin to be publicly circulated. One effect of the Internet may be to reduce
this cycle, with new photographs appearing much more quickly than previously.
However, around fifteen years from the year 2001 also marks something of a
watershed in child pornography in another sense, because it is around then that public
anxiety about child pornography first began to receive significant expression. To be
precise, it is possible to put a date on an event that marked a turn in public opinion
from benign disapproval to increasingly hostile action against the production of child
pornography—the death of Thea Pumbroek. Thea Pumbroek died on 27 August
1984. She was aged 6, and for much of her life she had been involved in the production
of child pornographic videos. She died of an overdose of cocaine in the bathroom of
a room in the Holiday Inn, Amsterdam, during what appears to have been a
photographic session.
Thea Pumbroek’s death prompted legislative changes to the law regarding the sale
and production of child pornography in Holland. More importantly, it also gave
impetus to the growing pressure on Western governments to recognise the existence
of child pornography, and to legislate against it. Her death marked the end of a phase
of relative ease of access to commercially produced child pornography, which began
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, although, as Date (1990) notes, child pornography
and the invention of photography go hand in hand. For example, in 1874, the London
police raided the studio of Henry Hayler and confiscated over 130,000 photographs
of children which were considered indecent (Edwards 1994). Indeed, a coherent
argument could be made that changes in the technology of photography are rapidly
reflected in the production of child pornography (as an aspect of a broader trade in
pornography). Ease of photographic developing, the ready availability of video
camera, and now digital imaging all have had an impact on the nature and availability
of child pornography.
It is reasonable to assume that the requirement to use intermediaries to develop
and print films serves as a limit to the production of child pornography (as with other
pornography). Certainly, specialist photographic services move into niche areas such
as this charging a premium for confidentiality, but for most people the production
of child pornography, until the advent of cheap and anonymous means of production,
was simply out of reach. Cost may have been one factor but, even when the production
of child pornography was not illegal, the risk of revealing such an interest (with
consequent risk of public exposure, or perhaps blackmail) would deter all but the
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 43

most ardent amateur producer. Edwards (1994) dated the pornographic use of
photography to the 1840s, with the production of an album of erotic photographs
of children by J.T.Withe, and with photographers such as Oscar Gustav Rejlander
making photographs of nude and semi-nude little girls. In addition, erotic postcards
of children were in circulation in Victorian times, but these did not pass into popular
culture without censure. Local home-based production of child pornography no
doubt occurred from the early days of photography, but its distribution if it occurred
at all was limited to private collections. However, given the evident demand, this
provided a market for commercial production, where the risks could be minimised
for both the producer and the purchaser.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, most Western European countries went through
a period of relaxation of censorship laws, particularly with respect to obscenity.
Denmark led the way in this, in that the production of all forms of pornography was
legalised in July 1969, setting the tone for what became a decade of liberalisation of
obscenity laws throughout Europe. Most of the material that we now know as child
pornography has its origins in this time, in terms of the cine films, and later videos,
and magazines that were produced for commercial sale. The earliest film materials
produced were marketed under the name ‘Lolita’, and Date (1990) suggested that at
least 36 ten-minute cine films were produced under this title between 1971 and 1979.
Whilst the cine filming was taking place, still photography also occurred, which
resulted in parallel publishing of magazines that to a degree mirrored the content of
the cine films. The Lolita films were made by a company called Color Climax, with
registered offices in Copenhagen. These films exclusively involved pictures of young
girls being sexually abused, primarily by men, but sometimes involving women or
other children. The girls were mainly in the age range 7–11, but with some younger.
Other companies and individuals also operated in Denmark at that time selling child
pornographic material. Tate (1990) refers to a Danish citizen Willy Strauss as perhaps
the major producer of child pornography magazines. Tate (1990) suggested that
Strauss published 1,500 child pornography magazines, with titles such as Bambina
Sex, Anna and her Father and Lolita Sex. These magazines were again primarily
concerned with the abuse of young girls. Other Danish companies focused on
homosexual child abuse, reflected in magazines with titles such as Piccolo and Joe and
his Uncles. Parallel with these European developments, in the USA a similar
commercial interest in the production and distribution of child pornography
emerged. Liberal views on pornography, combined with lax law enforcement, enabled
local US pornographers to produce both video and magazines. Links also developed
between the European producers and US producers, such that photographs produced
in the USA were sent to Europe for publication, and subsequently imported back to
the USA.
These films and magazines provided the corpus of material that was exported all
over the Western world. As the industry grew, and involved producers in other
European countries and the USA, the primary base of distribution became
Amsterdam. Dutch tolerance of the sex trade in general, and pornography in
particular, provided an environment that enabled the systematic commercial
44 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

exploitation of pornography, including child pornography, to flourish. Magazines

with titles such as Lollitots, Sweet Pattie, Sweet Linda, Lolita Color Specials, Children
Love, Incestuous Love, Randy Lolitas, Nymph Lovers, Wonderboy, Joyboy, Prinz, Chicken,
Kim, Mick, Kinde Liebe and many others all date from this time. The pictures
contained in these magazines seem to have come from various sources, including
pictures sold to the publisher by parents or others who abused the children
photographed. Some sense of how this operated can be seen from the testimony of
Joseph Francis Henry to the Permanent Subcommittee on Governmental Affairs
before the United States Senate, Ninety-Ninth Congress, 21 February 1985. Henry
was involved in the sexual abuse of twenty-two young girls. In his testimony he states
that

Various motels and homes of two men were used as locations for the
molestation. The children were also photographed during sessions with the
men. Although I did not participate in this, one of the men, I can’t be sure
which, apparently sold photos to the Dutch child porn magazine Lolita because
in the Lolita issues 29, 30, and 31, there were shots of Tammy and Yvonne in
various explicit poses.

Magazines such as Lolita contained advertisements asking for photographs to besent

to the publishers.
The contemporary significance of this is that these magazines and videos continue
to provide the core child pornography material. The magazines and videos produced
in the 1970s can still be obtained, and lie at the centre of many child pornography
collections. Even now, contemporary police seizures of child pornography regularly
include hard copies of these magazines and videos. However, what is significant for
our purposes is that this material (both magazines and videos), digitally scanned and
placed on the Internet, remains by far the largest element of current child pornography
available. The titles of the magazines and videos are preserved in their electronic form
as the titles of the picture series ‘Sweet Pattie’ becomes ‘Pattie’ for example—the
various Lolita videos and magazines are identified as LL followed by the series number
1 to 36. A picture called LL23–30 therefore refers to the thirtieth picture scanned
from Lolita video number 23.
Whilst this remains the core of the material available, it must be emphasised that
since the 1980s, when legislative provision against child pornography became more
effective, new material has continued to be produced. What has characterised this
material has been its base of production. Early child pornographers often used hotel
bedrooms in which to take their photographs. Increasingly, as the early forms of
commercial production have diminished, home production has increased in
significance. This has been possible because of changes in the technology of
photography—the advent of instant cameras removed the need for still photographs
to be developed by third parties, as did the growing availability of video for moving
pictures. Coupled with this, however, was the emergence of a new, cheap and easily
 THE NATURE OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 45

available medium for distribution: the Internet, along with the means of making
photographs accessible to Internet users: cheap scanners to enable digitisation of
photographs. As in other areas of life, the Internet has enabled direct communication
between people, who in this case exchange pornographic photographs of children.
More recently, however, this domestic material seems increasingly to be augmented
by commercially produced photographs and videos, which unlike in the past now
has connections with organised crime.
A further noteworthy aspect of newer child pornography is the growing
involvement of third world children. Thailand, the Philippines, India and more
recently South America, are locations from which child pornography production has
increasingly been evident. Most notable of all, however, are the increasing number
of children from Eastern European countries. The amateur producers of this material
(as distinct from commercial suppliers) tend to be Westerners, who deliberately set
out to establish contacts with disadvantaged children. The following quotation from
a news story from The Times of India about the arrest of two Swiss nationals presents
a recent case which illustrates this:

The couple was arrested by the social service branch of the city police on
December 9 for allegedly luring two slum children to pose for pornographic
pictures. The couple had offered them expensive toys and gifts while allegedly
luring them to a hotel room and forcing them to indulge in pornographic acts,
the police alleged. A police party raided the hotel room on December 9 and
found the couple and the children in the nude.

It is learnt that the couple had made at least 12 trips to India and are believed
to be running the racket for more than a decade. The police have also asked
Interpol to probe whether the couple were involved in luring minors for
pornography in other countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand. [© 2001 The
Times of India Group 12 January 2001].

An alarming potential development in Eastern Europe appears to be a growing

involvement of organised crime in the distribution of child pornography, and
presumably its production.

CONCLUDING COMMENT
Perhaps the most significant issue to emerge from our discussion of old child
pornography is that the children who appear in these photographs that are so avidly
collected, fantasised over and exchanged are in fact now 30- to 40-year-old women
and men, in all probability married with families of their own. What their feelings
might be about the photographs of them that are still in circulation is largely
unknown, but for the person sexually interested in children the existence of such
46 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

photographs ‘ensures that there will always be an image of the child at their age of
sexual preference’ (Healy 1997). In photographs, if not in real life, these images
preserve the child. New photographs, of course, just add to this cycle of exploitation.
Perhaps this point above all others brings into focus the discussion of ‘What is the
problem’ of child pornography that started this chapter. Preserving images of the
exploitation of children effectively preserves that exploitation, and enables it to extend
beyond even generations.
The broadly psychological approach developed in this chapter has a utility beyond
a narrow legalistic perspective, although it is not without problems. Identifying child
pornography with pictures that are attractive to adults with a sexual interest in
children extends concern to photographs that are not in any sense necessarily indecent
or obscene. It is not possible to legislate for this essentially fantasy use of photographs,
and nor should it be even considered. But it does force our attention to the individual,
and the activities of that individual that can be lost when a narrow legalistic approach
is taken. Collecting and producing child pornography is a complex activity, and the
following chapters will enable that complexity to be explored.
 Chapter 3
Adult sexual interest in children

Sexual interest and contact between adults and children has been observed and
documented over written history, and such accounts would suggest varying degrees
of social acceptance (McConaghy 1998). However, the concept of child sexual abuse
(CSA) as a social problem is a relatively new phenomenon and did not emerge in the
academic literature until the 1980s. Its identification as a social problem led to a
proliferation of studies examining the nature of the offender and their behaviour, as
well as increased efforts towards documenting its prevalence and understanding the
impact that such abuse might have on victims (Freeman and Morris 2001). What is
also noticeable is the emergence of terminology emphasising the adult as perpetrator
and the child as victim. Epidemiological studies have suggested the presence of
widespread incest and child molestation, leading Finkelhor (1994) to assert that ‘In
every locale where it has been sought, researchers have demonstrated its existence at
levels high enough to be detected through surveys of a few hundred adults in the
general population’ (412). In the twentieth century, within North American and
European cultures, the person who engages in sexual contact with children is
demonised as the least desirable member of our community, and when convicted of
such a crime often requires special protection within the judicial system.
The purpose of this chapter is to examine how we currently make sense of adult
sexual interest in children. This chapter does not focus on the relationship between
sexual offences against children and the Internet, which is addressed in the next
chapter. This chapter sets the scene to allow us to explore and evaluate critically what
differences, if any, are associated with this new technology. In exploring what we
mean by adult sexual interest in children it is important to note that our
conceptualisations belong largely to this time, and take place alongside changes in
how we think about children and childhood, and the role of mass communication.
Kincaid (1998) has drawn our attention to the ways in which Western societies
currently ‘eroticise’ children (seen most explicitly in advertising), while at the same
time both denying their sexuality and overvaluing ideas of innocence. Thus we create
a sexualised child whom we pretend to be protecting. This fusion of innocence and
sexuality may be one of many factors that play a part in the objectification of children
as sexual artifacts, and that results in younger and younger children being sought as
sexual stimuli. This may be reflected in the changing nature of child pornography as
it emerges on the Internet (Taylor 1999).
48 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

A further point for consideration relates to the fact that the majority of those
appearing to commit sexual offences are men (Cowburn and Pringle 2000). Whether
this relates to men’s oppressive and abusive practices towards women and children,
or an underreporting of offences committed by women and children, remains unclear.
However, what we are starting to see are accounts of both women and children as
offenders, and these will be considered alongside current theorising about men as
abusers.

GLOBAL ACCOUNTS OF SEX OFFENDERS

Our current ideas about adults who are sexually interested in children are largely
drawn from the last century, and emerged from theorising about the nature of sexual
behaviour and its categorisation. Inevitably, such categorising of behaviour tends to
dichotomise activities, so that we end up attaching to them labels such as normal/
abnormal, moral/immoral, acceptable/deviant and so on. Such early accounts are
often called ‘global’, because they do not have as their specific focus sexual interest
in children, but are a more comprehensive account of whole groups of behaviours.
One of the most influential global accounts was provided by Freud, where sexual
behaviours that were considered deviant were situated within the context of character
disorders. Freud used the word perversion to describe such behaviours, and suggested
that either the aim or the object of the person’s sexual desire had become diverted.
The location for such perversion was early childhood, and Freud (1975) emphasised
that these behaviours were highly resistant to change. He noted that the sexual abuse
of children was frequently found ‘among school children and child attendants’ (14),
and that sexual impulses were amongst those least controlled by ‘the higher activities
of the mind’. This rather tame conclusion did little to help our understanding of such
sexual behaviours and as Lanyon (1991) has suggested, the ‘untreatability’ aspect of
Freud’s account has had a profound effect on attitudes toward treatment that has
only been challenged within more recent years. A subsequent analytic account was
provided by Fraser (1976), which focused on unresolved Oedipal strivings on the
part of the male, who, in spite of growing older, remains deeply in love with the
person he was as a child. However, as Horley (2000) points out, Fraser’s linking of
homosexuality with child sex abuse cannot account for the number of men who are
both sexually attracted to, and who engage in sexual activity with, immature females.
A further global theory that has had most influence within the therapeutic
community is behavioural in its orientation. Here the problem is conceptualised as
an inappropriate frequency of events such as behaviours, thoughts and feelings, and
has allowed for the classification of deviant behaviours according to their stimulus
and response characteristics (Langevin 1983). Within this framework it is argued that
children can be exposed to contexts where they experience some early arousal to
stimuli, which, when combined with inappropriate masturbatory fantasies during
adolescence, leads to deviant sexual behaviour. Such inappropriate events are seen as
problematic in themselves, rather than as symptomatic of some further underlying
dysfunction. This is in marked contrast to biological theories, which have focused on
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 49

genetic, hormonal or neuropsychological factors underpinning the deviant behaviour.

For example, a recent paper by Bogaert (2001) examined the evidence for elevated
non-righthandedness in sex offenders as a measure of underlying developmental or
central nervous system abnormalities. While such correlational studies are interesting,
they do little to move us away from models emphasising associations between a variety
of biological factors and the emergence of behaviour that is socially labelled as deviant.
They do not establish what ‘causes’ people to behave differently and reinforce the
‘medicalisation’ of such sexual behaviour. The latter has become one powerful way
that many organisations who promote sexual contact between children justify their
interest and distance themselves from taking personal responsibility for their
behaviour.
Such accounts of sexual deviance have also been termed paraphilias within the
medical community and entered into the classification system of the American
Psychiatric Association (APA). According to the diagnostic tool DSM–IV (APA
1994), such disorders are characterised by recurrent and intense sexual urges, fantasies
or behaviours involving either non-human objects, children or nonconsenting adults,
or the experience of suffering or humiliation. For a person to be diagnosed in this
way, they have to be experiencing such urges, fantasies or behaviours for at least six
months, and they must also be having a negative impact on the person’s social or
work activity. Paedophilia is seen as one such paraphilia, and is placed under the
heading ‘Sexuality and Gender Identity Disorders’. DSMIV distinguishes between
those who are attracted only to children (exclusive type) and those who are attracted
to adults as well (non-exclusive type). This typology of sexual interest bears a strong
resemblance to other, dynamically oriented perspectives, but is possibly of limited
value because meeting the first criteria (evidence of duration of urges, fantasies or
behaviours) inevitably excludes a large number of people with a sexual interest in
children.

TYPOLOGIES OF SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN

Some of the earliest accounts of sexual offences against children attempted to create
typologies of offenders. One of the most influential of such accounts was that of
Groth (e.g. Groth et al. 1982). Within this psychodynamic framework, child
molestation was viewed as a pseudo-sexual act, where the offending behaviour was in
the service of non-sexual needs. Seen in this way, the underlying motivation to the
sexual behaviour was not really sexual but a bid to resolve non-sexual needs and to
deal with everyday life issues. Offenders were divided into two basic types, according
to their level of psychosexual motivation, and excluded those who used violence
against children. These were termed child rapists and were seen as being qualitatively
different from molesters. Molesters were seen to be either regressed or fixated. The
regressed offender was theorized to have developed age-appropriate sexual and
interpersonal orientations, but under particular circumstances (for example, the
absence of the marital partner) could regress to sexual involvement with children.
The fixated offender was one whose primary sexual interest was children, and who
50 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

never developed psychosexually beyond that level. Such accounts are still very
influential and are evident in attempts to judge how ‘dangerous’ the individual is.
A more sophisticated empirical classification typology was developed by Knight et
al. (1989) who acknowledged that child molesters were a markedly heterogeneous
group, and that the development of an adequate typology would moderate decision
making. Their typology, termed MTC:CM3 (Massachusetts Treatment Centre:
Child Molester Typology, version 3) rated offenders along two axes. Axis I involved
dichotomous decisions on two independent, crossed constructs:fixation and social
competence. Fixation assessed the strength of paedophilic interest (the extent to which
children had been a major focus of cognitions and fantasies) while social competence
assessed the offender’s success in employment, adult relationships and social
responsibilities. Axis II required a hierarchical series of decisions, beginning with the
amount of contact with children, both sexual and non-sexual, which would categorise
the person as either a high-contact or low-contact offender. This is a behavioural
measure of the amount of time that an offender spends with or near children,
excluding parent-related contact. Any involvement in a job or social or recreational
activities that requires regular contact with children qualifies as non-sexual contact.
The authors felt that this classification system was an important first step in design
of research on the aetiology, treatment disposition and prognosis of further offending.
One problem with such measures is that they rely exclusively on archival data (such
as prison and programme records), as opposed to screening methods such as the Abel
Screen (Abel et al. 1994) or plethysmographic measures. What emerges from this
literature is that the classification, diagnosis and assessment of those adults who
sexually engage with children are complicated by a high degree of variability among
such people in terms of personal characteristics, life experiences, criminal histories
and reasons for offending. Prentky et al. (1997) suggested that there is ‘no single
“profile” that accurately describes or accounts for all child molesters’. However, what
we start to see emphasised is the importance of factors such as ease of access to children
(also seen in Freud’s account), and the presence or absence of other factors such as
social skills or social isolation.

EVALUATING RISK
Such data-driven approaches to the validation of taxonomic systems for the
classification of adults with a sexual interest in children remain important (e.g.
Rosenberg and Knight 1988; Kalichman 1991), as they largely inform estimates of
‘dangerousness’ and influence decisions about both sentencing and incarceration.
The question of dangerousness is closely linked with that of recidivism – whether the
person will offend again. It has been suggested that the likelihood of reoffending can
be predicted from a number of static or dynamic variables. Static risk factors are those
which cannot change, and include a history of childhood maladjustment or prior
offences. They are thought to indicate ‘deviant developmental trajectories’ and as
such can be used to mark long-term propensities to engage in criminal behaviour
(Hanson 1998). Such factors, however, are not used in determining either when or
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 51

if offences will occur (for example, somebody might have benefited from treatment).
Dynamic factors are thought to be those that predict whether a person will reoffend
and have the potential for changing (associated with increases or decreases in
recidivism). Such dynamic factors can be further divided into stable (e.g. deviant
sexual preferences or alcoholism) and acute (e.g. sexual arousal or drunkenness)
factors. Hanson (1998) suggested that making an evaluation about enduring changes
in risk levels inevitably must rely on changes in stable risk factors.
Hanson and Harris (2000) organised dynamic risk factors identified in a previous
study into a structured assessment procedure, The Sex Offender Need Assessment
Rating (SONAR). This included five relatively stable factors (intimacy deficits,
negative social influences, attitude tolerant of sex offending, sexual self-regulation,
general self-regulation) and four acute factors (substance abuse, negative mood, anger,
victim access). It was anticipated that the stable factors would have a long duration,
such as weeks or months, whereas the acute factors would change over weeks or days.
These scales were examined using data previously collected on sex offenders who had
reoffended compared to those who had not. The scale showed a moderate ability to
differentiate between those who reoffended (recidivists) and those who did not. The
former showed the greatest problems in conforming to the demands of community
supervision, and to a lesser extent problems in sexual self-regulation, attitudes tolerant
of sex offending, and negative peer associations. Possibly one important aspect of this
research is the recognition that the level of risk of an individual offender can change
substantially. Without such an acknowledgement, it would be inevitable to assume
that all offenders pose the same level of risk of reoffending and that they remain
indefinitely at high risk to reoffend.
Assessment measures which do not rely on self-report or archival material include
phallometric testing. This measures penile erection responses to stimuli depicting
various sexual stimuli, based on the early assumption that such arousal is largely
involuntary and therefore less likely to be influenced by faking. (What this also
emphasises is the adversarial approach to assessment where clinicians are looking for
‘proof of deviant sexual arousal.) Hanson and Bussière (1996) conducted a meta-
analysis of sixty-one studies reporting sexual offender recidivism. They derived a
‘pedophile index’ from phallometric evaluation, and this was the most powerful
predictor of recidivism. Their total sample of offenders included both rapists and
child molesters, but a similarly derived ‘rape index’ failed to predict reoffending.
However, difficulties in the standardisation of such phallometric measures, paucity
about the nature of the research subjects or the stimuli used and lack of information
about controls for faking during assessment have led authors such as Marshall and
Fernandez (2000) to urge caution in the conclusions that can be drawn. It may be
that the clinical utility of phallometric assessments might suggest their use in
combination with other measures in order to determine: which offenders display
‘deviant’ sexual arousal (and therefore need treatment); whether or not treatment has
reduced ‘deviant’ tendencies; and estimating the likelihood of reoffending.
An alternative to phallometric assessment has been visual reaction time, which
measures the amount of time participants spend looking at sexual and non-sexual
52 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

stimuli. A variant of this is the Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest (AASI). As the
person looks at slides that present clothed people in varying contexts, the length of
the latency period required for the person to respond with a self-reported ranking of
sexual interest in the slide’s content is measured. It is hypothesised that the longer
someone attends to a slide, the greater the level of sexual interest is in the slide. An
average of responding time latency periods to all slides within the same category of
sexual interest is used as a measure of sexual interest in each category. Abel et al.
(2001) attempted to demonstrate the ability of the AASI to discriminate between
non-child molesters and admitting child molesters. An important aspect of this study
was to address the potential for falsifying responses (a significant problem with
phallometric assessments). The authors used a group of 747 participants matched by
age, race and income to develop three logistic regression equations. The models
compared a group of non-child molesting subjects who were under investigation for
other paraphilias to three groups of child molesters. These were a group of admitting
molesters of girls under 14 years of age, a similar group whose target was boys under
14 and a group believed to be concealing or denying having molested. Their results
suggested that both of the equations designed to discriminate between admitting
child molesters and non-child molesters were statistically significant. The equation
used to contrast those who sought to conceal their behaviour and non-child molesting
subjects was also significant. However, some caution is needed in interpreting the
latter results as the ‘liar-denier model’ was estimated on a sample of sixty-five
participants who denied any child molestation but who were believed by professionals
to be actual molesters. The authors also acknowledge that a probability value does
not reflect certainty, no matter how high. Also, even though a person assessed using
AASI may have a high probability of classification in one of the three categories, this
does not mean that any current accusations being made against them are indeed
correct. However, the practical and ethical advantages of using such an assessment
over traditional phallometric measures are considerable.
Fisher and Thornton (1993) identified two major difficulties in risk assessment
for reoffending. The first of these is the inherent problem in making assumptions
about the general level of risk posed by broad classes of offender. Studer et al. (2000),
for example, discussed how research literature has been used by professionals to justify
the belief that incest offenders, as opposed to non-familial offenders, pose little chance
of reoffending (e.g. Greenberg et al. 2000). The results of Studer’s study of 328
offenders (178 of whom were classed as non-incestuous) suggested that many
offenders who initially appeared incestuous were, in fact, more paedophilic in their
tendencies and had acted on those preferences in the past. Therefore, caution needs
to be used in predictions based on class of offender, as these in part may relate to
opportunity to offend rather than preference. The second difficulty in risk assessment,
according to Fisher and Thornton, is the divergence of opinion regarding relative risk
levels. For example, if the offender ‘denies’ the offence, is this to be taken as an
increasing sign of risk, or an inevitable sign of defensiveness on the part of the
offender? This is further complicated by both the varying amounts of information
available to the assessor and the fact that there are different motivations on the part
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 53

of the offender and the assessor. The process is an adversarial one where the accused
seeks to minimise the nature of the offence or may opt to be ‘open’ with the assessor
as an indication of the way that they have changed.
Grubin and Wingate (1996) argue against the use of actuarial models, using a study
by Quinsey et al. (1995) to highlight the fundamental problems associated with them.
Quinsey et al. ‘s (1995) study was empirically driven from a population of 178
offenders treated in a maximum-security hospital. The subjects of this study were
classified as either rapists (if their victim was a female over the age of 14) or child
molesters (where the female had been under the age of 14 and the offender was at
least five years older than the victim or where the victim was a male under 16 and at
least five years younger than the offender). One hundred and twenty-four men were
defined as child molesters, twenty-eight as rapists and twenty-six as both. Variables
included demographic information (such as occupation, marital status and IQ),
psychiatric history, non-sexual criminal history, history of sexual offences and a
phallometric assessment that yielded a ‘deviance differential’. The results of the study
suggested that sexual recidivism was predicted by previous criminal history, with
psychopathy ratings and phallometric assessment data contributing only marginally
to the variance. This was somewhat surprising given earlier claims made by the same
authors about the predictive value of these two variables.
There is little to suggest that the findings of this population, obtained from a
maximum-security prison, can be generalised to another. In addition, what is implied
is that ‘human beings are entirely a function of their histories’ (354) and that,
regardless of treatment or maturity, the risk of reoffending should remain unaltered.
The reality is that historical data do not change, regardless of treatment or personal
development. Grubin and Wingate (1996) concluded that the most crucial difficulty,
however, arises from the fact that actuarial prediction is about groups rather than
individuals, and unless the behaviour is high frequency it can tell us little about
individual differences. Actuarial models therefore indicate associations, rather than
tell us about causation. As explanatory models, they tend to be circular, show little
relevance to specific cases and fail to inform intervention. Krauss et al. (2000) have
suggested that actuarial instruments are, by and large, atheoretical and do not address
the causes of the behaviour that they are designed to predict. For example, past
criminal behaviour is a good predictor of future criminal activity, but this offers no
insight about rehabilitation or the prevention of others from committing the same act.
Much of this research has its focus on what people do that constitutes the offence,
or what they did in terms of past behaviours. An area that has focused much more
on how individuals think about themselves, their behaviour and that of the child or
children they are interested in is that of cognition and sexual functioning. To put
this very simply, it is assumed that there is something problematic in the way the
person thinks that increases the likelihood of engaging sexually with children. As we
will see in later chapters, those with a sexual interest in children have equally used
the argument that there is something problematic in the way that ‘nonpaedophiles’
think that makes sexual engagement with children a crime.
54 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

COGNITION AND SEXUAL FUNCTIONING

Cognition and sexual functioning has attracted interest in more recent years, although
what this refers to has been conceived and operationalised in a number of different
ways. Segal and Stermac (1990) have described cognitive processes as operating at
four different levels. Cognitive structure (e.g. schemata) refers to how memories are
organised; cognitive propositions refer to the type of information stored in memory;
cognitive operations refer to the various processes by which system components
operate (e.g. information processing); cognitive products refer to the actual thoughts
or images that result from the other three (such as selfstatements or attributions).
Horley (2000) suggested that beliefs, attitudes and values are among the specific
concepts that qualify as propositions, while fantasies or daydreams would be seen
more in terms of products, and that much of the work in this area in relation to
offences against children has a focus on processes and products. For example,
Finkelhor and Araji (1986) generated a four-factor theory of child molestation, which
included a number of variables, such as deviant fantasy involving children and
inappropriate beliefs about children, that appear to be relevant to understanding
offender behaviour. However, understanding the relationship between the factors
and the role of cognitive processes is still to be explored.
‘Cognitive’ accounts of offending focus on factors such as empathy, social skills
and cognitive processes as a way of understanding, and hopefully changing, offender
behaviour. Here the implication is that there is something problematic in both the
way that offenders view or interpret their social world and the ways they respond to
it. What lies between individuals and their offending behaviour is a way of thinking
that results from an active, but inaccurate, thinking process, rather than a lack of
processing activity. As a result of this, cognitive processing is taking place, but the
thinking has become in some way distorted. In the sex offender literature such
‘cognitive distortions’ are most often defined as attitudes and beliefs that offenders
use to deny, minimise and rationalise their behaviour. Such distortions have been
defined as consistent errors in thinking that occur automatically (Geer et al. 2000),
and include beliefs such as: if children fail to resist advances, they must want sex;
sexual activity with children is an appropriate means to increase the sexual knowledge
of children; if children fail to report sexual activity, they must condone it; in the
future, sex between adults and children will be acceptable if not encouraged; if one
fondles, rather than penetrates, sex with children is acceptable; any children who ask
questions about sex really desire it; and one can develop a close relationship with a
child through sexual contact (Horley 2000). A fundamental assumption of such
approaches is that these attitudes and beliefs play a major role in both precipitating
and maintaining offending behaviour (Abel et al. 1994). However, it is not always
clear whether distortions are thought to have aetiological status in offending
behaviour or to be post hoc rationalisations of offending. This is an issue that we will
return to later, for now, though, we will present a summary of some of the main
approaches to, and findings from, studies of cognitive distortions.
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 55

One major problem with attempts to examine ‘cognitive distortions’ is the reliance
on scales, such as the Cognitions Scale (Abel et al. 1989) and the MOLEST scale
(Bumby 1996). Using the Cognitions Scale, Abel et al. (1989) found that people who
commit sexual offences against children were more likely to endorse attitudes and
beliefs about the acceptability of sexual acts with children, than people committing
sexual offences against adults. Similar results were found by Stermac and Segal (1989)
in the context of a vignette study. The results of this suggested that child molesters
differed from other respondents in perceiving more benefits to the child, greater
complicity on the child’s part and less responsibility on the adult’s part. They
concluded that such cognitions might contribute to, or have a facilitative role, in
offending behaviour.
However, self-rating scales often use items that are transparent and are therefore
open to misrepresentation, or ‘faking good’. Blumenthal et al. (1999) examined the
cognitive distortions and blame attributions of both child and adult sex offenders on
a number of separate scales: MOLEST (relating to children and their sexuality, and
including statements such as ‘I believe that sex with children can make the child feel
closer to adults’); RAPE (items endorsing rape, including ‘Women who get raped
probably deserve it’); and the Revised Gudjonddon Blame Attribution Inventory
(BAI) determining attribution of blame for crimes. These authors also measured
‘impression management’ and ‘self-deception’, which had been found to influence
scores on other measures. Their results suggested that despite previous evidence of
faking questionnaire responses, in this study there was no indication that social
desirability influenced responses, although there was some evidence that those who
commit sexual offences against children may have a greater investment in impression
management because of the perceived seriousness of their responses. Their results
supported earlier research in that people who offended against children scored higher
on the MOLEST scale, but there were no differences between groups on the RAPE
scale. The items on these scales are very transparent, and it is perhaps surprising that
those who had committed offences against children should have scored so highly.
One possible conclusion is an overall elevation in attitudes and beliefs about sexual
offending, regardless of the age of the victim. Previous work by Bumby (1996) had
also suggested that there are differences between rapists and child molesters in
cognitive distortions. It may be that in those who commit rape, such distorted ways
of thinking are linked to the actual offence context and may be thought of as ‘state’
distortions, which would not necessarily occur in other situations. However, those
who commit sexual offences against children might be thought of as expressing
distortions, which apply across all contexts (‘trait’ distortions). Blumenthal et al.’s
(1999) study also suggested that those who had committed sex offences against adults
also endorsed more external attributions than did those who had offended against
children. For example, rapists were more likely to attribute their crime to having had
too much alcohol prior to the offence.
Within much of the research in this area, there seems to be an assumption that
cognitive distortions are a result of a set of internal, individualised, fairly static
attitudes and beliefs rather than, say, an outcome of a particular discursive strategy
56 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

in a given setting. Ward et al. (1997), in a review of the cognitive distortion literature,
highlighted the lack of attention to the temporal component of offending. They
claimed that too much attention has been focused on post-offence cognitions and
called for increased attention to information processing mechanisms before and
during the offence cycle. They further highlighted the fact that cognitive processes
can change markedly through the offending sequence as a result of increased sexual
arousal and mood states. What is not clear, however, is how one would access accounts
of such cognitions. If we take as an alternative perspective the socially situated nature
of cognition, making assumptions about the global or stable nature of cognitive
distortions seems problematic. Accounts occur within specific contexts, and serve
particular functions. Under certain circumstances non-offender populations also give
accounts, which at the very least are ambiguous with regard to the acceptability of
sexual behaviour, in relation to both adults and children.
Ward et al. (1997) suggested that stored social information, or pre-existing beliefs,
can, once activated, influence all aspects of social information processing ‘including
attention to and interpretation of information and, consequently, inferences and
judgements made from that information’ (482). Chronicity and temporality are
thought to influence their activation. For example, chronic beliefs are ones that are
central to the perceiver’s self-concept, and are easily activated. In the context of a sex
offender, this may refer to sex-related thoughts. Temporality relates to context, such
that some contexts will easily activate certain thoughts (sitting outside a school yard
at playtime). Incoming information is then interpreted in an expectancy-consistent
manner, with people taking ‘short-cuts’ such as using stereotypes and well-learned
behavioural scripts. To some extent, such beliefs can be modified by expectancy-
disconfirming information, which is often seen as the goal of therapeutic intervention.
For example, an offender may believe that because the child appeared smiling and
happy during the sexual contact this was equivalent to the child actually giving
consent. One goal of therapy might be to explore this belief in the context of what
we know about abusive situations. Such information may serve to disconfirm well-
learned information and reduce the likelihood of the offender taking the usual ‘short-
cuts’ when next interpreting a child’s behaviour. However, outside the context of
‘therapy’, most offenders continue to tell themselves things that allow them to engage
in the same offence-related way.
Murphy (1990) has suggested three ways in which sex offenders deal with incoming
information that allow them to continue to offend. First, they justify their conduct
by construing it as morally or psychologically permissible. Second, they distort or
misperceive the consequences of their abusive behaviour by either minimising its
effect on their victim, or attributing the consequences to something else. Finally, they
devalue or dehumanise their victims, and attribute blame to them for the offence
rather than accepting responsibility themselves. Such justifications, however, are not
confined to offending populations, and possibly suggest common cultural strategies
for excusing sexual aggression. For example, in a study by Back and Lips (1998),
undergraduate students were asked to make attributions of responsibility to a series
of vignettes depicting children and adults engaged in sexual activity. The results of
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 57

the study suggested that attributions directed towards the victim and non-offending
parent may be a function of victim age. The ages of the children in the vignettes
ranged from 6 to 13, and greater attributions for responsibility were made as the
child’s age increased. This is possibly no different from general assumptions made
by, for example, the popular press with regard to teenage sexual behaviour. As the
person increases in age, we attribute greater responsibility to them with regard to their
sexual behaviour regardless of what is actually the case in law.
Ward (2000) has argued that sexual offenders’ cognitive distortions emerge from
‘underlying causal theories about the nature of their victims’, rather than stemming
from unrelated, independent beliefs. These implicit theories are thought to function
like scientific theories and are used as a way of explaining other people’s actions and
to make predictions about the world. Ward has suggested that these theories are made
up of a number of interlocking beliefs and their component concepts and categories.
Ward used the idea of implicit theories in the same way that other psychologists have
used the concept of schema, and discusses the way that sex offenders’ implicit theories
about their victims are structured around two core sets of mental constructs, beliefs
and desires. In this way, an offender’s theory or model of a victim contains
representations of the victim’s desires, beliefs and attitudes, and these theories guide
the processing of information that aids in the process of confirmation or
disconfirmation. The offender, therefore, uses the implicit theories about victims to
infer their mental state, to interpret their behaviour and to make predictions about
their future actions and mental states. Ward hypothesised that there are levels of
beliefs, starting with very general low-level beliefs about the nature of people and the
world and progressing to very specific beliefs about a victim. An example given in
relation to this is that at a very general level the offender may not construe beliefs and
desires as representational and, therefore, fail to appreciate that people view the same
situation in different ways. At a middle level, the offender may construe women and
children in an inaccurate manner (for example, seeing children as wanting sex).
Finally, an offender may develop a false theory of their specific victim, claiming, for
example, that this child is different to others who are not mature enough to be able
to give consent.
One feature of this conceptual model is that it allows us to distinguish between
different types of offender according to whether they primarily focus on the offender,
the victim or the world, and can be used as an aid to clarify possible cognitive
differences between offender types. However, Ward (2000) failed to account for the
origin of such implicit theories and their relationship to discrete patterns of behaviour
and concludes that they:

emerge from an offender’s early developmental experiences and represent their

attempt to explain regularities in the family and local environment. Theories
are constructed at this point because of the importance, persistence, and
emotional impact of the events. Relevant events may involve close family
interaction patterns, relationship with sibling, individual’s own attributes and
actions, or the actions of other people (e.g. sexual abuse by an uncle).
58 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

(Ward 2000:503)

We are left with yet another diathesis-stress model of offending behaviour, where
early developmental experiences are seen as the basis for the creation of implicit
theories which are then activated at a later stage by some form of stressor. Such
experiences can only be accessed through the post-offending accounts provided by
people, and there is no way of ascertaining the veracity of one account over another.

EMPATHY
A related area of research has examined ‘empathy’ in sex offenders. Fisher and Howells
(1993) defined empathy as the ability to perceive another person’s point of view,
experience the emotions of another and behave compassionately. Early work with
offenders led to the assumption that lack of empathy in sex offenders plays a role in
the development and maintenance of sexual offending behaviour. Marshall et al.
(1995), based on a review of the literature on empathy, claimed that studies usually
involved a focus on ‘cognitive abilities [perspective taking] and the vicarious matching
of another person’s emotional state’ (100). Such studies most often relied on the ‘trait’
approach to understanding empathy, of which they are critical. That is, empathy is
viewed as a relatively stable internal trait over time. Instead, these authors offered a
multi-component staged model of empathy, with each component being needed for
progression to the next step. Within this model, the first step involved accurately
identifying affect or emotion in another person. The second step was being able to
take that person’s perspective in order fully to comprehend the emotion detected.
The third step involved evocation of an emotion similar to that observed in the other
person, and the fourth step involved the formulation and delivery of an appropriate
response. The process also required that the individual was sensitive to the subtleties
of a situation that provide feedback and result in subsequent modifications as the
process unfolds.
While intuitively it seems appealing that an explanation for offending behaviour
lies in the individual’s inability to empathise with the victim, it has not received
universal support. Geer et al. (2000) have argued that the evidence for clear-cut
deficits within the population of sex offenders is not yet available, and are critical of
the measures used to measure empathy. Common measures of empathy include: self-
report measures (which tend to be non-specific), and scaled measures of nonperson-
specific empathy. Three such scales are: the Empathy Scale (Hogan 1969); Emotional
Empathy Scale (Mehrabian and Epstein 1972); and the Interpersonal Reactivity
Index (Davis 1983). All three scales are based on ‘trait’ assumptions about empathy,
which are insensitive to contextual or temporal differences. For example, Marshall et
al. (1993) examined the general empathy levels of incarcerated and non-incarcerated
child molesters, using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis 1983). The offenders
in prison did not display a general lack of empathy (as compared to normative data),
whereas those offenders living in the community did. Marshall et al. speculated that
incarcerated offenders were attempting to appear empathic in order to facilitate their
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 59

release. This again highlights the transparency of such scales and the offender’s ability
to distort the results in a socially acceptable way. However, importantly, it led
Marshall et al. (1993) to contend that the sex offender’s empathic responsiveness may
vary as a function of situation, victim characteristics and post hoc attempts to
rationalise socially unacceptable behaviour. Of relevance here is what it means to
‘learn’ an empathic response through therapy. Learning appropriate ‘empathic’
language and response practice may seem not incompatible with the ‘child-love’
narrative that is also used as a means of justifying offending behaviour.
Geer et al. (2000) concluded that, while it is generally accepted that sex offenders
‘lack empathy’, research actually indicates that in reality some sex offenders are quite
capable of being empathic. This is seen most clearly in the way that some sex offenders
select children to abuse, and is highlighted in the following extracts from an interview
with OT:

In the past I’ve always targeted my victims very carefully. [mm] Am…picked
victims who were vulnerable from one way or another [mm] Erm…out of a
lack of love [mm] maybe even with two parents you weren’t getting the
attention or [mm] children who were vulnerable [mm]. I always targeted them
very very carefully. [mm]. Went through a long period of getting to know the
parents [mm] or parent, getting to know the child. I followed the classic pattern
[mm]. Am… I never selected a victim without getting to know the parents. (24)

I get the feeling his parents…bought his love rather than gave him their love
[mm] and I think D would have probably responded to the attention. [okay].
Am it’s the nearest I can put it, it’s more than that [mm] and it’s stronger than
that and it’s actually finding the words [mm] am… D is the only one I would
have said would have been possibly a potential target for me in years back. (38)

This is what I said if I’d had met him at ten [okay] there have been no contest
[mm] but no he was…too independent you see I needed to create a dependency
in my victims [mm] I needed to have them dependent on me [mm]…in every
way that I could get them dependent. [mm] It wasn’t enough just to be hey
look he can teach us to draw, let’s hang around him [mm] that wasn’t enough
[mm] that’s wouldn’t been enough [mm] it had to be I NEED YOU [okay]
in a very real way [mm]. (39)

These extracts indicate that OT appeared to meet many of the criteria for empathy
as outlined by Fisher and Howells (1993). In fact, OT was able to use this empathic
response to engage with and successfully abuse children. It might be argued that his
behaviour, up to the point of the abuse itself, would have been seen to be highly
empathic and compassionate, if it was not in the service of his own sexual needs.
Hudson et al. (1997) similarly suggested that men with a longstanding preference for
pseudo-romantic styled relationships tend to be both generally empathic, report
60 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

greater concern for others, and report having no difficulties in taking another’s
perspective.
What seems most problematic about research on empathy and cognitive distortions
in relation to sexual offences is the model of the individual it is based on, that is the
assumption of a rational information-processing individual, possessing relatively
stable internal characteristics. For example, Ward et al. (1997) suggested that ‘the
crux of social cognition research is the specification of how beliefs affect the ongoing
flow of social behaviour’ (490). As with many mainstream approaches to
understanding experience, this research seeks to explain, and treat, complex social
behaviour solely in terms of the ‘underlying’ cognitive processes of an individual.
Such assumptions tend to divorce the individual from the social interaction in which
offending takes place. It is difficult to see how models of offending based solely on
internal traits or an information-processing framework can make the leap to discuss
sexual offending as situated in complex relational and interactional contexts. Also
problematic is the assumed relationship between relatively stable cognitive traits and
instances of offending behaviour, when what emerges from the literature is obviously
confusion as to whether empathy or cognitive distortions are post-offence
rationalisations or have an aetiological character. Finally, as highlighted by Marx et
al. (1999), studies concerned with differences in cognition neglect to offer any
explanation as to their origin. An alternative constructionist viewpoint is that both
social cognitions and behaviour are emergent from ongoing interactions.
Non-offending social interactions have been the focus of much research and still
inform many treatment approaches. Again, this in part reflects assumptions about
those with a sexual interest in children that in fact one possible explanation for such
engagement relates to an inability to engage with appropriate adults.

OFFENDING AND SOCIAL SKILLS

The ways in which offenders act and interact within social domains has largely been
examined within the context of social skills or competence. Earlier work by Barlow
et al. (1977) had compared the performance of a group of ‘sexual deviates’ with
‘socially skilled males’ during a five-minute conversation with a female confederate.
The sample size was very small (ten) and the offences included sexual fetishes, rape
and exhibitionism. However, the work suggested that these sex offenders were
deficient in basic conversational skills, voice quality and affect. Segal and Marshall
(1985) used a similar behavioural measure with a sample of rapists and child molesters.
These were compared to incarcerated non-sex offenders and non-incarcerated men.
The participants were asked to initiate and maintain a conversation with a female
confederate and then rate how confident they were on a variety of social measures.
Blind raters judged their social behaviour, and predictions of self-efficacy were
compared with these ratings. Their results suggested that rapists as a group did not
differ from other males of low socioeconomic status on any of the measures used.
However, with regard to group differences, child molesters were perceived as less
socially skilled than the other subject groups. They also scored higher on measures
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 61

of social anxiety and distress. Behavioural measures, physiological measures and self-
reports were used by Overholser and Beck (1986) to investigate social skills and social
anxiety. Their subjects were two sex offender groups (rapists and child molesters) and
three nonsex offender controls, with twelve subjects in each. A behavioural role-play
test suggested overall heterosexual skills deficits for both rapists and child molesters,
when compared to the control groups, and child molesters reported significantly more
fear of negative evaluation.
One of the difficulties in evaluating the research on social skills is that the research
has been conducted in a variety of ways, and using a number of measures. Self-report
measures are often linked to social desirability, and as such may be particularly
problematic. Using brief role-plays in contrived and at times very artificial social
situations may also create difficulties, and it is unclear as to whether results on such
measures generalise across all social settings. It may also be that such behaviour is
mediated by emotional arousal, and where the emotion is anxiety rather than sexual
arousal, social performance may be affected. Geer et al. (2000) have suggested that
to say that sex offenders have social skills deficits is an oversimplification of the way
in which individuals interact with others in their environment. These authors suggest
that a more useful way to think about skills and competence within a social domain
is to examine them within the context of information processing.
McFall’s (1982) information-processing model of social skills and social
competence has been used as a way of exploring the hypothesis that sex offenders are
deficient in their ability to process interpersonal cues. The purpose of the model was
to specify the process and conditions that lead individuals to engage in sexually deviant
behaviour, such as rape, rather than to simply identify and label a person as a rapist.
The three stages of this model refer to decoding skills (afferent processes involved in
receiving, perceiving and interpreting incoming stimulus information), decision skills
(processes by which the situation is transformed into a specific behavioural
programme), and execution skills (efferent processes that are involved in smoothly
executing a response). Deficits in any or all of these steps can lead to decrements in
observed behaviour. Using this model, Stahl and Sacco (1995) assessed the ability of
child molesters, rapists and violent and non-violent sex offenders in interpreting
women’s affective cues and level of sexual desire in dating situations (decoding skills),
using vignettes of couples on a first date. Their results suggested that child molesters
had significant deficiencies in interpreting women’s affective and sexual cues, which
were not evidenced by rapists. Further studies have attempted to explore the roles of
decision and enactment skills in social competence, which again have supported the
hypothesis that child molesters appear to be the most deficient of offenders. While
the model is interesting in that it provides a theoretical basis to work in this area, the
empirical studies to date do not address the fact that child sex offenders are not a
homogeneous group.
62 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

THEORY OF MIND
Ward et al. (2000) argued that empathy problems, intimacy deficits and cognitive
distortions in fact all point to a lack of awareness of other people’s beliefs, desires,
perspectives and needs and that this can be seen as arising from deficits in one central
mechanism: the ability to infer mental states. This ability has been conceptualised as
a ‘theory of mind’ and is based on developmental research with children. It has also
been used to account for the behaviour evidenced by autistic children and adults
diagnosed as schizophrenic. Ward et al. (2000) suggested that a theory of mind
includes ‘knowledge about the basic elements of people’s psychological functioning
(mental states), how these mental states generate behaviour, and the relationship
between situations and mental states’ (48). Sex offenders are often described as socially
isolated, lonely individuals who appear to have few close relationships, and where
such relationships do exist they are often seen as superficial and lacking in intimacy
(Marshall 1989). Ward et al. (2000) suggested that current theoretical perspectives
tend to focus on individuals’ underlying beliefs or internal working models of
relationships. Such models contain assumptions about the mental states of both
persons concerned, offender and victim, and this inability accurately to infer mental
states in other people may extend to themselves as well. Such deficits are argued to
be either a relatively enduring problem, caused by a lack of knowledge about mental
states and their relationship to behaviour, or primarily a function of particular
psychological or physical states.
This theory hypothesises that there are two types of problem evident in offender
understanding of mental states. The first are enduring or trait deficiencies and the
second are episodic or state-induced impairments. The first type of problem has its
basis in a lack of knowledge about people in certain kinds of relationship, whereas a
specific theory deficit would mean that the offender lacks a theory about certain kinds
of mental state in specific contexts, or is characterised by false assumptions about
their victim. The authors also suggested that positive affective states can impair theory
of mind functioning, making the offender reluctant to utilise their knowledge about
other people’s mental states in the appropriate contexts. A good example of this is
sexual arousal, where offence-related cognitions change as a consequence of arousal.
While Ward et al. (2000) used this trait state dichotomy to explain differences in
empathy scores, they found it more difficult to explain why some offenders appear
to show little or no empathic difficulties. These are attributed to ‘subtle deficits in
their theory of mind’ (56). The model emphasises the developmental histories of
offenders and the possibility that offenders as a group have more adverse early
experiences in their childhood, particularly within the context of their family.
However, this model fails adequately to explain why there are differences in the
development of theory of mind and why these become apparent in adulthood, as
opposed to childhood.
The link between early experience and subsequent offending behaviour is seen
most strongly in the context of childhood physical and sexual abuse. For example,
Briere and Runtz (1990) linked physical abuse in childhood to aggression towards
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 63

others in adulthood, emotional abuse in childhood to low self-esteem in adulthood,

and sexual abuse in childhood to maladaptive sexual behaviour in adulthood. A study
by Dhawan and Marshall (1996) reported that 58 per cent of their sample of sex
offenders had experienced sexual abuse in childhood, as opposed to 20 per cent for
non-offenders. Further support for this argument was offered by Lindsay et al. (2001)
in the context of a population of forty-six sex offenders and forty-eight nonsex
offenders, all with intellectual disability. Within this sample, 38 per cent of the sex
offender group and 12.7 per cent of the non-sex offender group were classified as
having been sexually abused. However, the sample size was small and depended on
archival data and the sample included prostitution offences (eight subjects) as part of
the offender cohort. We must conclude that while it is intuitively appealing to connect
childhood abuse with subsequent offending behaviour, it would be overly simplistic
to see it as the only variable in what has come to be called the ‘cycle of abuse’.
Early aversive experiences in childhood are often used by offenders to explain, make
sense of or justify their behaviour as adults. Within the COPINE interviews, men
who had gone on to engage in sexual relationships with children often talked about
their own early sexual engagement with older children or adults. An example of this
can be seen in the extract of an interview with EI:

I think it was Paul’s father and basically they were teaching me how to how
how to I don’t know what you’d call it how to do a blow job or something
[mm]…(sigh) am…it’s a…hard to describe really it’s like I can feel it now I
can actually feel an ache here and back of my throat is…I sort of like know it’s
not sore now but it feels sore almost because [mm] it’s it’s…mm…my
stomach’s going as well [mm] (97)

Clearly such experiences are not related by all people who are sexually interested in
children, and equally the relationship is not causal in that not all adults abused as
children go on to abuse. It is also paradoxical that accounts such as that given by EI
often describe such early experiences as aversive, and yet manage to rationalise their
own behaviour with children as ‘child-love’. Such accounts are interesting and
valuable because they give us an ‘insider’ perspective. They help us look at how those
with a sexual interest in children talk about and present their own thoughts, feelings
and experiences. Such research does not have as its focus the truthfulness of accounts,
but rather what function they have, what they ‘do’.

OFFENDER PERSPECTIVES
More recently a literature has emerged based on interviews or analysis of text produced
by the offender that is in marked contrast to the studies based on psychometric
assessments or models of faulty cognitive processing. Ward et al. (1998) used a
qualitative analysis (grounded theory) to examine offence narratives elicited from
incarcerated child molesters to identify ‘overall processing style’. They identified a
number of cognitive operations that they felt were distinct from content, such as
64 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

describing, explaining, interpreting, evaluating, denying, minimising and planning.

However, their claim that such ‘cognitive operations’ could be identified separately
from the content of accounts seems problematic. Ward et al. also reported on an
interesting study by Phelen (1995), who explored the different meanings incestuous
fathers and daughters attached to abusive events. Phelen found that the majority of
fathers claimed that the child initiated and enjoyed the sexual experience. In contrast
none of the daughters described the experience in positive terms. Other themes that
emerged were ‘the tendency of some fathers to equate sex with love, a preoccupation
with power and control, and the misperception of the child’s responses as indicating
acquiescence. The daughters described feeling confused and somewhat cut off from
the experience during the abuse’ (493).
A further qualitative study by Ivey and Simpson (1998) explored the subjective
meaning of the paedophile experience for identified child molesters. The analysis was
based on a series of interviews which led the authors to conclude that within this
sample such offending behaviour originated from a range of non-sexual motives
primarily related to unmet needs for parental affection and affirmation. Such
offenders were seen to remove themselves from the dangerous world of adult sexuality,
turning to children as substitute sources of emotional and physical intimacy. The
conclusions drawn from this study bear a strong resemblance to earlier,
psychodynamic formulations, although it is difficult to see how the authors arrive at
these results, as there is little actual data presented. They do however draw on a
number of interesting themes from their analysis and highlight issues often raised in
paedophiles’ narratives, for example accounts of critical and rejecting mothers, or the
issue of being raised in an atmosphere of ‘moral/religious antipathy’ towards sex.
However, the authors tended to make large generalisations about their data (for
example, that the child’s gender is unimportant as the paedophile is driven primarily
by the need for affirmation and affection), which are at odds with existing empirical
data.
In a similar vein, Durkin and Bryant (1999) carried out a thematic analysis of
paedophiles’online accounts on Usenet. Usenet is a set of more than 10,000
newsgroups, covering almost every conceivable topic, which are distributed over the
Internet, and which are so organised that they can be read like a newspaper. Data
gathered from a Usenet discussion group were used to investigate how paedophiles
who used the Internet account for their ‘deviance’. Durkin and Bryant only used data
from group participants (93 postings from 41 out of 80 participants) who were self-
confessed paedophiles. While there are problems in taking such accounts at face value
(the Internet is an anonymous environment where one can assume any attributes one
wishes to), their study found that half of the admitted paedophiles offered accounts
of their behaviour and all accounts took the form of justifications rather than excuses.
Again this is perhaps not surprising given the supportive context offered by a ‘boy-
love’ discussion group, and their accounts may have been different given another
audience.
This work, however, does offer the opportunity of examining accounts from people
interested in child sex who do not come from a clinical or correctional population.
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 65

Durkin and Bryant argued that paedophile accounts offer a means of examining the
distorted belief systems of this population (a model that underpins nearly all of the
current research in this area). The function of accounts are discussed in three ways:
exculpatory function; impression management; and facilitating future deviance. In
their analysis Durkin and Bryant made a distinction between excuses and justification
in accounts. This distinction comes from Scott and Lyman’s (1968) framework for
understanding accounts. Accounts that offer excuses involve an admission of the
problematic nature of the behaviour in question but the individual does not take full
responsibility for the act. On the other hand, justifications involve an admission of
responsibility but a denial of the stigmatising quality of the act, and there may be
some attempt to persuade the audience to the alternative view. Durkin and Bryant
identified a number of types of justification: denial of victim, denial of injury,
condemnation of condemners, appeal to loyalties, a sad tale, a claim of self-fulfilment,
and basking in the reflected glory of related others. Of these, ‘denial of injury’ was
the most commonly used justification. It is interesting to note that many of the
accounts offered by the paedophiles were extremely complex, and offered multiple
justifications.
Durkin and Bryant’s (1999) analysis of Usenet accounts bears similarities to the
classification produced by DeYoung (1989) in her study of NAMBLA texts. The
North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is an organisation
advocating adult sexual behaviour with male children. DeYoung used a content
analysis to examine how, in the context of negative societal attitudes towards such
behaviour, NAMBLA justifies, rationalises and normalises its objectives and its
members’ behaviour through their texts (newsletters, brochures, booklets). From her
analysis DeYoung classified accounts in terms of: denial of injury; condemnation of
the condemners; appeal to higher loyalties; and denial of the victim. Through its
publications NAMBLA promotes the idea that there are advantages to children having
a sexual relationship with an adult. At times they acknowledge that there may be
some harm to children following a sexual encounter with an adult; however, the harm
is described in terms of others (parents, law enforcement) responding inappropriately
to what NAMBLA describes as adult-child sex. DeYoung discussed how much of
NAMBLA’s publications are taken up with sustained polemics against those who
censure members’ activities, for example professionals in the field of child sexual
abuse, criminal justice and mental health systems. In one example a text compared
experts on child sex abuse to ‘conmen…selling snake oil’, and appealed to higher
loyalties in order to normalise members…activities and to liberate children from
societal repression. These accounts justify the child as an active and willing participant
in the sexual event, and therefore not a victim. Such a move also removes or reduces
the responsibility of the adult for the sexual encounter. However, these accounts are
the product of an organisation and as such are not attributable to an individual. This
in itself may make generalisations difficult.
It is surprising that offender accounts are underrepresented in the published
literature. It may be, at a simplistic level, that this is because it is assumed that such
accounts will be a misrepresentation of an individual’s thoughts, feelings or behaviour,
66 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

a ‘faking good’ in order to minimise what has happened or what is still being
considered. It may also be the case that as a society we have attempted to silence voices
that talk of sexual interest in children, to distance them from the rest of ‘us’. It is
maybe not so surprising that in the context of the largely unsupervised world of the
Internet there is a proliferation of ‘voice’.

FEMALE PERPETRATORS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Until recently, the bulk of the research on sex offenders has focused on adult males.
What is now starting to emerge are accounts of women and children’s sexual
involvement with other children. For many years it was widely assumed, although
rarely specifically stated, that women hardly ever committed acts of sexual abuse
against children. There is very little published literature in this area and it is mainly
composed of descriptions of clinical populations (e.g. Faller 1995). Authors such as
Allen (1991) have speculated that female-perpetrated sexual abuse is greatly
underreported, although it is impossible to ascertain the veracity of this. There appears
to be some agreement that sexual contact between women and children forms the
minority of child-adult contacts (Finkelhor and Russell 1984), although there is a
suggestion of women participating in abuse (Kaufman et al. 1995).
Grayston and De Luca (1999), in their review of related empirical and clinical
literature, outlined characteristics of women offenders, their victims and the offences
they commit. Such data as exists would seem to suggest that female offenders are a
heterogeneous group (Wakefield and Underwager 1991), showing a substantial age
range. The information about socio-economic background is equally equivocal,
depending on where the population studied has been sourced. There has been little
speculation about the specific factors involved in the emergence and maintenance of
female abusive behaviour, but one of the most consistent findings relates to early
experiences, particularly that of previous victimisation. Travin et al. (1990) suggested
that maltreatment (either physical, emotional or sexual) is a common factor in the
histories of many female offenders. Studies by Johnson (1989), Green and Kaplan
(1994) and Hunter et al. (1993) all reported invasive acts of sexual abuse against
women who go on to abuse, and Allen (1991) suggested that severe acts of physical
violence (such as being scalded or burned, threatened with a weapon or assaulted with
a knife or gun) are also relatively common. However, while these results are similar
to those found in male populations, they are insufficient in themselves to account for
the prevalence of abuse. Similar evidence has been given for the prevalence of other
psychiatric problems within this population, with again an emphasis on low self-
esteem and development (Matthews et al. 1991).
Grayston and De Luca (1999) attempted to provide a profile of a ‘typical’ female
sex offender. They concluded that she is likely to be a young woman in her 20s or
30s, having come from a dysfunctional family and possibly having experienced
physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse as part of her developmental history. Such
experiences of abuse are likely to have been severe, and may have included a female
perpetrator. In addition, the typical offender is likely to be experiencing multiple
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 67

problems in other areas of her life, with poor marital or peer relationships, and
suffering from a range of mental health difficulties.
The literature does not give support to any particular motives for the sexual abuse,
although authors such as Cooper et al. (1990) suggested that some women display
deviant sexual fantasies, similar to those discussed in the literature on male sex
offenders, and distorted perceptions regarding the appropriateness of their acts. There
is some suggestion that victims are more likely to be female than male, and the
relationship is likely to be familial, possibly in collusion with a male. While Grayston
and De Luca’s review is interesting, the studies tended to focus on incarcerated
populations using very small numbers of subjects. In many areas, the results of such
studies are similar to those found in male populations. These authors did not speculate
why there should be so few reports of female sexual behaviour with children.
It is possible that within our particular culture, women are allowed much greater
physical access to children than are men, which is seen as acceptable and sanctioned
behaviour. The borderline between such behaviours and sexual activity is blurred,
and female sexual arousal is not so apparent to the child. It may be that only when
sexual behaviour is aggressive or physically invasive (for example, the use of an
implement to penetrate a child), does it get labelled as abusive.

CHILD-ON-CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Sexual play between children is seen as a normal exploration of the nature of sexuality.
Shaw et al. (2000) suggested that through play and sexual exploration with others,
children begin to assimilate the elements of sexual life and establish patterns of sexual
excitement and pathways to sexual gratification. Sexual play may therefore be a feature
of an ongoing, mutually enjoyable relationship, in part influenced by fortuitous and
opportunistic experiences. Araji (1997) talked of such sexual play as including a whole
range of emotions, such as pleasure, joy and embarrassment, and as taking place with
varying degrees of inhibition and disinhibition. The context for such sexual behaviour
is that it usually is with children of the same age and size and is mutually consensual.
The concept of consent is important both in the context of adult abuse of children
and where children are seen as perpetrators. The National Task Force on Juvenile
Sexual Offending (1993) defined sexually abusive behaviour as sexual acts perpetrated
on another without consent, equality or as a result of coercion. Within this context,
consent includes all of the following:

1 understanding what is proposed;

2 knowledge of societal standards for what is proposed;
3 awareness of potential consequences and alternatives;
4 an assumption that agreement or disagreement will be respected equally;
5 voluntary decision;
6 mental competence.
68 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Equality refers to participants operating with the same level of power within a
relationship, and coercion as an exploitation of authority, use of bribes, threats of
force, or intimidation.
The highest risk for the initiation of sexually assaultive behaviour appears to occur
between 15 and 16 years, although there is a suggestion that the majority commit
their first sexual offence before the age of 15 (Elliott 1994; Araji 1997), and the child
victims of juvenile sexual abusers are younger than those abused by adult perpetrators
(Shaw et al. 2000). In this latter study of 194 victims of juvenile abuse, sexual
behaviours included oral and vaginal intercourse and forcible penetration of the anus
or vagina with fingers or other objects. It is of interest that within this study, the
abuser was more likely to be female. Aylwin et al. (2000) examined male adolescent
and adult offenders with regard to gender preference of their victims. Their results
indicated differences between the two groups, with adolescents less likely to molest
exclusively females and an increased willingness to take on victims of either gender,
along with higher levels of very invasive sexual behaviour (such as anal penetration).
The authors felt that there may be multifactorial reasons for these differences,
including opportunity to offend and difficulties with self-report data. While
comparisons are problematic owing to the sample populations, it is of interest that
Shaw et al. (2000) found that males were overrepresented among the victims of
juvenile offenders. Previous work by Hunter and Becker (1999) had also suggested
that juveniles commit many of the sexual assaults carried out against boys.
The literature in relation to the characteristics of adolescent sex offenders suggests
an elevation of psychiatric and behavioural problems and violence and dysfunction
within the family (Lewis et al. 1981; Hsu and Starzynski 1990). There is an elevation
of childhood physical and sexual abuse, which Davis and Lietenberg (1987) suggested
may be associated with aggressive conduct on the part of the juvenile owing to poor
parental modelling. There is also frequent reference to the fact that child molesters
progress from non-violent to more serious sexual offences as adults, and that the
nature of the initial offence is correlated with subsequent offending (Longo and Groth
1983). Boyd et al. (2000) concluded that early onset of sexually abusive behaviour
and early problems with delinquency are indicators of increased likelihood of
reoffending.
A recent study by Lightfoot and Evans (2000) examined the risk factors for a New
Zealand sample of sexually abusive children and adolescents. A sample of twenty
children (age range 7–16 years with 60 per cent boys) was examined across multiple
measures, including demographic and historical variables, as well as selfperception
and support and clinical ratings by others who knew the child well. The description
of sexually abusive behaviours committed by the children included fondling and
stimulation of the genitals over clothing, to anal and vaginal penetration with an
object, and full rape. Younger children were generally responsible for less serious
assaults, although one of the youngest boys was one of the four most serious offenders.
The majority of victims were not related to the abusive child, but were well-known
associates through either school or the community. In this study, both genders were
likely to abuse children of the opposite sex, although five children molested victims
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 69

of both genders. High rates of family disruption were evidenced, and in particular
lack of stable, care-giving relationships. The children were interviewed in a bid by
the authors to understand the contextual variables that influenced the assaultive
behaviour. All children had reported experiencing an extreme emotion-arousing event
in the twenty-four hours preceding the offence, and difficulties were experienced in
containing their distress or feeling a disconnection between emotion and behaviour.
A high percentage of the children indicated that they did have an adult whom they
could talk to, but when confronted by distress their typical behaviour was to withdraw
to be alone.
Lightfoot and Evans (2000) felt that their findings were consistent with that of
Johnson (1996) who suggested that sexually aggressive behaviour will develop from
both the experience of child abuse and neglect and abandonment/disruption to
attachment, and the experience of a pairing of sex with aggression (either vicariously
or directly). The consequence of these is a heightened physiological response to stress
and a sensitisation to traumatic cues, such as aggression and sexual stimuli. The
arousal itself becomes a conditioned response under such circumstances, which in
turn generates negative cognitive effects and difficulties in regulating arousal. Such
accounts have a direct link with theorising about the relationship between violent
behaviour and sexual activity which children are exposed to through media such as
television, video and the Internet.

THE ROLE OF PORNOGRAPHY IN SEXUAL

OFFENDING
For over a quarter of a century there have been public and academic debates about
the harmful effects of pornography and its relationship to violent or sexual offending.
The context to the debate is the sexual victimisation of women and children. A large-
scale survey by Finkelhor et al. (1990) in the United States suggested that
approximately 27 per cent of females and 16 per cent of males have experienced some
form of sexual abuse as children. While there has been much outrage voiced about
these statistics, it has not stopped the growth of the pornography industry, with an
increase in sales of videos, magazines, telephone sex, CD-ROMs and Internet services.
The public face of our society shows disapproval of the expression of sexually
aggressive or demeaning acts against women and children, yet it is supportive of an
industry that represents all of these, albeit vicariously. Advances in technological
sophistication have led to an increase in the amount of high-quality pornography
available, along with relatively easy access. Research by Barron and Kimmel (2000),
in the context of adult pornography, measured the sexually violent content in
magazine, video and Usenet (Internet newsgroup) pornography. Their results
indicated a consistent increase in the amount of violence from one medium to the
next, although the increase between magazines and videos was not significant. Their
analysis also indicated that while magazines and videos portrayed the violence as
consensual, with women as ‘victimisers’ more frequently than men, the reverse was
70 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

true for Usenet. It is perhaps not surprising that such findings have fuelled the debate
about the relationship between pornography and sexual aggression.
Several theories have been put forward to elaborate on the possible relationship
between the two, and these will be examined briefly. One of the most influential has
been the application of behavioural (classical and operant conditioning) theories to
the role of pornography in offending (Laws and Marshall 1990). It is largely based
on the proposition that pornography is used as an aid to masturbation. When the
viewer masturbates to ejaculation, this reinforces their sexual response to the content
of the pornography. This increases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.
As the viewer habituates to the pornography, they seek out more ‘intense’ content
(such intensity might be along any continuum, such as increasing violence, or
decreasing the age of the child). The following extract with TS illustrates this:

I think it was more a progression from the adult stuff… I think…it’s very one
dimensional you know it’s just pictures there’s no feedback there so I think
you try I think I tried to look for more and more extreme stuff [OK]…you
know just to get more and more…excited [OK]…or stimulated…trying to
push the boundaries. (14)

Conditioning theories would predict that the arousing effect of pornography increases
as the viewer masturbates to ejaculation, and that the explicitness and content of
pornography changes over time as the viewer habituates. Within this model, it would
seem that sex offenders should use more unconventional pornography than non-
offenders (or more offence-related pornography). However, the results of studies that
have examined the use of pornography by offenders do not lend strong support to
this. Studies of identified offenders, using largely self-report measures, found that sex
offenders reported less frequent exposure to pornography than comparison groups of
non-offenders (e.g. Condron and Nutter 1988). However, when rapists were
compared to child molesters (Carter et al. 1987), the latter used more pornography
than rapists and were more likely to incorporate it into their sexual offending. What
this does not address is the types of pornography used; rather, as does much of the
literature, it treats pornography as if it was homogeneous. Howitt (1995), in relation
to eleven offenders who used pornography, found that the use of commercial child
pornography was rare, but that offenders created their own collections of materials.
It appears likely that offenders who use pornography select material that is both
available and fits their own preferred sexual script.
A related area of research comes from social learning theory, which suggests that
people may learn indirectly about their social world through observing others. The
strength of this learning depends on the rewards and punishments (functional
determinants) received by the model (Bandura 1977) and the viewer’s evaluation that
they would obtain the same for performing a similar action. Such a theory would
suggest that violent pornography can increase subsequent aggressive behaviour,
because it portrays this behaviour as rewarding. Therefore, the more the person
 ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN 71

identifies with what he is viewing, the more likely he will go on to engage in sexually
aggressive behaviour. An example from an interview with DX illustrates this:

it made me want to do things I wanted to do. It gave me more courage to do

them…knowing that I’ve seen it on there…they were doing it... I can do it. (67)

It is not such a leap from this level of theorising to more feminist approaches, where
it is alleged that the sexualisation of physical, sexual and emotional harm enacted
against women in pornography leads to the social subordination of women and their
possible victimisation. Cowburn and Pringle (2000) talked of the exercise of power
as central to pornography, not only in terms of the acts depicted but in the
objectification central to the creation and use of pornography. There is then a fusion
of abusive power with sexual gratification. An example of this is given from an
interview with OC:

it was just a picture…there was nothing to worry about…they couldn’t talk

back to you…they couldn’t argue…they couldn’t run away…it was just there…
it wasn’t a person it was just a flat image, a flat picture. (55)

It is unclear as to whether pornography negatively alters both male and female

perceptions of women and children, or whether sexual arousal towards aggression as
depicted in pornography occurs alongside attitudes supportive of sexual aggression
towards women and children. However, where depictions of sexual aggression suggest
that the victim is correspondingly aroused, this appears to increase men’s beliefs in
‘rape myths’, particularly in those who were inclined to be more aggressive towards
women (Malamuth and Check 1985). A useful review of the psychological literature
pertaining to this area can be found in Seto et al. (2001).
Overall, there appears to be little support for the allegation of a direct causal link
between viewing pornography and subsequent offending behaviour. However, the
majority of the studies in this area have been in the context of adult, rather than child,
pornography. There are also methodological and ethical difficulties in examining
such relationships, particularly with adults who have a sexual interest in children.
Laboratory studies which expose offenders to images and measure their level of
physiological arousal are likely to use comparatively short exposure times, whereas
pornography users (particularly in the context of the Internet) are likely to view
pornography for extended periods. An example of this comes from an interview with
DX:

I would say after probably two or three hours I would say…about two or three
hours then I would masturbate. If 1 hadn’t found anything particular that I
liked on the Internet I could always go back to me disks and feed off them. (9)

In addition, the use of such sexual stimuli is rarely matched to the idiosyncrasies of
preferred sexual images by individuals, and instead involves a category of stimuli
presented to offenders as a group. Seto et al. (2001) argued that ‘individuals who are
72 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

already predisposed to sexually offend are the most likely to show an effect of
pornography exposure and are the most likely to show the strongest effects’ (46). It
is also important to note that, until recently, obtaining sexually explicit pornographic
images of children was both difficult and dangerous, and therefore the use of such
material as related to offending was possibly reduced by lack of opportunity.
As we have noted earlier, there is a suggestion that there is not a single ‘profile’ of
an offender in the context of pornography use. It may be that pornography exposure
may influence, but not cause, the development of sexual offending in some men
(Marshall 2000). What is more likely is that having an appetite for pornography is
just another manifestation of, and a way of meeting, sexual interest. Preferred content
is likely to be dynamic, rather than static, reflecting both levels of habituation and
the interaction of fantasy with real-life social settings.
 Chapter 4
The Internet, child pornography and adult
sexual interest in children

In Chapter 3 we reviewed the various views about sexual offending, and noted that
there is a paucity of research on the role of child pornography in adult sexual interest
in children. Other than recognising it as an element, its significance is unclear in the
broader picture. In this chapter we will explore what the function of child
pornography might have for adults with a sexual interest in children and relate this
to a series of interviews with offenders who have used the Internet to access pictures.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND CONTACT OFFENCES

A basic issue in considering the psychological functions of pictures is the relationship
between child pornography and contact offences. Both the function of child
pornography and its relationship to contact offences remains unclear; yet this, of
course, is a critical issue in assessing the broader deviant context to child pornography
collection and viewing. Authors such as Goldstein (1999) suggested that pornography
is a by-product of contact offences, or used by offenders to facilitate the seduction of
new victims (Tyler and Stone 1985), and an inevitable part of the process of oganised
abuse (Itzin 1997). Itzin states that ‘Pornography, in the form of adult and/or child
pornography used to season/groom/initiate/coerce children into agreeing to be
abused, or the production of child pornography (the records of children being sexually
abused), is implicated in every form of child abuse, however it is organised’ (192).
Itzin conceptualised the organisation of child sexual abuse as a continuum, which she
represents as a form of concentric circles. The inner circle represents adult and child
pornography, and emphasises how all forms of abuse can, and do, involve the use of
such material and the recording of the sexual abuse of the child.
Most of the literature relating to child pornography assumes that pornographic
images play an important role in sexual fantasy and are used for purposes of arousal.
Lanning (1992) suggested that child pornography is used in a similar way to adult
pornography—to feed sexual fantasies. He goes on to assert that, ‘Some pedophiles
only collect and fantasise about the material without acting out the fantasies, but in
most cases the arousal and fantasy fueled by the pornography is only a prelude to
actual sexual activity with children’ (28). This assertion is more difficult to sustain,
as we know very little about the relationship between pornography (of any sort) and
actual sexual activity. It is also the case that much of what we do know about sexual
74 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

interest in children relates to people who have been caught. Evidence from the
Internet would seem to suggest that there are many more people who fantasise about
children and who use images (pornographic or erotic) to aid those sexual fantasies,
but who never come to the attention of law enforcement. Lanning (1992) also
suggested that child pornography may have other functions, such as to lower
children’s inhibitions, blackmail a child, act as a medium of exchange with other
paedophiles and as a source of profit These are similar functions to those outlined by
other authors.
Goldstein (1999) differentiated between pornography and erotica, in that the
objects that form erotica may, or may not be, sexually oriented or related to a given
child or children involved in a sexual offence. What is erotic is peculiar to the offender,
and therefore any material may be seen as erotic if it stimulates sexual arousal. Pictures
of children, therefore, may be collected as part of the commission of an offence, but,
as we noted in Chapter 2, the pictures in themselves may be legal. The function of
such pictures may be as an aid to fantasy, but in the context of a particular child, they
may also serve to:

• Symbolically keep the child close;

• Remind the offender of what the child looked like at a particular age;
• Make the child feel important, or special;
• Lower the child’s inhibitions about being photographed;
• Act as a memento that might give the offender status with other people whom he
associates with;
• Demonstrate propriety by convincing children that what the offender wants them
to do is acceptable because he has engaged in a similar way with other children;
• Provide a vehicle for blackmail;
• Act as an aid to seduce children, by misrepresenting moral standards and by
depicting activities that the offender wishes to engage the child in.

Goldstein’s (1999) work was based on evidence gained from criminal investigations,
and it is apparent from his study that in the main the use of such pictures related to
the planned commission of an actual contact offence. Such collections may be
qualitatively different from Internet-related collections of pornography, which do not
necessarily relate to a child known to the offender. Date (1990) suggested that such
pornography reinforces both the paedophile’s attraction to children and his self-
justification process, and although empirical verification of this is lacking, these views
seem at least to be common sense. Yet in relation to the new technologies, there are
people involved in both accessing and distributing child pornography who have no
apparent history of child molestation (Quayle et al. 2000). In Chapter 2 we recognised
the distinction between ‘collectors’ and ‘producers’, and it is important to stress that
in that context, whilst collectors may become producers, or may draw on
pornographic images to fuel actual assaults (rather than fantasy), it is not clear whether
child pornography necessarily is a prelude to a contact offence. Whether paedophiles
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 75

use pornography more than the general population, how this relates to contact
offences and the role that the Internet may play in this remains unclear.
One recent study that addressed the role of pornography in the offending process
is that of Proulx et al. (1999). The aim of their study was to investigate specific
pathways in the offending process of people committing sexual offences against
children outside their family (extrafamilial). Their results suggested that within a
population of child molesters, there were two distinct pathways to offending: coercive
and non-coercive. People using the coercive pathway had generally used psychoactive
substances (alcohol, drugs) before their offences. Of the thirty people in this group,
all had molested female victims, who were not perceived to be vulnerable and who
were already well known to them. These people had not planned their offence, which
was usually of short duration. The offence usually involved coital activities and was
achieved through some act of verbal or physical coercion. The number in the non-
coercive pathway was smaller (fourteen), and these had generally used pornography
and deviant sexual fantasies prior to committing their offence. All within this group
had molested a male victim, whom they perceived to be vulnerable, and who was not
familiar to them. These offences differed from those of the other group in that they
were planned, were of longer duration and involved non-coital activities without
coercion. The limitations of this study relate to the way in which some of the historical
data were gathered, and the fact that the offender was categorised only with respect
to the last-known victim, which may not have typified their normal offending
practice. Their findings are, however, interesting and seem to suggest differences
between heterosexual and homosexual offenders that may relate to the duration of
their deviant behaviour, which has allowed them to acquire a greater level of
sophistication. It may also be that opportunistic offenders may have not been so
engaged in the paedophile community, which would give them access to child
pornography.
For such people, pornography was used as part of the commission of an offence,
similar to the findings of Marshall (1988) where 53 per cent of the sample of child
molesters deliberately used pornographic stimuli as part of their planned preparation
for offending. Carter et al. (1987) also examined the use of pornography in the
criminal and developmental histories of sex offenders. They found that all offenders
had a similar prior exposure to pornography in childhood, but child molesters were
more likely to use such child pornographic material prior to and during their offences
and ‘employ pornography to relieve an impulse to commit offenses’ (205). In contrast
to other accounts, this suggests the idea that pornography for some offenders may
also have a positive function in that it may prevent the commission of a contact
offence. However, in contrast to the view expressed in Carter et al. much of the
research to date about the relationship between pornographies and contact offences
suggests an association between induced sexual arousal and the depiction of sexual
activities. Marshall (2000), in his review of the literature relating to the use of
pornography by sexual offenders, concluded that pornography exposure may
influence, but not be the sole cause of, the development of sexual offending, but for
76 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

most ‘its use is simply one of the many manifestations of an already developed appetite
for deviant sexuality’ (74).
One of the difficulties with much of the research examining the relationship
between child pornography and offending relates to methodology. Laboratory
experiments necessarily involve relatively short exposure to such stimuli, whereas
collectors of pornography spend considerable amounts of time with their collections.
It is also the case that many paedophiles are highly selective in their choice of material,
a factor largely ignored by experimenters (Howitt 1995). What this also highlights
is that what is sexually stimulating does not necessarily relate to overt content but
more to the way the offender perceives it, a point discussed at some length in
Chapter 2. It may be that the congruence between pornographic content and
behaviour is influenced by how much the viewer identifies in some sense with the
pornography. Seto et al (2001) suggested that men who are sexually deviant, such as
paedophiles, may preferentially seek out pornography that depicts content that is
highly arousing to them. It may be that subjective responses to pornography depend
on how well the depicted content matches the individual’s existing, preferred sexual
scripts (Mosher 1988).
Furthermore, much of the research that has examined the functions of child
pornography for the offender has focused on traditional ways of accessing material,
through either magazines or videos. However, the Internet has now emerged as one
of the most versatile and accessible outlets for pornography. As we have already noted,
much of the child pornography available on the Internet has its origins in commercial
production, but has been placed on the Internet for non-commercial purposes, and
is freely available (Taylor 1999). Barron and Kimmel (2000) suggested that there has
been a ‘democratisation’ as the cost of producing pornography has dropped and the
control of production has become diffused. In the context of adult pornography,
these authors found evidence of an increase in the amount of non-consensual violent
material available on the Internet, suggesting that men were more likely to be depicted
in dominant positions as victimiser and not victim in far greater proportions than in
magazines and videos. They also suggested evidence of satiation, leading the consumer
to seek out newer, more explicit and more violent forms of sexual material in order
to gain arousal. It is unclear as to whether this is reflected in similar changes in child
pornography on the Internet, but there is certainly a suggestion that the emergence
of new photo graphs of children are of very young age groups and depicting more
sexual victimisation (Taylor 1999).
Pierce (1984) has drawn our attention to the fact that by focusing on the finished
product (the pornographic image) rather than on the harm done to the participating
child, we appear to be blatantly disregarding the dehumanising experience the child
or children may encounter. This can be exaggerated when such images are seen as
commodities to be collected and exchanged. Lanning (1992) likened this to collecting
baseball cards. What this emphasises is that child pornography has functions that go
beyond that of sexual arousal and, as we will consider in Chapters 5 and 6,
encompasses the importance of collecting and social cohesion. Holmes et al. (1998)
suggested that the computer acts as a mechanism of metamorphosis in that fantasies
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 77

are provided with the opportunities and resources to become more concrete. Fantasies
may also take on a new realism that can be shared online with others who have similar
interests. The Internet also provides anonymity, giving both pleasure from ‘hiding’
oneself and one’s behaviour and the potential pleasure of playing another role (Chou
and Hsiao 2000).
What is also evident with the Internet is that, for many people, engagement with
this medium is not a passive response. It can be used by individuals to alter mood in
the context of feeling down, anxious or isolated (Morahan-Martin and Schumacher
2000). For those who have difficulty in relating to others, Internet communication
can lessen social risk and lower inhibitions, without the demands of traditional
friendship (Turkle 1995). It can enable multiple self-representation and may provide
a context where deviance can flourish (Lamb 1998). For paedophiles, online
communities show strong evidence of group dynamics (Lamb 1998; Evans 2001),
expressed through issues of status, expertise and apprenticeship (Linehan et al. 2002).
They noted that within the Internet child pornography community, child
pornography played a role in that status within the community was achieved through
amassing a large organised collection, through distributing parts of missing series of
photographs and through providing new pictures via postings. Used in this way, child
pornography both validated and justified paedophile behaviour and acted as a
medium of exchange within a community (Healy 1997; Durkin 1997). It is also the
case that the Internet is an environment that challenges old concepts of regulation,
which are reliant upon tangibility in time and space (Akdeniz 1997). Conventional
hierarchies are disrupted by a distributed, decentralised network in which power is
spread among various people and groups (Granic and Lamey 2000). One possible
consequence of this is that those who have been traditionally marginalised within our
society, such as paedophiles, may in fact be empowered by the Internet. Such
empowerment is likely to be reinforced by anonymity but also by the fact that
everybody’s agenda can find a niche on the Internet. Such experiences may contribute
to the development of personal beliefs about efficacy and control that serve to heighten
disinhibition in the offline world through a blurring of fantasy and reality.

UNDERSTANDING THE FUNCTIONS OF CHILD

PORNOGRAPHY
Accessing the world of child pornography is difficult. Aside from being an essentially
illegal world, there are also moral issues involved in any form of research that involves
participation. An alternative route, however, is to seek to explore how people who
were a part of that world make sense of it and of what they did. Interviews with
offenders guilty of child pornography offences offer this opportunity, and in the
following we examine the accounts of a number of offenders convicted of
downloading pornography in order to further our understanding of the complex
relationship between those who are sexually interested in children and the Internet.
What are explored are the different discourses that emerge when these respondents
talk about child pornography, and the role that the Internet plays in such discourses.
78 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Above all, it recognises the central significance of meaning for the individual in
understanding the role of child pornography.
The data is drawn from semi-structured interviews with thirteen men, all of whom
had been convicted of possessing illegal and obscene images of children on their
computers (see Taylor et al., 2001 for further discussion of this). While preferences
were shown for certain images over others, all participants had viewed similar images
(as identified by forensic evidence). Of these men, four were also convicted of assault
on children, three had been involved in assaults prior to accessing pornography on
the Internet and two had produced pornographic pictures of children, which had not
been traded. They came from a variety of demographic backgrounds and varied in
terms of both current judicial status and engagement with treatment programmes.
The respondents were accessed through Probation, Police, Social Work and
Voluntary agencies. All were approached prior to the Interview, were given
information about the study, and gave their consent. The data set is part of a much
larger, ongoing series of interviews and was chosen because they had all used the
Internet to download child pornography. The interviews, each lasting approximately
two hours, were recorded using a mini-disc system and then transcribed. All
identifying names were removed or changed to ensure anonymity and the transcripts
were kept in a secure environment. The same individual researcher both interviewed
the respondents and transcribed the data.
Both data collection and analysis were informed by the research of Hollway and
Jefferson (2000) in working with defended subjects. This work suggests that defended
subjects may not hear the question through the same meaning-frame as that of the
interviewer or other interviewees; are invested in particular positions in discourses to
protect vulnerable aspects of self; may not know why they experience or feel things
in the way that they do; and are motivated, largely unconsciously, to disguise the
meaning of at least some of their feelings and actions. When interviewing, open-ended
rather than closed questions were used, efforts were made to elicit ‘stories’ in order
to anchor accounts, ‘why’ questions were avoided, and follow-up questions used the
respondent’s ordering and phrasing.
Once transcribed, the Interviews were read and re-read and questions were asked
in relation to talk about pornography as to what was noticed, why it was noticed and
how it might be interpreted. The interviews were analysed within a discursive
framework, with an emphasis on the ‘function orientation’ of what was said (Gill
1996). What was acknowledged in this analysis is that people use discourse in order
to do things: to offer blame, to make excuses and, for example, to present themselves
in a better or different light. The interviews were subsequently coded in relation to
the research question and the data sorted into emerging categories. These were based
on an initial search for patterns within the data, looking for instances of similarity
and difference between accounts. This was followed by formulating ideas about the
functions of particular features of this discourse and constantly checking these against
the data. Quotations are taken from the interview transcripts to illustrate the analysis.
Six principal discourses relating to the ways that respondents used child
pornography emerged during the analysis. All discourses were common across
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 79

respondents, with the exception of ‘Child pornography facilitating social

relationships’, which was largely confined to respondents who had gone on to ‘chat’
online with others through IRC (Internet Relay Chat). The principal emerging
discourses were:

• Child pornography and sexual arousal;

• Child pornography as collectibles;
• Child pornography facilitating social relationships;
• Child pornography as a way of avoiding real life;
• Accessing child pornography as therapy;
• The Internet and child pornography.

Child pornography and sexual arousal

The most dominant discourse to emerge in the analysis was that of child pornography
as a means of achieving sexual arousal. Some of the pictures that were accessed (but
not all) were used for masturbatory purposes, and respondents were selective in the
pictures that they used. Such selectivity might relate to specific age groups, physical
types, gender of the child, or to a particular sexual activity.
For example:

developing girls…just starting to get pubic hair and just starting to develop
breasts…my preference was for younger people. (OK: 43)

Such pictures were used as an aid to fantasy:

Fantasies…it would basically run like I take a young girl on a date…and then
we’d go home and then she’d we’d…you know the stuff that adults do which
would lead to sex and would involve her masturbating me and then me giving
her oral sex. (QH: 10)

and were often selected, as with QH, to fit with pre-existing fantasies, some of which
related to earlier contact offences, or related to new offending fantasies. Such
offending fantasies often were of children known to the participants:

I would be interested like if… I found pictures of children that looked like some
of the kids I knew in real life. (QH: 9)

This invariably, but not exclusively, involved masturbation to the fantasies:

Because if I was on-line for an hour or so I actually would be masturbating on

and off for an hour…and wanting to…maintain the sense of arousal…trying
not to come. (II: 21)
80 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

and levels of masturbation seemed to increase after the respondent went online:

while I was on the Net? I mean it was anywhere between 7 and 15…simply
because of what I was collecting. (El: 9)

It is interesting that what followed after masturbation was that respondents stopped
looking at the pictures and either closed the computer down or moved on to some
other non-sexual topic. More than this, for some, the images themselves became
almost aversive in the absence of sexual arousal:

Actually, once I had come then I’d almost be Z I’d find it distasteful. That
what had been acceptable during a state of sexual arousal…afterwards wasn’t
acceptable. (II: 21)
usually…that would be the point at which I could sort of…switch off. (MQ: 28)

Not all respondents masturbated, one because although he was sexually aroused was
unable to ejaculate, and a second respondent because the excitement came from the
fact that these pictures were taboo.
Claims were made that such masturbation to child pornography was a substitute
for abuse:

our main aim in collecting the child pornography is that we weren’t involved
with kids…it was helping… I didn’t feel the urge as strongly as I do now to try
and start something with a child…when I was on-line with the child porn…
because when I felt that urge I’d look at the child porn I’d masturbate or I’d
read the stories more often and masturbate…and it was under control. (El: 109)

although clearly such accounts failed to acknowledge that the pictures being accessed
were ones of children being abused. Responsibility for such abuse is clearly placed
elsewhere.
Offending fantasies in relation to images were not always confined to looking at
the pictures on screen, and, within this sample, had also acted as a blueprint both for
abuse and for the production of photographs:

the offences against me victim erm…were touching her breasts touching her
vagina…erm I also used a video camera… I copied what I’d seen on the
computer. (KQ: 2)

but for me I wanted to abuse her…king at the images I wanted to do pretty

much as I’ve seen. (DX: 25)

Accessing the images appeared to reinforce existing fantasies and was used to give
permission to act on them:
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 81

it made me want to do the things I wanted to do. It gave me more courage to

do them…knowing that I’ve seen it on there…they were doing it… I can do
it. (DX: 67)

Here the account used the pictures as a form of justification, a sense that if others are
engaged in this then it doesn’t matter. It allowed one respondent to ignore the other
cues that were presented to him, such as his victim crying or constantly covering her
face with her nightdress. Such fantasies were also fuelled by the excitement that came
from a sense of doing something illegal.
The selection of images for sexual purposes was also made according to some sort
of’ moral’ or ‘ethical’ code, which varied according to the individual and also
according to the circumstances. The boundaries which related to the acceptability of
the images are similar to those that determine sexual interest, such as age, sex, activity
and were influenced by superficial cues which allowed the viewer to believe that the
children in the pictures were consenting and enjoyed being photographed:

eh…well there was definitely never any baby pictures believe you me… I would
have said there’s definitely nothing below ten on what I have on my system.
(TS: 14)

Oh no S and M pictures, no pictures of kids being hurt, no pictures of kids

being killed. (QH: 26)

The suggestion is made that smiling faces of children in the pictures in some way
legitimised them:

just basically images of girls mainly. Girls actually having sex. And they had to
look happy… I mean I wasn’t looking for rape or anything. (El: 40)

The extreme counter-scenario of rape minimised the actual content of the pictures
used for masturbation and again managed to distance the participant from being part
of an offence against a child.
These moral boundaries were fairly flexible, in that if such images were accessed
adventitiously, rather than searched for purposefully, then they might be kept by
some participants:

I didn’t go out of my way for new pictures because I knew where the new
pictures came from. Unless they were a pose or nudist. Nudist pictures I was
interested in… These were the only pictures where I was sure that the kids
weren’t being hurt or coerced or anything. These pictures I was interested in.
Other pictures, if I found them great, if I didn’t find them I wasn’t going to
go out of my way for them. (QH: 8)
82 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Where images had a social function in that they were used for exchange, this also
would overcome such boundaries. This is discussed in more detail when examining
the social function of child pornography.
Such collecting of pornography was often a continuation of previous interest in
pictures from magazines and videos, and while these had mainly been pornographic
pictures of adults, for one offender he had been collecting legitimate ‘nude art’
photographs of children.

Child pornography as collectibles

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:

some of them I didn’t much care for at all…but as I say they were part of a
series or they were there for other people or they were just to see what was out
there… I mean it gets to a stage also where you’re just collecting to see how
many different ones you can get and this sort of thing and you’re not…
necessarily aroused or turned on by all the pictures that are coming in. (OK: 42)

Such pictures were often talked about in a very dispassionate way with no reference
made to the fact that they were pictures of children. This is seen both in comparisons
made to other kinds of collection and also in terms used to describe the pictures
themselves:

We were trading pictures…it’s as much as it pains me to say…kinda like trading

baseball cards. (QH: 6)

and there was also the thrill in collecting them. You wanted to get complete
sets so it…was a bit like stamp collecting as well. (El: 47)

Comparisons between baseball cards and stamps also served to normalise the activity,
and made it appear innocent in its intent. When talking about the pictures, invariably
no reference was made to the content as being child pornography.
Not only was pleasure obtained from completing missing pictures in a series, but
also the act of categorising the photographs offline. This categorising could be either
simple or complex, depending on whether access to the photographs was for
individual use or for purposes of exchange.

I had a threefold er…a fourfold tier system of organising my pics. First of all
in alphabetical order…second tier would have been sexual…sexual act erotic
pose and nudism…so four tiers. (QH: 30)
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 83

I had all the material in separate directories…so the directories would be…
chosen specifically for the type of material it contained. (II: 22)

Where the material was kept only for personal use and there was no trading involved,
sorting would still take place but in a much more rudimentary way.
Referring back to photographs once sorted took second place to seeking out new
material:

’cause as I said you just you just move onto the next set next set next set. (TS: 22)

Because there was new stuff…there was new stuff now so…(ME: 24)

For the majority of participants the photographs became an archive that they could
refer back to when necessary, use for trading for new material, and have as a collection
of artifacts appearing in series. Completing the series was as much an end in itself as
using the photographs for sexual pleasure, although it could be associated with sexual
pleasure when it enabled fantasy. This was particularly the case where there was a
narrative theme to a series:

you know I suppose I was deliberately going for groups…erm…so you like get
an idea of the full event that was going on…you know so you get an idea of…
the full continuation rather than just one ‘photo. (TS: 19)

Collecting behaviour was not solely confined to child pornography and for many
participants (even those who identified their primary sexual orientation as
paedophilia) it was part of a progression through collecting other forms of
pornography:

yeah I mean its like…very poor analogy but it’s like when you drink some beers
you I mean you might like Caffreys you might love it but after a while you go
off it and you go to Guinness and you might go on to something else. (TS: 38)

The majority of respondents moved through a variety of pornographies, each time

accessing more extreme material. This might refer to the age of the children in the
photographs or to the actual activities being portrayed:

and er it just progressed from there…it would go having a look at the teenage
sites and then these teenage sites would point you to younger things and then
it would say like illegal site…you’d think oh what’s that…you’d have a look
at the site and the girls are obviously getting younger and it was a steady…
downward trend. (KQ: 18)

The fact that the site was flagged as illegal acted almost as a prompt. With respect to
the Internet, it was also the case that responses were chained, each prompt acting as
a discriminative stimulus to move on to the next site. One respondent started by
84 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

accessing child pornography but quickly became bored with it when he could no
longer use it for sexual purposes. At this point he moved on to other categories, again
accessing more and more extreme varieties of material within these categories:

well there was like full penetration from animals erm…dogs, donkeys…think
there’s a zebra at one point so… I don’t think you could actually get more
extreme without changing the subject area. (TS: 33)

It is important to note that by using the Internet, not only could such materials be
accessed, but access could be rapid and movement could take place across categories.
The density of the material that could be downloaded in any one session was high,
and there is some suggestion that with this form of collecting behaviour, where the
collection was a stimulus for sexual behaviour, satiation would occur quite rapidly:

I was actually getting quite bored as it were…erm…with the sort of child

pornography… I was becoming sort of more obsessed with bondage…and sort
of torture…imagery. So… I’d kind of exhausted…the potential that it had for
sexual arousal. (II: 20)

Depersonalising of the pictures was seen most strongly when reference was made to
the pictures as trophies:

the idea of keeping the images was like trophies. (II: 16)

as objects that could be collected and manipulated. One function of the Internet in
relation to this was that images could be downloaded and changed, to meet the needs
of the collector:

I was actually manipulating the images a fair bit…and I was aware that these
were electronic files…there was a sense that…although these represented real
people…because they were photographs…that kind of material…was in no
way really connected with the original act. (II: 19)

it wasn’t a person at all it was…it was just a flat image…it was a nothing. (00 54)

I don’t mean to be denigrating but some of the people were ugly…so I would
actually sort of chop their head off. (OC: 35)

Here OC used the word ‘people’ when talking about the children in the pictures, as
does II. This moved attention away from the fact that the material being downloaded
and manipulated to fit with the collection was actually pornographic images of
children. The notion of images as commodity was also seen when one respondent
talked about their commercial value to him and his partner:
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 85

what he was doing he was downloading loads and loads of pictures…putting

them in folders and everything…putting them on CDs…selling the CDs. (OC:
17)

Respondents talked about accessing the Internet, downloading pornography and

organising their collections as if it was part of a ritual, which for many respondents
led to huge collections of photographs. Earlier research in this area has suggested that
one feature of such collections is that they are permanent. Certainly all the
respondents in this study had kept child pornographic images either on CDs, floppy
disks or their hard disks, and this had led to their prosecution. However, the majority
of them had deleted images on a regular basis, but had never been able to get rid of
their collection completely:

and I was thinking I might as well get shot of these now…but there’s a thing
at the back of your mind…well I'll do it tomorrow, do it tomorrow and
tomorrow never comes and that sort of thing. (OK: 2)

What is different about the Internet in relation to collecting child pornography may
relate to the volume of material that can be accessed and the fact that once the picture
is on the Internet it will remain there, accessible as a part of somebody else’s collection.
Unlike hard copy images which are destroyed, it is always possible to access more of
the same on the Internet.
The number of pictures within a seized collection is often focused on by the media
(and sometimes law enforcement) accounts as an index of the severity of the crime,
or of the degree of deviance of the person collecting. There is, of course, some logic
to this, given the nature of the picture content. But if picture collections are seen
from the perspective of the collecting process, then size of collections seems to be
more likely a factor related to success in collecting deviant material, rather than an
index of deviance itself.

Child pornography facilitating social relationships

Discourse about child pornography and social relationships were almost exclusively
seen in the accounts of respondents who traded images and who used IRC (Internet
Relay Chat) to communicate with others. This would not be the case with adult
pornography, which was previously shared with other people, particularly men in the
context of work. When online, those who traded images inevitably came into social
contact with others similarly engaged, and clearly this was very important to some
respondents.

pornography was there almost as much to facilitate the on-line relationship as

an end in itself. (11:17)
86 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Where respondents traded pictures, both the pornography and the chat that was
associated with it through IRC enabled social cohesion:

Well like I said I was very good at finding people to trade with. I was a good
negotiator so to speak and I would tend to find pictures… I managed to find
the whole series from somebody and I let the channel operators know and…
they were deeply grateful. It’s kinda like an art collector who finds a lost Picasso.
(QH: 13)

What this also indicated is how rapidly respondents could build up enormous
collections of pictures through trading, and that there was clearly a hierarchy that was
associated both with number of images and the ability to complete series of pictures.
Having child pornography was also a requisite for community membership:

if you wanted to be a member of the group…you just popped into the channel
and started trading and if you traded correctly…and if you didn’t abuse other
users…and you didn’t trade crap basically…and you didn’t trade snuff or
anything that showed kids actively being hurt. (El: 64)

Clearly such membership was reinforced by having material to trade, by behaving

correctly and by following the rules for trading. Once status had been achieved
through membership of the group, trading reduced and instead the social function
of the online exchanges and the ability to be on the inside and obtain special
photographs was more important:

There was less and less trading going on because a lot of us by now had most
of what we were interested in from each other’s collections. And there were
very few new people or producers. I mean Paul was one and I was one of the
few people he trusted enough to give everything that he was making with his
kids (El: 67)

EI’s friendship with Paul gave him status but it also allowed him to access new pictures
as they were being produced as well as giving him contact with Paul’s children. The
latter served to enable his sexual fantasies. The notion of community in relation to
the pornography was reinforced by the metaphor of club or bar with reference to
virtual space:

I mean the times, when I would…stay up all night swapping pics with people
were long gone. All I did basically I was a bar tender… I was serving drinks and
what not. (QH: 25)

This analogy is an interesting one because it emphasised the idea of the community
as a club, giving people what they wanted and ensuring that everything was running
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 87

smoothly. Again, we have the idea of child pornography as having some equivalence
with alcohol: a commodity to enable social exchange:

once my collection grew past 40,000 I really didn’t trade that much. I would
mostly let people just take what they wanted off my FTP site…for want of a
better word my collection site…my museum…while I was conjuring up new
ways of evading law enforcement and securing the collections and what not.
(QH: 7)

In a similar way to earlier references about lost Picassos, the metaphor of the museum
served to highlight the value of the images and also made them into legitimate artifacts
to collect. Not only was the material allocated such status, the same also applied to
the group members:

I was already you know…on the Usenet…where you don’t pay anything at
all…swapping with other people…by this I mean quite a select group I mean
…it wasn’t just anybody willy-nilly. (OK: 23)

Not all respondents wished to trade and be members of a community. For some the
decision was bound up with ideas of doing wrong by being involved, while for others
it related to fears about security.
Using child pornography to build social networks and relationships served many
other complex functions. It was used as a way of confirming sexual interests to others
online:

and I could sort of back that up by giving them images…that supported that…
so...you know you name it as a sort of sexual proclivity. (II: 15)

and it generated almost an etiquette with regard to trading relationships which meant
that others would trust you:

So I was kind of talking to people and it was exchanging images with one person
and then passing that image on to someone else. So there is this kind of network
and these…these images were currency…because it allowed me to maintain
my relationship with the people. (11:18)

The importance of such relationships was often prioritised over the pornography:

We were trying to support each other…we were friends. (El: 106)

and occasionally resulted in the indiscriminate saving of material in case it played a

role in terms of future exchange with others.

I think some of the really nasty stuff I …or what I consider to be nasty I used
to get rid of but the rest of the stuff I didn’t because I used to think perhaps it
88 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

doesn’t appeal to me but it appeals to somebody else and they might send
something else that doesn’t appeal to them but it appeals to other people. (OK:
10)

Decisions about the nature of the material were placed in the context of its value.
Even though OK might have thought of some of the pornography as nasty, he still
judged it as valuable for exchange. Nor did he make any sort of value judgements
about the people he was willing to trade with. The parallels with other forms of
collecting, discussed in Chapter 7, are very evident.

Child pornography as a way of avoiding real life

It is interesting that for many respondents, linking up with others on the Internet
provided important social support that often replaced unsatisfactory relationships in
the ‘real world’.

I wanted sex all the time…and you know I had a very high sex…and I wasn’t
getting as much sex as I want off me wife. (DX: 19)

Accessing child pornography on the Internet became part of a bid to create a secretand
separate world:

and it was a very private thing I was doing and I…didn’t want to share it with
anyone else. (KQ: 27)

er it was a little fantasy world for me…and it was so different from the mundane
existence I’d been leading. Here was something that was dangerous…it was
exciting…it was new. (11:15)

Clearly this ‘cyber world’ had many qualities that were unobtainable in the ‘real’
world and allowed escape from many unpleasant realities:

I think it mattered to the extent that it shut out the…part of my life that I was
finding difficult to deal with…it was sort of my time, it was my space… I got
to the stage where I started to feel…annoyed if I felt…other people were
intruding on that. (MQ: 33)

This could be taken in a very literal way in that MQ was able to physically remove
himself into the room where they kept the computer and where he could access his
own files. He was also able to emotionally shut himself off from a situation that was
becoming increasingly aversive and achieve pleasure and escape through sexual arousal
and masturbation.
Through the Internet the unsatisfactory elements of life that were difficult to
address or change could for periods be avoided and substituted for a world that was
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 89

more controllable. Sexual satisfaction could be sought and gained over which the
respondent had perfect control:

it was just a picture…there was nothing to worry about…they couldn’t talk

back to you…they couldn’t argue…they couldn’t run away…it was just there…
it wasn’t a person it was just a flat image a flat picture. (OC: 55)

For some respondents, this way of dealing with the unsatisfactory side of life took a
more extreme form when accessing the pornographic images was referred to as a form
of therapy.

Accessing child pornography as therapy

This therapeutic discourse overlapped with talk of satiation and addiction. However,
some respondents made claim to actively seeking pornographic images as a way of
controlling their interests:

because I really wanted to find out about myself as well…in a sense I wanted
to know…what I was about…what was it that I… that actually turned me on
and…perhaps in the process deal with it…accept it and then move on. (MQ:
20)

What was prioritised were his needs, his feeling of wanting to explore the nature of
the problem. The children in the pictures had a function only in so far as they were
meeting this need. They are almost incidental to the process. The idea of
selfexploration was also seen in talk about examining the ‘dark side’ of one’s
personality.
At its most extreme, accessing child pornography was seen as a form of personal
survival:

yeah…I was aroused by some of the pictures…some of the images I wasn’t

aroused by…erm…you know I was just desperate to find some way of getting
out of the shit life that I was in. (KQ: 44)

it was the only thing that was remotely keeping me alive at that point ‘cause I
could escape on it. I could play games and look at child porn. (El: 77)

and a way of dealing with emotions such as anger which had no other outlet:

I think certainly they precipitated it yeah…and I started downloading child

pornography…one it was getting the anger out of my system and saying up
yours to the police…and two it was a way of relieving the pressure. (OT: 3)
90 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The idea of therapy extended beyond what was good for the respondent to what was
good for potential victims of child abuse:

rather than go off and offend and offend again…rather than go out and find
a victim. (OT: 4)

Accessing pornography through the Internet as therapy is an interesting ‘medical’

discourse and overlapped very strongly with talk about addiction. With the latter,
respondents were unclear as to whether they were addicted to the Internet or to the
images, the two having become inextricably intertwined. Of course, the idea of
therapy functions in many ways. It allows the respondent to present himself as
someone who is ‘ill’ in some way and who has problems that are largely out of his
control. It also allows for the respondent to appear to be behaving responsibly towards
his problem by attempting both to explore and deal with it. This is used as a
justification for accessing the images and becomes intertwined with ideas that it is
also good for children, in that it prevents actual contact abuse. This needs to be
considered alongside other talk about children as images and objects, who clearly
have no rights once their photographs are on the Internet

The Internet and child pornography

Respondents’ talk about child pornography inevitably, as their crimes related to
downloading, overlapped with talk about the Internet. It is clear that the Internet
facilitated access to photographs, whether adventitiously or purposefully:

it was only the children side of it came into being when I discovered this er
stuff on the Internet. (KQ: 69)

Accessing such material was possible because the Internet as a medium was
anonymous and because there was an enormous variety of pornography freely
available:

So I then got into this kind of regime of finding hard core porn…the sort that
if I had…the nerve I would have bought a magazine that showed this kind of
material in a shop, but then there’d be the problem of sneaking the magazine
back into the house and then accessing that material privately. (11:7)

What was also associated with the Internet was a chain of responses, leading to more
and more extreme material, even when that material was not kept for personal
collections or for trading:

it seemed to be getting younger and younger…as the more I got into the sites
and more I diversified the more you could…you know…the harder the
pornography got…seemed to be getting harder and harder. (DX: 3)
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 91

What we also see here is the use of the passive voice in relation to the Internet, as if
the responsibility lies with it as a medium. What is also apparent is that with the
Internet access is rapid and, for those interested, child pornography can be found
very quickly (which would not be the case from more conventional sources).
Inevitably, the more the respondent used the computer as a means of accessing
pornography, the more skilful he became in finding material and getting round any
security checks.
What is also interesting in relation to this is that there appeared to be a blurring
of boundaries in what constituted child pornography that was exaggerated on the
Internet. In some instances this was used as a justification for downloading material,
while in other instances there appeared to be confusion as to the overlap between
nudist and ‘art’ photographs and pornography:

Where do you draw the line…where does society draw the line…where is what
is considered legal in one country illegal in another? (KQ: 58)

that’s where the trouble sets in actually…it’s hard to explain…it’s hard to tell
somebody the difference between a pornographic image and a nude art image.
(ME: 6)

They were of children, but not of child pornography… It was done in a

tasteful…you could tell by the image it wasn’t…it wasn’t anything…there
was no sexual overtones or anything it wasn’t with legs spread. (ME: 8)

All respondents made reference to the Internet and addiction when talking about the
compulsive elements of downloading. This is used to make sense of a loss of control,
of high rate behaviour and also as a way of distancing oneself from ideas of personal
agency:

now at one point I sort of deleted all the pornography off the machine and I
tried not to get back on…to it. But…the sense of addiction, compulsion and
obsession was so strong that I ended up, you know, falling back into old habits.
(II: 18)

I couldn’t stop looking at these pictures… I was a junkie…a junkie par

extraordinaire… I figured that the only way I was going to stop was if I got
busted. (QH: 29)

I was obsessed by it I really was I will definitely admit that…an addiction…

mmm definitely. (DX: 9)

Such distancing was also seen in talk about the nature of sexual offences against
children. The person downloading images was able to put himself into another
92 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

category of offender, one who had done something illegal but who had not
committed an offence against a child:

I don’t like the idea of being a sex offender ‘cause to me…a sex offender is
somebody who er…somebody who goes raping people…who’s harmed
somebody in a sexual manner…not looking at images. (ME: 13)

the way I looked at it I’m doing no harm because at the end of the day I’m not
taking the pictures I’m not setting ‘em up…I’m not distributing them…all
I’m doing at the end of the day is just looking at em. (TS: 30)

This is further reinforced by an appeal to common sense, using the opinion of a

trusted family member as the voice of reason:

it’s like me dad… I mean me dad thought exactly the same as me…he says well
it’s only a bloody picture. (OC: 53)

Me dad could understand…he says being male…you know the sex drive…
women can’t understand that…(ME: 46)

This blurring of boundaries in what constituted pornography, is similar to the

findings of McCabe (2000) who suggested that one third of her respondents thought
it was all right to download such material.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF CHILD

PORNOGRAPHY
What emerges from these accounts is that child pornography downloaded from the
Internet does act as a means of sexual arousal and is used as an aid to masturbation
both on- and offline, and that for the majority of respondents in this sample it resulted
in an increase in masturbatory behaviour. This is similar to the findings of Hamman
(1996) in the context of cybersex on the Internet. Respondents were highly selective
in the material they chose, seeking out content that was arousing for them and which
fitted with individual fantasies. This confirms the suggestions made by both Howitt
(1995) and Seto et al. (2001) but seems to conflict with the latter’s allegation that
there is little evidence to support assumptions that pornography users become sexually
aroused and masturbate while viewing pornography. Again, one aspect of Internet
use is that respondents could largely ensure privacy, which maybe facilitates
immediate sexual behaviour. It is also a fact that given the scope and extent of child
pornography available on the Internet, none of the respondents had difficulty in
finding material that met their sexual proclivities.
The relationship between contact offences and pornography remains unclear, and
would seem to support the suggestion by Seto et al. (2001) that earlier studies have
not considered the possibility of interactions between individual characteristics and
pornography exposure. Certainly it appears that, for some respondents, pornography
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 93

was used as a substitute for actual offending, whereas for others, it acted as both
blueprint and stimulus for a contact offence. Justification for viewing and
downloading images revolved around ideas of the consenting child, child
pornography being preferential to contact abuse and the fact that ‘moral’ limits were
set with regard to what was downloaded. Such limits often appeared to be quite
flexible, however, if the photographs themselves had value in terms of exchange.
The Internet clearly plays an important role in collecting behaviour related to child
pornography, and here we see a function that overlaps with that of sexual arousal.
Material is often collected even when it has no arousing properties for the individual
but because it is part of completing a series or is new. Collections can be
correspondingly large, because the bulk of child pornography on the Internet is free
and also because respondents often acquired the technological skills to use software
that allowed them to download without them having to be physically present. As
Tate (1990) suggested, ‘pedophiles don’t simply view the material they collect, they
catalogue and index it as well’ (112). All respondents showed some level of cataloguing
behaviour, but in the main the degree of sophistication shown in relation to this was
largely a function of the use to which the photographs were to be put. Those who
traded also organised their collections systematically and spent a great deal of time
offline cataloguing and indexing their photographs. Such collecting behaviour
emphasises the role of pornography as both trophies and commodities, distancing
the downloader from the content of the photographs.
Discourse about child pornography and social relationships is almost exclusively
seen in the context of trading and using IRC in the sample referred to above. Such
social relationships are bound by rules and have all the qualities of ‘community’
outlined by Linehan et al. (2002). Pornography played a role in such communities
because status was reflected in volume, having parts of missing series and distributing
these and new images through the Internet. Social relationships also allowed
respondents to normalise their activities, consolidating a body of accounts that
allowed others to justify or legitimise their orientation and behaviour (Durkin and
Bryant 1999). Such legitimising activity was also heightened by the metaphor of the
Internet as a physical space, a bar or a museum, where the commodity is pornography
rather than alcohol or art.
Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2000) talked about the Internet as providing
an attractive alternative to a mundane or unhappy life. Certainly, for these
respondents, accessing child pornography on the Internet was often used as a way of
creating a private and intensely arousing world, where it was possible to go beyond
normal limits. Such a world was often associated initially with feelings of regaining
control, but this quickly changed and was followed by frequent reference to loss of
control and addiction. Such discourses of addiction are not confined to those who
access child pornography on the Internet. Kennedy-Souza (1998) suggested that what
we are seeing is merely the continuation of a trend of people spending increasingly
more time with technology than with other human beings. What is often achieved
through prolonged engagement with the Internet is an alteration in mood, resulting
in what Kennedy-Souza (1998) argued is Internet addiction. Griffiths (2000) has
94 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

suggested that excessive use of the Internet for sexual purposes appears in the majority
of cases to be purely symptomatic, but for what appears to be a small minority, the
Internet may be functionally addictive. Why such addiction should take the form of
collecting child pornography is more difficult to ascertain, especially when, as for
some respondents, this appears to occur in the absence of any prior interest in such
material.
At its most benign, the Internet facilitates access to a wide variety of child
pornography. Tate (1990) suggested that the particular advantage of the Internet to
the paedophile is its security, as a lifetime’s collection can be hidden on a small amount
of electric gadgetry, stacking the odds heavily against discovery. What also seems to
be the case is that the Internet functions in such a way that there are constant links
to other sites, some of which are signalled by the word ‘illegal’ and that these in turn
act as a discriminative stimulus for accessing more and more extreme material.
Respondents made frequent reference to the pictures being of younger and younger
children, or of more extreme activities. It may be that the progressive qualities of the
quest for newness and difference and the rapidity of habituation is exaggerated on
the Internet because of the sheer volume of material available and the amount of time
that downloaders spend with it.
It is evident that there is some confusion about what constitutes pornography and
with regard to child pornography the issue is complex, as we have noted in earlier
chapters. The Internet seems to allow for a blurring of boundaries and is used by the
respondents described here as a justification for downloading. This is interesting given
that these were ‘insider accounts’ and all acknowledged that the images, regardless of
whether they could be justified as ‘art’ or ‘naturist’, were sexually arousing to the
viewer. While the label of ‘sex offender’ was accepted with varying degrees by
respondents (depending on whether they had also committed a contact offence), there
was clearly a distinction made between the activity of downloading and the
commission of a contact offence. This was reinforced by reference to common sense
judgements and was made possible by the respondent distancing himself from these
photographs. Such emotional distancing is one frightening aspect of these accounts,
where the child is reduced to an electronic image or, as described by one respondent,
‘a nothing’. The ability to manipulate images is another feature of this.
Whilst the presence of child pornography on the Internet is recognised to be a
major social problem, its management to date by law enforcement agencies has tended
to focus on the development of pragmatic tools of apprehension (such as sting
operations), or a focus on evidential issues rather than interventions based on coherent
conceptual responses. The broad analysis presented in this book suggests that child
pornography may have multiple functions, and is not only associated with sexual
arousal. This seems to be of particular concern when those functions become apparent
within a deviant community environment. An important issue following from this
relates to the extent to which otherwise dormant interests are facilitated by the
dynamics of the Internet, and the extent to which facilitation of an interest in child
pornography relates to the subsequent commission of contact offences against
children. Further understanding of these issues has implications not only for policy
 INTERNET, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT SEXUAL INTEREST 95

makers and the Internet industry, but also for law enforcement practice and the
management of offenders in therapeutic preventive programmes. Looking for causal
relationships between offending and pornography is problematic, not least because
in the context of the Internet, contact offences are only one of a variety of offences
committed against children in which pornography plays a central role.
96
 Chapter 5
Metamorphosis

An often-quoted cartoon that was published in the New Yorker magazine shows a dog
sitting at a computer and saying to another dog, ‘On the Internet, nobody knows
you’re a dog.’ Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2000) discussed this phenomenon
in the context of problematic Internet use, suggesting that the ability to self-represent
from the safety of the computer screen may be part of the compulsion to go online.
The lack of face-to-face communication ensures some level of anonymity, which can
lessen social risk and lower inhibitions. Turkle (1995) likened this to the ability to
try out new ways of relating, new roles and new identities. Such new identities might
include playing with changes in gender, age and race. On the Internet the ‘bandwidth’
of communication is relatively narrow, and the scope for controlling the presentation
of self increases. ‘In cyberspace you have more control over how someone sees you.
Everything begins with words. You are who you say you are. And you can make
yourself sound really good’ (Horn 1998:294). These changes are not impossible in
the offline world, but are potentially more difficult to sustain, and carry with them
greater risk of discovery.
The relationship between identity and self-representation is complex. For example,
in the offline world we make choices all the time about how we wish to present
ourselves, and some of these have become very conventional. An interview for an
important job influences the choices we make about what to wear and what aspects
of ourselves we choose to portray. Giese et al. (1998) suggested that these rituals of
self-representation will now be transferred to a textual mode in the context of the
Internet. However, the ability to self-represent in a radically different way in the
offline world is more difficult. Adopting another gender or another age is open to
constant visual challenges. Sustaining identity change on the Internet may also be
problematic, as the individual may not have the wealth of experience to draw on to
maintain credibility, but it certainly carries with it less risk. In the main, if a person
is discovered playing another persona, this may result in some sanctions within the
community, but the person also has the capacity to disappear, and to reappear as
another persona and in another context.
The ability to ‘become’ may operate at many levels, from the individual who wishes
to enhance their status through purporting to have done something special, or possess
something important, through to the assumption of a completely new identity. Do
we view such ‘becomings’ as deception, or simply a unique artifact of an online world
98 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

where fantasy is as important as reality? To some extent this depends on the context
in which the person self-represents. According to Donath (2000), ‘Identity plays a
key role in virtual communities. In communication, which is the primary activity,
knowing the identity of those with whom you communicate is essential for
understanding and evaluating interaction’ (29). We use identity cues to establish the
credibility of the person and to help us decide on the believability of the information
given. It may be that electronic networking opens possibility for deception because
many of the cues that normally circumscribe roles and which foster or inhibit
participation are not present (Boshier 1990). In offline faceto-face communication,
participants are usually (although not always) known to each other, at least visually.
However, on the Internet people can change the way they express themselves,
challenging traditional notions of authenticity and deception. Donath (2000) uses a
model of deception in the animal world as a way of thinking about identity deception
in cyberspace. Within this context, we are asked to think about what makes a signal
‘reliable’ or believable. Assessment signals are seen to be reliable as they require that
the sender possesses the relevant trait. An example of this is that of communicating
strength through being seen to carry heavy loads. Such assessment signals are
sometimes deceiving, and in fact have become part of a known repertoire of behaviour
that makes us laugh. Clowns in circuses often look to be carrying very heavy loads,
only to lift them up with one finger at the end of the act. In this instance we know
that a deception is taking place and we often find it funny. On the other hand,
conventional signals have become correlated with a trait by custom or convention,
and are often open to deception. Excessive deception might in fact undermine the
signal altogether. A few years ago, seeing somebody in sports equipment might have
sent out a reliable signal that they were physically active and likely to be fit. Today,
the major sports brands do not direct their advertising at athletes, but at the general
public where sports wear has become something of a fashion statement. As a signal
it has become ‘noise’ because it no longer conveys information that relates to the
purported function of the clothes. However, perhaps a new signal has been established
about identity, which may, for example, relate to wealth.
How do we establish identity on the Internet? In the context of, for example,
newsgroups, text is not only a basic form of communication, but a primary means
for self-representation (Donath 2000). Account names are a basic form of ID and
such information is automatically placed in the header by the posting software. It
also appears in the article list that Usenet readers skim to find postings of interest and
is the data used in killfiles to identify people one wishes to exclude. The automatically
inserted account name may be the only overt identifier in the posting; while people
do not always sign their letters, all postings must have the sender’s account name in
the header’ (Donath 2000:35). The domain is the organisation that provides the
account and may yield contextual cues about the writer. For example, staff working
within a university often have a domain name that relates to that organisation. Some
domains clearly carry with them prestige, and Donath suggests that ‘while there are
not any recognised “wealthy virtual neighborhoods”, it is only probably a matter of
time until exclusive online addresses become symbols of status’ (36). Where the object
 METAMORPHOSIS 99

of using the Internet is to gain information, this may be important. For example, if
the reliability of the information is crucial, as in diagnosing a serious medical
condition, one is more likely to believe an individual whose domain name, as well as
offline address, suggests a reputable organisation or community. However, on the
Usenet it is possible to post information anonymously through remailing the post
through a forwarding service, which strips all identifying information from the letter
and then forwards it, anonymously or under a pseudonym, to the intended recipient
or newsgroup.
How else is identity established on the Internet? If we stay with the idea of text as
communication, then we can tell much about a person from their written ‘voice’. As
we have seen in the context of communities, the language that people use can be an
indicator of whether they are operating from inside or outside that group. All
newsgroups share some common linguistic abbreviations (such as IMHO—in my
humble opinion), but specific communities have their own idiosyncratic
abbreviations. Using such phrases may express one’s identification with that online
community, indicating the ability to share a common voice, and giving cues about
status within that social group. Identity is also established through the use of
signatures, which can either anchor the online persona to the offline reality, or may
be an expression of an otherwise never expressed fantasy. Wood and Smith (2001)
liken the use of signatures to the ‘handles’ used by CB radio enthusiasts. Such handles
allow for discussion with comparative anonymity, but also allow for the fashioning
of a unique identity. On the Internet such signatures are often called ‘nicks’ (short
for nicknames). Participants have a single text line to give their nickname and
electronic address, and choosing a nickname that conveys something about the
person’s ‘self and which increases the likelihood of others wanting to ‘talk’ is
important. Bechar-Israeli (1995) investigated participants’ use of nicknames on IRC
(Internet Relay Chat), taken largely from four channels. The resulting 260 nicknames
were coded and categorised and examined in the light of distribution across 14
categories (for example, nicks that were self-related, such as <shydude>, <belladonna>,
or ones that related to figures found in literature or the media, such as <Hagolem>,
<Godot>). Across these categories, many people chose a name that represented
something about the identity they wished to assume online, whereas only a small
number (less than 8 per cent of the total sample) chose to use their offline names.
Another finding from this study was that nicknames were fiercely guarded, such that
somebody else using one’s name might be met by online hostility. This suggested
that consistency in the use of nicknames was also important for establishing online
identity.
A further use of signature is to refer to the writer’s home page on the World Wide
Web. Web sites allow for the transmission of text, pictures, animation and sounds to
convey an online identity. What is included is directly under the control of the author,
who can decide what aspects of ‘self are to be represented. A homepage may provide
a detailed portrayal of its subject and it can be argued that having a ‘presence’ on the
Web has a depth that is not found in the environment of newsgroups. This notion
of creating an identity on the Net as an ongoing process may be why so many personal
100 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Web sites contain the sign indicating ‘under construction’ (which literally looks like
the sign seen on the roads when digging is in process) (Chandler 1997). Such research
into web site homepages suggests that these pages integrate the individual, make a
personal statement of identity, and show in a stable and replicable way what the
individual stands for and what is deemed important (Wynn and Katz 1997).
Talamo and Ligorio (2001) extended this analysis of identity in cyberspace by
examining communication through Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs).
‘CVEs are particular environments fostering communication and interaction among
social actors rather than the user-computer interaction’ (110). CVEs allow users to
construct their identity in the following ways:

1 by choosing a nickname, that can be very different from their real name;
2 by wearing different simulacra of possible embodiment (the avatars, which are
visual representations of themselves chosen by participants);
3 by talking, discussing, and negotiating about the identity that users want to show
in real time.

Avatars are a new feature of these systems, and are likened by Talamo and Ligorio
(2001) to a mask worn at a party—they emphasise some visual aspects or hide others.
Most CVEs are based on synchronous interactions, where identities can be ‘negotiated
in real time’. These authors argue that we can conceptualise identity as being socially
constructed in specific interactive moments. Therefore, on the Internet people can
choose to use certain relevant characteristics of their identities as strategic resources
to enhance their participation and the overall effectiveness of the community. The
choices made are therefore at an individual level, but also reflect and influence the
context. All the interactions analysed within this study were performed within
‘Euroland’, a community composed of students, teachers and researchers who were
working on a transnational educational project. When online, participants were
personified by an avatar, which was able to walk, fly and look round the virtual world.
They were also able to build and manipulate three-dimensional objects, perform
virtual actions, and chat with other participants. The identities that emerged were
dynamic and strongly related to the context, being created and constantly recreated.
They concluded that cyber identities involve resources given by specific technological
tools and by community, rather than a static characteristic of participants.
The concept of the Internet as both changing and being changed by the individual
is important, and moves us beyond static and stable notions of identity. Turkle (1995)
has argued that the Internet acts as a postmodern ‘object-to-think-with’, which may
profoundly change participants’ belief systems, values and cognitive styles. Granic
and Lamey (2000) suggested that ‘these changes may be due to the reciprocal, self-
organizing relationship between the interactive medium of literacy in our age and the
minds of individuals who are embedded in it’ (100). They suggest that at the very
least people who use the Internet will become increasingly aware of the diverse
approaches to any given problem or issue, and at most this may engender a new
awareness of, and appreciation for, the malleability of subjective knowledge or truth.
 METAMORPHOSIS 101

Riva and Galimberti (1998) have suggested that this postmodern notion of
perspectivism and multiplicity applies not only to the representation of knowledge,
but also to representations of the self. Turkle’s (1995) research on participation in
MUDs suggested that their attraction lies in participants’ ability to cycle through and
continuously change various identities.
Granic and Lamey (2000) speculated about what new mode of thought might arise
from experiencing a multiplicity of self, suggesting that it may allow for a meta-
cognitive representation of self as a network of many selves. At its most simplistic, it
may be that by acting out various aspects of self on the Internet, we may reflect the
complex nature of self in all its dimensions. Rather than a fracturing into multiple
and ever-changing perceptions and projections of self, it may be that such identities
and selves are perceived as ‘integral and continuous’ (Kendall 1999: 61). Rather than
the persona being divorced from the ‘real self’, it may be an expression of an aspect
of the self that has not been possible before. Horn (1998: 6) concluded that ‘much
as we might dearly love to sometimes, we can’t leave ourselves behind when we get
online. Even when someone is just playing around or in disguise, something true is
revealed, it is never completely invented.’
Changes in the way that we think that may result from online participation may
also be a result of the decentralised nature of the Internet. There is no central authority
on the Internet and as a system it continues to evolve through the participation of its
members. There is no official body that controls what people can or cannot do on
the Internet, and for many people this will provide a first experience of operating
outside a conventional hierarchy. ‘But in cyberspace, authority takes on a different
meaning. Conventional hierarchies are disrupted by a distributed, decentralised
network in which power is spread among various people and groups and one voice
does not dominate or pre-empt others’ (Granic and Lamey 2000:104). These authors
suggested that such experiences may empower some people who have felt marginalised
in modern society and that those who have never been able to function at their optimal
level in the offline world may feel that they have a chance to do so when conventional
hierarchies are broken down. Therefore the Internet may provide people with life-
changing experiences that they would not otherwise have had and these experiences
may contribute to more general beliefs about personal efficacy and control. Holmes
et al. (1998) discussed the computer as a mechanism of metamorphosis where deviant
fantasies are provided opportunities to become more concrete. It may be, however,
that metamorphosis goes beyond this, and that for some, engagement with the
Internet results in changes in how they think of themselves and the world.

SEX AND THE INTERNET

There is an almost unlimited amount of information on the Internet, and much of
it relates to sexual material and channels of communication. On the Internet, one
can seek advice about sexual problems, look for sexually stimulating material (text,
pictures, videos) and engage in romantic and sexual relationships. Griffiths (2000)
lists the diverse ways in which the Internet is used for sexual purposes. These include:
102 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

1 seeking out sexually related material for educational use;

2 buying or selling sexually related goods for further use offline;
3 visiting and/or purchasing goods in online virtual sex shops;
4 seeking out material for entertainment/masturbatory purposes for use online;
5 seeking out sex therapists;
6 seeking out sexual partners for an enduring relationship;
7 seeking out sexual partners for a transitory relationship;
8 seeking out individuals who then become victims of sexually related Internet
crime;
9 engaging in and maintaining online relationships via email and/or chat rooms;
10 exploring gender and identity roles by swapping gender or creating other
personas and forming online relationships;
11 digitally manipulating images on the Internet for entertainment and/or
masturbatory purposes.

Using the Internet for sexual purposes is often positioned in a very black-and-white
way as either pathological or adaptive (Cooper et al., 1999). For example, Durkin
and Bryant (1995) examined the use of the Internet to promote deviant or criminal
sexual behaviour. They suggested that ‘cybersex’ allows individuals to operationalise
deviant sexual fantasies that would otherwise have self-extinguished were it not for
the immediate reinforcement provided by online communication. The pathological
model tends to emphasise such Internet use as addictive or compulsive, involving a
psychological dependence on the Internet that is characterised by an increasing
investment of time and resources in online activities, unpleasant feelings when offline,
increasing tolerance to the effect of being online, and denial that the behaviour is a
problem. As we have seen, the concept of ‘Internet addiction’ is very persuasive for
both professionals and lay people alike, and may be used by people who use the
Internet to further their sexual interest in children as a justification for their behaviour.
A more adaptive perspective of Internet-related sexual behaviour is presented by
Cooper and Sportolari (1997). These authors used the term ‘computer mediated
relating’ to describe interactions that took place through the use of e-mail, and
identified a number of positive aspects to this type of relating. These included a
reduction in the role that physical attributes play in the initial decision to pursue a
relationship. Such relationships were more likely to be based on common interests,
values and emotional intimacy rather than physical attractiveness.
In the context of identity and deception, Griffiths’s list of ways in which the
Internet is used for sexual purposes can be reduced to behaviours that seek to establish
some level of relationship (transitory or otherwise). Such relationships may be with
other adults or with people who present on the Internet as children. Whether such
relationships are seen as pathological or as adaptive depends largely on the context
and, inevitably, on discrepancies between participants (such as age or intellectual
level). It is also important to acknowledge that sexual relationships on the Internet
have, as their expression, behaviours that are every bit as real as those in the offline
world. Sexual activity does not take place at an abstract level ‘in one’s head’, but
 METAMORPHOSIS 103

largely through on– or offline masturbatory behaviour. Much of the recent research
in this area has taken as its focus IRC and chat rooms, and we will consider some
aspects of sexual behaviour in these contexts as they are of considerable relevance to
our examination of identity and sexual interest in children.
Chat rooms are virtual rooms hosted by online servers such as America Online and
CompuServe, where people may talk with other users of the same service in real time.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) networks are non-proprietary equivalents. Participating
in a chat room is not so different from being a member of a specific organisation or
club, where membership indicates an interest in a given area (whether it is tennis or
photography). Where the focus of such chat rooms is romance or sex, there is evidence
to suggest that people are more likely to misrepresent themselves than they are in the
offline world. Cornwell and Lundgren (2001) suggested that misrepresentation is
directly related to the likely risk of detection.

Exaggerations of age can be made readily in cyberspace, and misrepresentations

of physical attributes are difficult to disconfirm on a computer screen. False
claims regarding interests, occupation, education, or other background
characteristics may be more difficult to sustain as these become the topics for
conversation, questioning and further exploration. (209)

These authors concluded that such misrepresentation may not directly relate to the
medium of the Internet, but may be because people seeking such relationships regard
them as less serious and feel less commitment towards them.
In the context of sexual, rather than romantic, relationships, Hamman (1996) has
identified two forms of ‘cybersex’ which take place in chat rooms. These are:

1 computer-mediated interactive masturbation in real time. In this form of

cybersex, participants type instructions and descriptions of what they are ‘doing’
to each other and to themselves while masturbating. They often type with one
hand while masturbating with the other;
2 computer-mediated telling of interactive sexual stories, in real time, with the
intent of arousal. Participants who take part in this form of cybersex tell each
other sexual stories with the intent of arousing themselves and other users.

In addition, Hamman identifies four other forms of cybersex, not connected with
chat rooms, such as: software-based cybersex (users create their own virtual partner);
Virtual Reality cybersex (high-tech goggles and movement-sensitive body suits);
electronic pornography; e-mail cybersex (trading sexual stories by e-mail); and MUD-
based cybersex. A further area involves the use of video-conferencing protocols.
Hamman (1996) presented an ethnographic study of sexual behaviour in chat
rooms and concluded that users of online chat rooms experience loss of inhibition
owing to the anonymity of the medium. This loss of inhibition allowed users to
experiment more freely with their online selves and express multiple aspects of self.
104 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Such aspects may be positive (such as freeing the person to explore different ways of
enjoying their sexuality) or may be negative, where anonymity is used to allow for
the expression of sexual aggression. One subject in Hamman’s study presented himself
online as a female to allow him sexually, emotionally and mentally to abuse other
men. This study examined cybersex in the context of ‘cyborg’ theory and concluded
that those who engaged in such sexual activity became cyborgs, using the computer
as a prosthetic to supplement human capabilities. Becoming a cyborg therefore allows
people to use online chat to experiment with multiple selves, many of which ‘real-
life’ society suppresses. This idea, although it may seem fanciful, has considerable
relevance to the ways in which those with a sexual interest in children use computers.
So far, we have suggested that cybersex is sexual activity that relates only to Internet
use. It may take place in real time (both parties masturbating while sharing fantasies)
or may generate fantasies and arousal that are acted upon after disconnecting from
the Internet. However, there is also evidence emerging, largely in the context of studies
of gay men who use the Internet, that relationships formed through this medium
may be seen as a stepping-stone to relationships in the offline world. In the context
of IRC, Shaw (1997) concluded that for gay men participating in computer-mediated
communication (CMC), ‘the virtual experiences of IRC and real-life experience share
a symbiotic relationship; that is, relationships formed within the exterior gay
community lead the users to the interior CMC gay community, where they, in turn,
develop new relationships which are nurtured and developed outside the bounds of
CMC’ (143). The role of IRC is thus to allow gay men to try on different personalities,
and ‘presents an opportunity for gay men, who often go through life hiding this most
vital aspect of their identity, to try on this real identity’ (144). Similarly Tikkanen
and Ross (2000) found in their study of Swedish gay men who use chat rooms, that
it was common for younger men in particular to have experiences of physically
meeting sexual partners. So online sexuality is inextricably linked with the offline
world, either through the physical expression of sexual behaviour with the computer
acting as prosthesis, or through online relationships taking on physical embodiment
in the real world.

VIRTUAL IDENTITIES AND SEXUAL INTEREST IN

CHILDREN
According to Mahoney and Faulkner (1997), the Internet allows paedophiles:

• instant access to other predators worldwide;

• open discussion of their sexual desires;
• shared ideas about ways to lure victims;
• mutual support of their adult-child sex philosophies;
• instant access to potential child victims worldwide;
• disguised identities for approaching children, even to the point of presenting as a
member of teen groups;
 METAMORPHOSIS 105

• ready access to ‘teen chat rooms’ to find out how and who to target as potential
victims;
• means to identify and track down home contact information;
• ability to build a long-term ‘Internet’ relationship with a potential victim, prior
to attempting to engage the child in physical contact.

But it would be simplistic to think that the Internet is only another vehicle for
paedophile activity. The evidence that we have examined so far suggests that the
Internet facilitates change in the individual, which in turn affects the way in which
the Internet (or that section related to the individual) develops. People who use the
Internet as a way of meeting their sexual needs may come to it from a variety of
backgrounds. Some are curious and find that they are both interested in and aroused
by child pornography. Some are aware of their sexual interest and see the Internet as
a means of meeting that interest without recourse to contact with children. Others
wish to find children to engage with, both at a virtual and at a face-to-face level. What
seems to be the case for many individuals is that, once engaged with the Internet for
the purposes of sexual gratification, that very engagement changes the way they think
about themselves and others. This may be nothing more than a sense of ‘coming
home’, of finding that there are many like-minded others, of finding a niche. For
some, communication on the Internet offers a way of presenting oneself in a positive
light, without the barriers of physical presence, and possibly with the added status
associated with a ‘good’ collection of child pornography. The very process of acquiring
Internet skills may leave the person feeling positive about themselves, in a way that
they have never experienced before. Such changes may be thought of as passive: the
by-products of engagement. However, for others, as we have seen in the context of
cybersex, such change is more considered and intentional. In the final section of this
chapter, we are going to examine in some detail two people who selected ‘persona’
in order to facilitate very specific sexual goals.

CHILD SEDUCTION ON THE INTERNET

Durkin (1997) suggested that there are four ways in which people with a sexual
interest in children may misuse the Internet: to traffic child pornography; to locate
children to molest; to engage in inappropriate sexual communication with children;
and to communicate with other paedophiles. The following case study illustrates all
of these occurring within the repertoire of one individual and facilitated by the ability
to self-represent in multiple ways on the Internet (Quayle and Taylor 2001). For this
individual, the means to communicate with others largely took place through chat
rooms, where anonymity allowed him to assume first the persona of a child, and later
an adult.
Lamb (1998) provided the first systematic study of how such chat rooms may be
used by paedophiles. He sought to catalogue the types of identity and the verbal
behaviours of visitors to chat rooms that specifically targeted young gay males. For
the purpose of the study, the author assumed personas of young males. His analysis
106 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

suggested that those who contacted the author’s personas could be divided into three
broad categories: browsers; cruisers; and pornographers. Browsers were genuinely
curious people exploring the medium and expecting to meet real people. Their
language and general knowledge was congruent with adolescence and they avoided
both personal and sexual chat. They were also the smallest group represented. The
largest group was the cruisers, who, while listing themselves as students, displayed
little knowledge of the culture or language that would be appropriate to this group.
They did, however, possess an extensive knowledge of gay sexual practices, which
they wished to discuss at length. The talk was highly sexualised and focused on either
their own experiences or fantasies about sexual activities with others in the chat room.
Approximately half of this group also looked for contact outside the chat room. The
third group, pornographers, revealed little about themselves in conversations, were
seen as highly skilled users of the medium, and focused more on trading photographs.
Lamb concluded, ‘Most visitors to youthful sexually oriented chat rooms are
apparently not as described’ (133). In addition, it appeared that very few of the people
in this study showed any restraints in what they wanted to say or do, engaging others
whom they assumed to be young people in fantasies and mutual masturbation.
Two issues central to such a misuse of the Internet are: what aspects of the Internet
allow for such a high occurrence of ‘unrestrained’ sexual behaviour, and how and why
do people self-represent as someone other than who they really are in the offline
world? Central to our understanding of the individual in relation to the Internet is
awareness that there is an overlap between the online and the offline world. The
importance lies in the connection between ‘life online and its meaning in relationship
to life offline’ (Jones 1999:23). For those with a sexual interest in children, life online
operates in the context of the abuse of children both online and offline, either in the
production and exchange of pornographic images, or in attempted sexual
engagement. Talamo and Ligorio (2001) have emphasised that, ‘whenever cyberspace
is used within a real and meaningful context, the boundaries between real and virtual
are blurred. Furthermore, activities in cyberspace produce outputs for real life and
vice versa’ (111).
Consideration of the factors that allow people to engage in highly disinhibited
sexual behaviour on the Internet tends to focus on accessibility, affordability and
anonymity (Cooper et al., 2000a). These authors suggested that sexual relationships
on the Internet can foster superficial erotic contacts and ways of relating that can have
destructive results, such as people acting on or over-indulging in an accelerated,
eroticised pseudo-intimacy. The Internet also offers the opportunity for the formation
of online communities, in which isolated individuals can communicate with each
other around sexual topics of shared interest (Linehan et al., 2002). The availability
of erotica (including child pornography) allows for the objectification of others, the
ability to fragment one’s own sexuality, and the possible emergence of otherwise
dormant antisocial inclinations (Quayle et al., 2000). Danet (1998) has suggested
that the anonymity and playful quality of the Internet have a powerful and
disinhibiting effect on behaviour. People are more likely to allow themselves to behave
in ways that are different from ordinary, everyday life, and to express previously
 METAMORPHOSIS 107

unexplored aspects of their personalities. Where in the context of adult sexual

behaviour this may be seen as liberating (Palandri and Green 2000), this would not
be seen to be the case where the target of this behaviour is a child (Taylor et al., 2001).
The expression of sexual interest is also facilitated by the ability to represent oneself
in whatever way one wants, in the apparent safety of anonymity. Cyberspace is an
interactive arena, where tools such as chat rooms are used to offer new interacting
resources. If we consider identity to be socially constructed rather than fixed, then
playing different identities can be seen as a resource that participants use, and choice
about what possible self to show is driven by strategic moves that participants can
make within that situation (Widdicome 1998). The context also shapes how people
represent themselves. Identities constructed during the social interaction depend on
what each person decides to show about her or himself in that context, and on the
impact of the context in guiding and modelling the possible choices. Self-
representation on the Internet is largely achieved through verbal exchange, although
people can and do use images such as photographs (Tikkanen and Ross 2000). If the
purpose of self-representation is specifically sexual, as in the online seduction of
children or adults, the absence of non-verbal cues makes the process of first-
impression formation take on new forms. This is expressed largely through the
language chosen, the style of writing, the timing of the response, speed of writing,
use of punctuation and use of emoticons (Mantovani 2001). Where self-
representation or persona is manipulated to achieve a certain goal, then such factors
will be important in establishing credibility and sustaining online relationships. As
already seen in the study by Lamb (1998), such cues can also be seen to undermine
credibility where they are incongruent with the assumed persona. The Internet offers
a unique opportunity for multiple representations of identity that need bear no
relationship with other social cues that are normally so salient in the offline world.
The function of online resources, such as child pornography, serve to both heighten
sexual arousal and disinhibition and are used as an aid in seduction of children through
fantasy manipulation and masturbation. Such images also remain in the offline world
as permanent products that can be manipulated, changed, viewed and exchanged as
can any other commodity. The objectification of such images distances the user from
the fact that they are photographs of sexual abuse, and this is seen most strongly when
they are used as a means of social currency. What is of relevance, too, is that the use
of pornography, like engagement with the Internet, is not a static process, but has a
function within a range of offending activities. This might be conceptualised as a
more dynamic model of problematic Internet use by individuals with a sexual interest
in children (Quayle and Taylor 2002a).
QX is a man convicted of downloading child pornography. He progressed from
downloading and trading pornography to communicating with others through chat
rooms. Having discovered chat rooms, QX quite quickly decided to represent himself
as a child persona. He described this in the context of increasing the possibility of
accessing other children, and also as a measure of personal security:
108 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

as I then perceived the children in the Chat room would more probably be
likely to chat to another someone their own age.

Having tried out several child personas, QX self-represented as ‘Joe’, a persona that
he maintained for twelve months without anyone challenging its authenticity. At the
start, Joe was 11 years old, with blue eyes and blond hair. This was very similar to
how QX would have looked at the same age and closely fitted his fantasy of a child
he would like to have as a lover.
It was relatively easy for him to do this, as Joe’s everyday experiences were anchored
in the very real offline world of QX as a teacher. They shared the same interests in
sports, shared a similar geographical space (an adjoining town and school), had the
same birthday and had a similar ‘timetable’ with regard to everyday activities. QX
had long had an interest in creative writing and assuming this persona was relatively
easy:

Er…now I talk about him in the third person but at the time I was really getting
into the character…it’s like I was script writer…actor…all in one.

This persona also allowed QX to live out fantasies that had been active since he was
an adolescent:

although I was pretending to be Joe, it was like Joe was part of me erm…in
terms of that’s what I wanted…so therefore I created it and portrayed it to the
outside world…and lived out the fantasies I would have had... and did have
under the guise of Joe.

This persona was given credibility by assigning it a ‘real’ identity through a

photograph. Initially QX used one that he had obtained from one of the newsgroups,
but this was recognised as such by other people, and censored within the community.
He then sent a Polaroid picture of a boy from his cricket team to a man he had been
in contact with and who lived in America. This man scanned the image and made it
available to others in the chat room. The same man also took on a protective role
towards Joe for the duration of his existence.
Initial contact in the chat rooms was with adult males, and involved a variety of
conversations and activities:

you name it it probably happened…really in terms of the range of different

types of conversations and the cybersex I engaged in…erm but that was quite
early on.

QX categorised these males according to their behaviour towards him:

Yeah we’d have cybersex and there wouldn’t be hardly any conversation erm
…there were different types of abusers though I mean…there were ones that
 METAMORPHOSIS 109

were straight direct they just wanted to meet Joe er wanted his telephone
number…others were just happy with the cybersex and there were the ones
that said how are you Joe what have you been up to recently?

…you could label them in terms of there was the predators…the masturbators
…and the befrienders.

Much of the sexual activity involved masturbation by both parties, and the
descriptions and instructions given were often very explicit and involved third parties
as part of the fantasy building. For example, early on QX gave Joe a brother (which
was later dropped) and others in the chat room would ask Joe to get his brother out
of bed and involve him in a sexual script, while supposedly engaging in sex with
another young person. The setting was given reality by descriptions, for example, of
what kinds of clothes Joe was wearing. Unlike offline relationships (which for QX
had never involved explicit sexual activity), when online the contact would quickly
move into sexual engagement:

You can’t go up to a boy in the street and say…do you fancy having sex erm…
whereas you could online…

We’d describe what we were doing on each side of the computer…you know
what they were doing what I was doing…erm…so it was very sexualised very
graphic.

Not all the relationships with men were immediately sexual, and his preferred contacts
were with men who would befriend him prior to attempting to engage in any sexual
activity. Playing the role of a young boy also meant that others were willing to help
him build up his own computer skills, for example by coaching him in the use of
mIRC (a communication programme used to access IRC).
QX as Joe then started to talk more frequently to other boys in the chat room, and
as a consequence engaged less and less with sexual activities with other men:

although Joe was having cyber sex with these other lads er…he wouldn’t really
do it with the other adults.

It is odd that although QX showed a preference for talking to other boys, he was not
able to distinguish between them and adults in terms of content. Forming an
attachment with one of the boys became public knowledge within the main chat
room, and for a while would have precluded other sexual behaviour. Such
relationships were also moved into a public area within the chat room community
by, for example, imitating offline relationship behaviour:

and erm we ended up getting married in a public room…because well…

because there was a priest in there at the time.
110 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

One major difference between the offline and the online world is, of course, that in
the latter there was a formal sanctioning of deviant behaviour and that this
relationship moved from a chat room encounter to marriage within a matter of weeks.
There was an equally rapid falling out when QX discovered that his partner (based
in the US) had strong ‘racist’ views, which did not fit with QX’s ‘moral’ position.
During the time that this relationship was in existence, there was frequent sexual
activity, and this was satisfying because it fitted with a romantic fantasy of sex with
a boy that was part of QX’s preferred sexual script:

Erm…it would be…rubbing my back…kissing nipples erm…erm… french

kissing…that tender side to love making…erm…really taking care that your
partner is getting as much pleasure from it as you.

The move from mIRC to ICQ further enhanced the erotic nature of the exchanges:

and I found that quite erotic because you can actually see the person typing at
the same time.

The offline world merged into online activity with the exchange of gifts. In the context
of the boy he had ‘married’ this included rings. The compressed and at times
exaggerated nature of these relationships was also evidenced in what happened when
they ‘fell out’:

classic camp you know erm…almost comical gay scenario you’d see on er a sit
com you know…throwing camp temper tantrums. (2:17)

The element of fantasy was important in these relationships. With the men he
encountered, he fantasised that they might have boys whom he could contact in real
life. With the first relationship with a 13-year-old boy, the fantasy was of two boys
falling in love and having sex. The notion of consensuality within the relationship
was important:

and even the fantasy of two boys falling in love and having sex… I found that
an attraction…probably in the respect that I just…that that justifies my abuse.
(2:18)

This relationship was quickly replaced ‘on the rebound’ by one with Zak. The
intensity and reality of these online relationships can be seen in the following:

It really was like living out a life…online…erm…although it’s all digital

numbers and zeros and ones…it felt so strong so real…and it…and then
especially the relationship with Zak that Joe had…it was almost that then that
activity was then beginning to control the activity outside.
 METAMORPHOSIS 111

QX believed that Zak was 13, even though there were a lot of cues that might have
suggested otherwise. For example, Zak’s knowledge of sexual practices was extensive:

because he did go into a lot of detail…erm…erm…about…things like…oh

butterfly kisses and things like that…which I didn’t know what they meant…
erm…and it was extremely tender…an extremely romanticised view of sex. (2:
22)

Zak had also sent QX lots of gifts, many of which would have suggested that the
person he was talking to was adult rather than child:

Zak had sent me quite a few things in the post. Erm…during the summer
holidays…he’d sent me I think it was 18 yellow roses…from a local florist
erm…obviously done via debit card…he’d sent me clothes…he’d sent me a
$100 bill.

While QX acknowledged that he should have realised that Zak was not a child, he
was so involved with and enjoying the fantasy that these cues were ignored:

I felt…this is what I want…this is where I wan to be…this is how life…how

I want my life to go…erm…because my life is sad, crap and boring…full of
emptiness…and here…is a relationship which is full. But that was a strange
way…because you’re getting that as soon as you switch off…log off…back to
that again. But that feels more empty…more hollow and not worth living any
more…so that…that is almost like a downward spiral…because you were
getting so much from something that wasn’t real…you go back to reality and
reality feels even worse than it was before. (2:25)

During the time that QX was involved with Zak, his contact with the real world was
reducing, such that he was cancelling cricket matches and coaching sessions.
Paradoxically, this meant that he was engaged in fewer relationships with boys during
the time that he was involved with the Internet. Finally, QX was confronted by a
confession from Zak that he was not 13 but was in fact an adult male. This in turn
was seen as a betrayal and a source of huge emotional distress, but coupled with this
were confusing ambiguous feelings, because in part QX was having to acknowledge
that what had been done to him was exactly the same as he had done to Zak. QX was
subsequently persuaded to move to another server, where, after a week, he met Noah.
Noah again was 13 and living in the USA, and his presentation was at first as someone
quite reticent who had to be won round in order to engage him in a sexual relationship.
The relationship with Noah was a very intense one, in part because he had a more
complete ‘personality’ than in the previous relationships. This building up of his
character was achieved through supplying minute details about his life:

far more details about his judo, his friends, his brother…his adopted brother…
his parents…his house…his ranch. (2:36)
112 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

When Noah revealed that he was an adult rather than a child, QX was devastated, ‘I
wanted to smash something’. This anger found expression through increasing his
alcohol intake. The betrayal by Noah marked the end of the persona of Joe. This was
accompanied not by feelings of loss, which might have been expected, as QX had
been online as Joe for over twelve months, but by a sense of relief:

to me it was good to be me…online…er…from the end of February onwards

Z it was actually…it was actually a relief to say…well actually it’s what… I’m 33.

This was followed by a decision that nothing about his sexual orientation was going
to change and that his feelings of depression would be more likely to go away if he
‘came out…as me’. The coming out and going back online was in some ways
liberating:

Because then I could have cybersex as an adult with other boys in the room…
which is what I wanted in the first place really.

It also opened up the possibility of finding someone to abuse. His previous child
persona had precluded this, because to risk meeting somebody would result in the
validity of his persona being undermined. He went back into another sexually explicit
chat room, and on assuming an adult role became ‘Much more of a predator’. In the
chat room he talked with other men both about themselves and about the types of
boy that they would like to meet. The exchanges of fantasies also included swapping
pornography:

I think that’s when the pornography started up quite a lot then…this time
swapping a lot more…more proactively looking for film clips erm…erm…
that we started talking about…we used to talk about the boys that would arrive
at erm…in the room. About how real they were. Have you triedZ hatting him
up and how far did you get. Do you think he’s real that sort of thing…Ah…
that felt good…to be me…with amongst what I would then consider to be the
only people that would really understand me. The only people I can be me
with…they won’t judge me. They feel the same way. We’ve got so much in
common. I can feel…I fit in here…erm.

His role within this community was important to him and allowed him to express
aspects of himself that he had not previously disclosed to others:

so here I’m not lonely because people do know the real me and I can be open
and honest. Erm and then we started talking about oh where can you go looking
for boys…online stuff.

This actively seeking boys to meet, both online and offline ‘it was far more aggressive…
it became far more aggressive’, and this was reflected in the way that he talked when
online.
 METAMORPHOSIS 113

The bid to access boys was supported by information from other adults within the
community:

more times I would get what I would call leads from other adults…about boys
they know, they’d abused or…had contact with. I was working on that one.

In spite of pursuing these avenues, through e-mail addresses and telephone numbers,
over a six-month period he was not successful in making contact with anyone that
resulted in a physical meeting. With one boy he engaged in telephone sex, which QX
described as being initiated by the child. He arranged to meet this boy but failed to
turn up as he had been drinking heavily the night before and did not wake in time.
A further contact was made with another boy:

The sequence of events was that in June or July…of 2000… I’d given my
telephone number and picture…photograph of myself…to an individual who
was pretending to be 12 years old. Er they went to the police with a track they’d
obviously printed out from a conversation we’d had in a chat room er…that
obviously kicked off events. The police came round a month later.

Their online conversation had included references to QX taking photographs of the

boy with a digital camera, although he subsequently said that he had had no intention
of doing that, but wished to abuse the boy. It turned out that the boy in question
was not 13 but was 18 and the chat room had been dedicated to young homosexuals.
QX blurred his intentions with regard to this contact, saying that he was not sure
that he was a child and wanted to give him the opportunity to come out as an adult
who liked boys.
This case study provides evidence of how one individual used the Internet to further
his sexual interest in children. This was achieved through initially accessing child
pornography, which intensified his levels of sexual arousal and behaviour, and fuelled
his desire to engage in a relationship with a child. His move to chat rooms allowed
him to engage initially as a child persona in ‘cybersex’ with people presenting as both
adults and boys, and then as an adult in order to access boys offline. We can see a
progression in offending that moved him closer to behaviour that was clearly
sanctioned online: that of the sexual predator. This is paralleled in changes in his
sexual behaviour and language. Pornography was an important feature in that through
it he accessed a like-minded community, secured a role in that community, and was
provided with a vehicle that allowed both solitary and mutual sexual expression.
Pornography cemented both adult and child relationships, giving him status through
the size and quality of his collection.
This case study bears similarities with that of Lamb (1998), in that it is apparent
that many people in sexually oriented chat rooms, particularly those dedicated to
young gay males, are really adult men looking for cybersex. Döring (2000) drew our
attention to the fact that cybersex is not a conversation about sex, but is a form of
114 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

sexual encounter in itself. Her definition of cybersex is ‘a computer-mediated

interpersonal interaction in which the participants are sexually motivated, meaning
they are seeking sexual arousal and satisfaction’ (864). In the context of child
seduction, personas are assumed which allow for the engagement of individuals,
sometimes in apparently ‘caring’ relationships, to facilitate sexual contact. Lamb
talked of browsers, cruisers and pornographers in relation to the people in his study.
QX, however, likened these people to predators, masturbators and befrienders, all of
whom would have used pornography as part of their social exchange. Lamb was able
to distinguish between ‘real’ youths and adults pretending to be such. With QX this
seems to have been much more difficult, as his assumed persona as Joe was so firmly
embedded in his offline world as a teacher, that his vocabulary and immediate
circumstances were congruent with a child of 13. What is also of interest is the overlap
between the persona of Joe and fantasies that QX would have had as a child of that
age. This merging of boundaries between the offline world and the online one made
sustaining his role a relatively easy, if emotionally taxing, task.
This overlap of online and offline behaviour was also clearly seen both in the actual
sexual behaviour and in the assumption of many of the ways of relating that we see
offline, such as exchanging rings and getting married. Sexual activity, although largely
taking place next to the computer, was not something that took place ‘in the mind’.
What was involved, particularly when the need was to establish a loving relationship,
as opposed to providing only explicit sexual instructions or cues, was a detailed
vocabulary. Such a written expression of sexual sensations has been noted by other
authors as being very different from what is normally required in ‘face-to-face’
relationships. This overlap into the ‘real’ world was also evidenced in the exchange
of gifts and telephone numbers, and at the end of this process, the attempt to make
contact physically with children.
While QX and Joe are one and the same, his account of his child persona was often
presented in the third person and he moved through talking of ‘him’, T and ‘we’.
What is also evident is the idea of Joe as an idealised sense of what it could have been
like at that age if he had been able overtly to express his sexuality in a safe world. The
choice of Joe as a nickname is interesting as QX was adamant that it did not relate
to any individual that he actually knew in the offline world. Talamo and Ligorio
(2001) suggested that the choice of a nickname is the first strategic move that users
do inside the community, since it exposes some characteristics of the self (even if
unreal). In keeping Joe apart from other known identities, QX was able to keep
ownership for himself and in himself.

ADOPTING MULTIPLE PERSONAS

Quayle et al. (2000) presented a case history of a man (II) convicted of downloading
child pornography who adopted multiple personas on the Internet. His discovery of
IRC and the capacity to talk to others about a variety of sexual topics resulted in him
giving expression to aspects of his self that he had previously not explored:
 METAMORPHOSIS 115

It felt as if erm there was some sort of facet of my personality that was becoming
er erm more…it was emerging…which I thought well this is part of me…this
is kind of as much part of me as any other part of my personality…so therefore
it’s a valid…part of my personality.

This emerging self grew out of contact with other people who were more sexually
adventurous and disinhibited than he was, and was initially facilitated by the
anonymous environment of the Internet. However, in order to achieve a sexual
exchange with others, he explicitly adopted a persona based on an interest in more
‘deviant’ sexual areas and used the exchange of pornography to give this credibility:

you see because for some people to get them to respond I’d say oh you know,
I’m into that erm…and I could sort of back that up by giving them images…
that supported that…so…you know you name it as a sort of sexual proclivity
and I sort of manage to get the material and say like well you know I like looking
at women being fucked by dogs and that sort of thing.

The choices that he made to secure access to this alternative social world were very
much influenced by the context in which the communication took place, but resulted
in a very real perception of ‘becoming’:

Yes. Exactly. Exactly. Erm…and…what clearly had been happening was that
erm I was sort of moving from over the counter porn through stuff which was
more unusual to stuff which was really hard core. And talking to people you
know who had a real interest in that kind of thing. And…erm …what…was
essentially happening was that a new personality was being generated… I was
generating a new personality…it was a personality which erm…existed on the
Net…because I was telling people I liked what they did…because I was finding
their discussion of those activities really stimulating…

II clearly differentiates the person he can be while on the Internet from the person
expressed in the offline world. On the Internet there was nobody telling him who he
could be, and the communities that he accessed reinforced a sense of excitement and
danger:

Yeah oh yeah…and…also no sense of censorship. There was kind of no…there

was no…sort of moral guardian there…erm... I was descending into a kind of
culture…subculture…of erm…er…of danger, sexual excitement…erm…
where…pretty much everyone I chose to talk to…was it’s OK…we’re into
this…erm…and… I was…talking to people who I…took to be took to be
real…

Unlike many other people who engage in sexual relationships online, II believed in
the reality of the people he communicated with. In part this was achieved through
116 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

the exchange of materials such as pornography, but also through the giving and
sending of more mundane things, such as Valentine cards:

Yeah to some extent…it kind of legitimized my…sort of personality that

existed on the Net…in that I can show you I liked this…you can talk to me
about this because I can show I like this material. But there wasn’t a
concentration purely to do with child pornography because I was very much
interested in the whole sort of genre.

II enjoyed a wide range of sexual experiences on the Internet, not all of which related
to child pornography, and he moved through a variety of ways of expressing aspects
of himself in order to secure more and more extreme forms of cybersex:

and they were into sploshing and…erm…we’d sort of exchange images to do

with sploshing and they’d sort of tell me what they done and then we’d have
virtual sessions where they’d say we’ve got this food in…you tell us what to
put on each other…which is what I would do…so again I’d sort of make
appointments where I’d say I’ll see you on Tuesday night, half past seven and
you know we’ll have this session…erm…and I never discovered whether they
were real or not…erm but erm… I was really into that I was very much into
things to do with group sex. I was very much into bondage…and in fact…there
was a particular…they…they were…these women who appeared under the
same nickname online… and…they said they were slaves of this dominatrix
who lived somewhere in C.

II made some attempts to contact this woman, and eventually exchanged e-mails with
her. Again, in order to sustain the legitimacy of his interest, he had to ‘finetune’ the
aspects of himself that he wished to reveal:

Because that was something that you know…was kind of sexually arousing…
so…there was this whole sort of plethora of…sort of tuning my online
identity…to the people that I spoke to.

There was often a convergence of largely unexplored aspects of self that were evident
in the offline world, but which he had been too afraid to act upon. For example, II
was aware that he had often wondered what it must be like to be a woman, as this
would bring with it some means of controlling a sexual relationship. He had even
gone so far as to try on female underwear, but had had neither the opportunity nor
the confidence to take this further. While there is no evidence that he assumed a
female persona online, he did fantasise about being a woman and would use lesbian
pornography as part of this.

Erm…whereas the idea of being a woman…and also all the material I was
looking at to begin with was women on their own or women together… Zso
I was kind of thinking…oh yeah… I’d love to be a woman.
 METAMORPHOSIS 117

II also moved from online to offline relationships. In part this was because he felt the
need to prove to himself that the people he was talking to were ‘real’, rather than
because he wished to engage in any sexual relationship with them.

And there wasn’t really any real further need to go much further because I’d
met this person and they were a real person and they didn’t seem much different
than the…and that was almost enough. So there was a sense that wanting to
meet these people just to see what they were like…just to see images of them…
just to see what they looked like…to kind of build up a complete picture of
this person.

This overlap between online and offline worlds influenced the choice of people he
communicated with, actively looking for individuals who lived close to him
geographically. Yet what was important was the difference of this online world, and
while he played with the idea of importing it (through meeting people, or by
introducing his wife to a sexual event), the latter never happened:

It was…it was mainly that I was allowing myself to inhabit a different world
…and assuming a different exciting identity…[Mmm]… Which wasn’t being
satisfied in the real world.

An important aspect of this world was a sense of control that II had over his identity
and over the activities that he was engaging in. However, in order to sustain his
persona he was having to engage in a process of validation through exchanging
pornography, often saving and collecting material that was more and more extreme,
such as pictures of babies being sexually abused. What had started as a liberating and
exciting experience, where he could make choices, took on elements of compulsive
behaviour when it became an activity that was all-consuming and which excluded
other social contacts offline:

Well…yeah…erm…then it was the case of…well, the whole world just sort of
fell to pieces…because I was then completely out of… I was… I’d lost control…
completely…of the situation…there was nothing I could do…to take control
back again…[Mmm]… Whereas before I’d almost been in complete control…
I was controlling the computer.

Hammon’s metaphor of the cyborg is very evident in II,’s account, where he describes
the role that the computer had for him:

I’d essentially been having a sexual relationship with a computer…rather than

with real people.

The computer had become a prosthesis, a way of sexually relating that was dependent
on the machine. By this time, all sexual activity with his partner had stopped and
been replaced by cybersex. Such relationships were again given reality by anchoring
118 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

them to personal information, gleaned through exchanges on IRC, but in the offline
world, kept as written information:

Yeah. I had a little black book as it were…a profile of all these people. And …
because I’d talk to so many people…sometimes a name would pop up and I’d
think Oh right, there’s this person and who the hell is this…[OK] …I’ll have
a quick look. Oh yeah, oh right, I remember…and start chatting to them as if
I was a real friend of theirs…[Mmm]…So I might have been maintaining…
concurrently…about…20 friendships.

Such information not only gave credibility to the people he was communicating with,
but also allowed him to go through a process of relationship building, similar to that
seen with QX, based on building up personas. For this man it also enabled him to
adjust the aspects of self that he wished to present to others, changing what was
revealed according to the context in which the communication was taking place.
Both QX and II were changed by their engagement with the Internet, and illustrate
some of the ways in which such changes can be either incidental or purposeful.
Communicating with others allowed for the representation of aspects of self that had
previously been suppressed or had lain dormant. It also allowed for the enactment of
fantasies with others and an escalation of highly sexualised behaviour, at odds with
behaviour offline. Both of these people experienced a heightening of emotions, a sense
of extreme excitement, which was otherwise absent in their lives. What this also served
to do was to emphasise the bleakness of the real world, where relationships, or their
realisation, were problematic. It may be inevitable that this sense of being ‘real’ and
‘alive’ on the Internet led to a rejection of the offline world and an absorption with
life online. For II this was problematic, because in presenting aspects of himself he
chose to download and exchange child pornography, seeing this as a legitimate way
of exploring his own sexuality. For QX, who had an existing sexual interest in boys
before going online, the Internet allowed him to role-play fantasies, presenting himself
as both child and adult in order to engage others in cybersex. For both people, the
aspects of self that were presented were not separate from how they idealised self in
the offline world, but gave it expression. Unfortunately, in doing so they engaged
with others in ways that would prove detrimental to children.
 Chapter 6
A virtual community

As the Internet has developed, and as our knowledge of how people relate to the
Internet and use its facilities has grown, so we begin to see the effect of the Internet
on the user as something potentially greater than a passive means of quickly and
cheaply transmitting information between points. Communication on the Internet
can go beyond the simple passivity that receipt of information implies to embrace
emotional and social factors more usually associated with real-life communication.
Even though for the moment person-to-person communication on the Internet is
largely text-based, and therefore apparently limited in comparison with more usual
face-to-face communication, there is a sense in which the process of passage of that
information can generate a sense of group membership, the development of social
networks, and the generation of a sense of community. Thus communication using
Internet structures can go beyond the instrumentality implied by information
exchange. The creation of social space, groups and communities are terms we use to
refer to the consequences of going beyond information exchange to embrace social
and emotional factors.
The term ‘virtual’ is used to refer to network-based communication, and related
consequent communities. Rheingold’s (1993) definition of a virtual community was
that’ Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when
enough people carry on public discourses long enough, with sufficient human feeling,
to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace’ (5). The term ‘virtual’ is
sometimes contrasted with actual, as if a virtual entity were not a real entity. Watson
(1998) argued that the distinction between virtual community and real community
is unwarranted. The entailment of calling online communities ‘virtual’ includes
spreading and reinforcing a belief that what happens online is like a community, but
isn’t really a community. This can be a misleading comparison, however, for in the
sense used in respect of networked communication, virtual has a rather different
meaning (Levy 1998). To illustrate this, Levy used the example of the virtualisation
of a company. He noted that a conventional organisation brings its employees
together into a location, a building or buildings of some form. An employee has a
location in that space (an office, a workbench, etc.), and generally a schedule indicates
the hours he or she will work. Such a schedule is necessary if the various individuals
who need to work together have to be organised to appear in a real space distant from
their home or preferred location all at the same time. The physical presence of the
120 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

building and its facilities necessarily therefore imposes a particular form of structure
to the organisation. A virtual company, on the other hand, locates individual workers
on an electronic communications network, and software resources of various kinds
promote and enable co-operation. ‘The virtualisation of the corporation consists
primarily in transforming the spatiotemporal coordinates of work into a continuously
renewed problem rather than a stable solution’ (Levy 1998:26). The ‘renewed
problem’ he refered to related to the organisation’s centre of gravity no longer being
‘a group of buildings, workstations and schedules’ which are by definition fixed and
permanent (referred to as ‘a stable solution’), ‘but a process of co-ordination’ which
necessarily implies a much more fluid and changing environment.
Thus, an individual can participate in a virtual organisation simply by joining its
network. Where the individual is located at that time is irrelevant, provided he or she
has access to the network, and has the computer resources to perform the necessary
tasks. Because participation in the network does not require physical presence in a
building, the temporal arrangements of work can be much more fluid. Work can be
completed at any time that the appropriate people who need to be interacted with
are online or can access whatever is necessary in some storage medium. However,
given that in many cases the resources necessary to complete tasks are themselves
already stored on network-accessible media, so the temporal parameters of work can
be very fluid indeed, and the time constraints necessary to ensure people come
together no longer need dominate working life. Communication between people is
mediated, therefore, not by a building and structures, but by networked software
resources and network access. Not all work can function in this way, of course, but
many office jobs, sales work, accounting and back office activities, and creative work
can be conducted in such a manner.
Work, of course, is not the only form of group or community to which we belong;
many people belong to recreational groups, activity groups, interest groups, and
school groups of all kinds. Many of these other groups are not so readily made virtual.
Some groups necessarily have to come together physically to do something (a
swimming club for example) that requires a location (a swimming pool) and
presumably shared and agreed meeting times (to enable competition or coaching).
Other groups that focus on information sharing, discussion, etc. do more readily lend
themselves as potential virtual groups. Some recreational organisations, therefore, as
distinct from work groups, can also have a virtual existence. Indeed, these kinds of
group can flourish in a networked environment, because they can access many more
people than those found in any given physical location.
Kollock and Smith (1999) identified at least five forms of online interaction that
can mediate the emergence of virtual groups:

1 E-mail and discussion lists. E-mail allows a user to send a message directly to
someone, rather than in the form of a traditional letter. Discussion lists extend
this concept, however, by automatically sending the message to a group of people
on an e-mail list, rather than to an individual. The direction of a series of
messages, and their responses, to the list generates a form of group discussion,
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 121

which can extend across hundreds, and even thousands, of individuals. Typically,
the list is ‘owned’ by one individual because the messages must pass through a
single point. The ‘owner’, therefore, has the capacity to monitor and exclude or
edit material flowing through the discussion list. On a large list, this may take a
considerable amount of time and energy, so a more manageable format is to keep
the list ‘open’ and without detailed editing. Even so, disruptive, inappropriate
or malicious material can still be excluded without detailed monitoring.
2 Usenet and BBSs. Bulletin board systems (BBSs) are a form of asynchronous
communication that allows participants to create topical groups in which a series
of messages can be listed, one after another. Well-known systems of this type
include the Usenet, the WELL, ECHO and BBSs run on commercial services,
such as AOL and Microsoft Network. For each there is a wide collection of
discussion topics and communication between participants. Kollock and Smith
(1999) contrasted the ‘push’ media of e-mail (messages are sent to people without
them necessarily doing anything) and the ‘pull’ media of BBSs, where people
must select groups and messages that they want to read and actively request them.
The Usenet is the largest of these conferencing systems and carries thousands of
newsgroups. A new site joins the Usenet simply by finding any existing site that
is willing to pass along a copy of the collection of messages it receives. No one
owns Usenet newsgroups in most cases, and they have no central authority.
Almost anyone can read the contents of a Usenet newsgroup, create new
newsgroups or contribute to an existing one. This in turn makes the Usenet a
different social space from that which is possible in the offline world. In the sense
in which we are interested here, E-groups are similar proprietary structures,
although access may be limited to ‘members’.
3 Chat rooms. These differ from e-mail and BBSs in that they allow for
synchronous communication. People can chat in real time by sending text
messages to one another. Such chat on the Internet is organised around
‘channels’, which are also referred to as rooms. The majority of chat systems
support a great number of these channels dedicated to a wide array of topics.
Text chat uses a centralised server that gives the server owner control over access
to the system and to particular channels. Commercial systems are often ‘policed’
by staff or appointed volunteers. Non-commercial systems, such as IRC (Internet
Relay Chat), have owners who can eject people from the channel, control who
enters it and restrict membership. Chat rooms may also have ‘owners’ or more
commonly one or more operators, who can monitor and control chat room
activity. However, chat networks also allow for private one-to-one
communication, which is both unmonitored and uncontrollable by external
agents. Chat rooms may also include visual imagery through video-conferencing
protocols, such as CuSeeMe. A real-time moving image from a camera on one
computer is transmitted via a server to other computers on the same network.
As in IRC channels, communication can also be private, with direct
communication between computers without the use of an intermediary server.
Using these protocols, visual communication may be supplemented by either
122 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

voice or text transmissions. In effect, video-conferencing protocols such as

CuSeeMe and networks such as ICII are effectively visual versions of tex-chat
protocols, with similar capacities, although bandwidth constraints limit the
numbers on any one server channel, and also visual quality.
4 MUDs. Multi-User Domains or Dungeons (MUDs) attempt to combine a sense
of physical place with face-to-face interaction. This is achieved through ‘rooms’,
which are textually constructed but which are detailed enough to provide a real
sense of physical space. Wood and Smith (2001) suggested that MUDs are an
effort towards text-based virtual realities in which participants interact with an
environment, objects and other participants. Everything about the MUD is
invented, although it is rule-governed by the administering program. Curtis
(1997) suggested that the virtual reality of MUDs is a social phenomenon, and
he identified three factors that distinguish MUDs from other simulations:

(a) they do not have a predetermined end goal. MUDs are ongoing adventuresunlike
video games that have a final goal;
(b) MUDs allow users to add to the richness of the environment bycontributing
new spaces and artifacts that become an ongoing part of theadministrating
program;
(c) they typically have more than one user connected at any given time, andall
communication is synchronous, in real time.

MUDs are typically owned by the individual or group that provides the
hardware, software and technical know-how to maintain the system. Such
owners are often referred to as ‘Gods’. They can delegate power to other selected
people (Wizards) and grant other users greater access to the system, allowing
them to build larger and more elaborate virtual spaces and objects.

5 World Wide Web. Often abbreviated to WWW or ‘the Web’, this is increasingly
becoming an access point for other forms of computer-mediated
communication. People can access their e-mails, look up newsgroup messages
or enter a chat room through the World Wide Web. Access is through a browser,
which is a program that downloads instructions taken from the Internet and
displays them on the desktop computer as text, images, animation and sounds.
Typical examples of such browsers are Netscape Navigator™ and Microsoft®
Internet Explorer. Wood and Smith (2001) suggested that, ‘the Web also
possesses communicative properties based on its technological abilities and the
social practices that have emerged through the use of it. One of the rhetorical
effects of the Web has been the ways in which the globally accessible messages
posted to it address particular audiences’ (14). Different audiences can be
targeted in different ways, and because it can integrate images and sounds, it can
be a more intuitive and a potentially richer context for communication on the
Internet. BBSs and various forms of chat facility (including video conferencing)
can all be accessed through web browsers.
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 123

All of these are predominantly text-based media, but there is a growing potential for
richer forms of sound and visual communication through the various forms of video
conferencing, and other visual and auditory media formats.

THE DEBATE ABOUT COMMUNITY

While there is evidence that a strong sense of ‘groupness’ does emerge regularly on
the Internet, there is continuing debate as to whether these aggregations of people
can be called communities. McLaughlin et al. (1998) suggested that such virtual
collectives might be more properly characterised as ‘pseudo-communities’, as they
are not networks of primary interpersonal relationships but rather of impersonal
associations integrated via a mass medium. In part, the debate is influenced by
traditional definitions of community, which are based on the sense of relatedness and
shared experiences among people living in the same locality. Such definitions require
shared proximity as well as a degree of common experience and interests. However,
spatial or temporal proximity of communicants is almost never part of computer-
mediated communication over the Internet. Wood and Smith (2001) questioned the
assumption that community is geographically bound and that the people who share
a community must interact face to face,

In more recent times, chatting is still a popular pastime, but many people’s
conception of what makes a community has changed. A community might
now consist of a data laden Information Superhighway; pharmaceutical advice
is dispensed on an electronic bulletin board; and the neighbour you feel closest
to could be half a world away in Australia. (109)

Watson (1998) has suggested that instead of emphasising geographical proximity, we

should look to preserve the connection between communication and community, as
without ongoing communication amongst its participants, a community dissolves.
Neighbourhood and kinship ties are only a portion of people’s overall community
networks, because cars, planes and ‘phones can maintain relationships over long
distances. Again, the emphasis is on a move from defining community in terms of
space to defining it in terms of social networks (Wellman et al., 1988). Watson (1998)
suggested that ‘We should begin thinking of community as a product not of shared
space, but of shared relationships among people’ (120).
Within a more traditional definition of community, relationships among people
carry with them a sense of stake or obligation to that community (Postman 1993).
A criticism of the term ‘virtual community’ is that online collectives do not contain
the stake that exists in offline or real communities, and lack the consequences of not
meeting or participating in the common obligation of that community. For example,
Postman suggests that community involves living amongst people with whom we
may disagree strongly, but with whom we continue to communicate for the purposes
of meeting our common obligations. However, Internet groups are mainly formed
124 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

out of common interest, not obligation. From this point of view, therefore, at the
heart of the concept of community is the concept of commonality (Fernback 1999).
Wood and Smith (2001) therefore argued that ‘Virtual communities thus allow
people to transcend geographic boundaries and unite with others who share their
common interests, whether that’s watching a particular television series or buying
plastic figures of Charlie Brown and Bugs Bunny’ (110).
Rothaermel and Sugiyama (2001) have equally argued that a virtual community
is similar to a community of mind described by Tönnies (1967), except ‘that it forms
through an electronic communication medium and is not bound by space and time’
(299). In this it is similar to an organisational community in that it allows for social
interaction among its members using a variety of Internet tools, and demonstrates
certain community standards and rules. Rothaermael and Sugiyama (2001)
concluded that

Combining content and communication, a virtual community allows people

to engage in the exchange of information, and learn from each other and about
each other. In the end, communities are not solely about aggregating
information or resources, but about bringing people together to meet some of
their social, and commercial needs. (299)

Hagel and Armstrong (1997) talked of online communities in terms of their function
and how they meet consumer needs. Within this context, they identified four such
needs:

1 Communities of interest are formed by individuals with a shared interest,

expertise and passion for a wide variety of subjects (anything from rock stars to
teapots);
2 Communities of relationships are formed by individuals who express a need to
meet and engage with others who have shared similar experiences. Such
experiences may often be intense, life-changing events, such as the death of a
partner through a particular illness;
3 Communities of transaction have as their focus the exchange of information to
facilitate an economic process;
4 Communities of fantasy provide people with the opportunity to explore new
identities through enacting fantasy games and exchanges.

The emergence of community online goes hand in hand with the development of the
medium itself and in some ways parallels the ‘imagined’ communities that emerged
with the invention of mediated communication. For example, newspapers and
television news unite people in a sense of community around a given cause, even
when such people are not linked by any geographical location. The terrorist attacks
in the United States, on 11 September 2001, were widely reported in all media and
brought together very disparate people in a sense of community over what had
happened. This included a stake in the protection of that community, which went
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 125

beyond geographical boundaries. According to Jones (1997), virtual communities

distinguish themselves from a simple online gathering when they feature:

1 A minimum level of interactivity—in order for a virtual community to exist,

there must be a flow of messages among the participants. If one person were to
post a web site and no one were to comment on it, there would be no basis for
a virtual community. The community comes from interactivity amongst
participants.
2 A variety of communicators—more than two contributors need to join the
conversation for a community to arise. Virtual communities are enhanced by
the variety of people who participate and the contribution they make.
3 Common public space—virtual communities still need to identify with a
cyberplace. Jones (1997) suggested that these are the forums in which the
community participants most regularly engage in communication. In the early
days of computer-mediated communication, BBSs were the place where
individuals went to post and read messages. Today, chat rooms serve the same
purpose, but allow people to interact in real time rather than in delayed messages.
4 A minimum level of sustained membership—one visit or a simple exchange does
not constitute membership in a virtual community. Rather, those who form the
community have relationships to one another that are perpetuated through time.

The sense of community brings with it privileges and responsibilities if it is to be

maintained. In some ways, this is similar to the concept of Postman’s (1993)
obligation or stake. However, people access the Internet at all sorts of different levels,
and it may be better to relate some engagement to the notion of gain with minimum
of expenditure or commitment. For example, most of us have used the Internet as a
source of information, be it about flight times or a rare disease. McLaughlin et al.
(1998) argued that hyper-linking technology facilitates the search for resources such
that consumers may prefer to hop from site to site rather than incur any interpersonal
expense. Where consumers can gain benefits without expenditure, there may be little
or no incentive to reciprocate communication.

even those who do take a moment to sign a ‘guestbook’ (an electronic form
soliciting information from the visitor) or answer a questionnaire may be
engaging in an act more closely akin to tossing a quarter in a box marked
‘donations’ next to a stack of free newspapers than contributing to the store of
community resources. (148)

Therefore, for a community to exist there have to be sufficient people who engage
with each other, who occupy a common space and who are prepared to expend energy
to sustain relationships. Hauben (1997) talked of such people as ‘netizens’, and
suggested that true netizens distinguish themselves through active contributions to
the development of a sustained community.
126 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Netizens are the people who actively contribute online towards the
development of the Net. These people understand the value of collective work
and the public aspects of public communications. These are the people who
actively discuss and debate topics in a constructive manner, who e-mail answers
to people and provide help to new-comers, who maintain FAQ files and other
public information repositories, who maintain mailing lists and so on. These
are the people who discuss the nature and role of this new communications
medium… Netizens are people who decide to make the Net a regenerative and
vibrant community and resource.

Clearly, not everyone who visits a virtual community is a netizen. Wood and Smith
(2001) cited some specific terminology to designate non-participants, who clearly do
not fulfil the requirements for netizen status. These include the surfer (an infrequent
and detached visitor); lurkers (who are present but offer no comment or
contribution); and privateers (people who use the net for profit). They do not qualify
because of their selfish, rather than selfless, use of technology.
Wellman and Gulia (2000) suggested that virtual communities may resemble real-
life communities in the sense that support is available to its members, often in
specialised relationships. Netizens are, however, distinctive in that they provide
information, support, companionship and a sense of belonging to people that they
hardly know offline, or who are total strangers. Such relationships online are similar
to those developed in real-life communities, in that they are intermittent, specialised
and varying in strength. They differ from real-life communities, however, in the basis
upon which participants perceive their relationships to be intimate. As we considered
earlier, such relationships are much more likely to be premised on shared interests,
rather than on the basis of shared social characteristics such as age, social class,
ethnicity, life-cycle stage, and other aspects of social background. However, the bag
and baggage of the latter are part of the offline world that inevitably leaks into the
online. Wellman and Gulia (2000) conceptualised virtual communities as ‘glocalised’,
in that they are simultaneously more global and more local. Global connectivity de-
emphasises the importance of locality for community, but at the same time people
using the Internet are usually based at their own home, ‘the most local environment
imaginable, when they connect with their virtual communities’ (187).
However, not all virtual collectives survive as communities. Falk (1998)
distinguished between robust and ephemeral Internet communities. A robust
community is composed of a stable membership that shares common ideals,
experiences and a sense of interrelatedness. These members also believe that
membership of their community will allow them to move towards achieving their
objectives to a greater extent than through membership of another community.
Members will gain emotional and intellectual support from the community, associate
it with their ideals and aspirations, and will make an investment in terms of personal
resources. This is in contrast to an ephemeral community which is seen to be
transitory, changes rapidly and allows only for the formation of partial relationships,
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 127

which fail to satisfy most of the members. Interaction is chaotic, and there is conflict
in views about where they fit within the larger, historical perspective.

MANAGING A COMMUNITY
Even with the anarchy that is the Internet, communities that survive are bound by
strategies that aid their management. McLaughlin et al. (1995) located community
in the emergence of standards of conduct, many of which are peculiarly applicable
to the electronic medium and which are aimed towards the preservation of the group.
As suggested by Ostrom (1990), the problem relates to how a group of people can
organise and govern themselves to obtain collective benefits, when the temptation to
‘free ride and break commitments are substantial’. McLaughlin et al. (1995) suggested
that concern for community is evidenced in reproachful communication to
participants who behave in ways that threaten the well-being of the community.
Strategies for management of virtual spaces with respect to issues of power and
control, authority, dominance and submission have evolved. These include human
and non-human agents, such as moderators and Webmasters, listservers and
cancelbots, which serve as gatekeepers, adjudicators, and imposers of sanctions for
misconduct (Donath 2000). In part, managing such a community is aided by overtly
giving information to both new and old members of a community about what are
the standards of that community. In a way, this comes as no surprise as the subtle
social cues available in the offline world are rarely present on the Internet. Wallace
(2001) discussed this in the context of ‘newbies’ (those new to a given community
or cyberplace), ‘When you enter a chat channel with an ambiguous but intriguing
name like #Elysium, you may not realize that the group is actually a vampire role-
play and you will be kicked and banned if you violate the masquerade’ (65). To help
such newcomers avoid the embarrassment of misreading the community, many
Internet sites offer guides about appropriate behaviour on the Net (netiquette), which
are remarkably similar to the rules of etiquette seen in most conventional societies.
Sometimes special information is offered that applies to specific groups or
communities. For example, many Usenet newsgroups have FAQs (frequently asked
questions) that explain the purpose of the group and the rules for participating. In
some locations these are very explicit, and infringement of such rules may result in
being banned from that channel by the channel operator. ‘The owners of many chat
channels, for example, warn in their titles that you will be kicked out if you are
simultaneously chatting on some channel they find reprehensible, such as #snuffsex
or #incest’ (Wallace 2001:65). Because common interests largely drive online
communities, they are often polarised in the way agreement or dissent is expressed.
Such group polarisation may be a function of the fact that on the Internet you will
be able to find people with common interests, who think the way that you do, no
matter what it is that you have in common. Such polarisation inevitably gives rise on
occasion to conflict.
Smith (2000) discussed features of Internet communities that make conflict more
likely and more difficult to manage than in real communities. These include wide
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cultural diversity; disparate interests, needs and expectations; the nature of electronic
participation (anonymity, multiple avenues of entry, poor reliability of connections,
and so forth); text-based communication; and power asymmetry. For those who
behave in a way that is unacceptable to the community’s standards, regulations have
evolved to counter, curb or simply eliminate the offender. Maltz (1996) discussed
the ways in which offenders can be sanctioned. These include chiding the offender
through harassing responses; obstructing the offender’s access to information;
interfering with that person’s ability to use the medium effectively. Donath (2000),
in the context of identity and deception, gave an example of how software can be
used to sanction a person who has been behaving inappropriately within a community
by posting offending or defamatory messages. Killfiles are filters that allow a person
to skip unwanted postings, such that if a person is put on a killfile, that individual
will not see their postings again. Those using a killfile no longer see the offending
messages and are not tempted to respond, thus lowering the number of angry or off-
topic postings. To the person who has been killfiled, ‘Usenet becomes a corridor of
frustratingly shut doors: one can shout, but cannot be heard’ (52). The killfile
program looks for the account name in the header, which is usually inserted
automatically by the posting software.
Central to the notion of community and its management, is trust. Ba (2001)
defined trust in terms of three central characteristics: reliability, predictability and
fairness.

1 The exchange partner is expected to be credible in such a way that their word or
promise can be relied on;
2 The exchange partner will behave in ways that equitably protect the welfare of
both parties;
3 The exchange partners are dedicated to reciprocating the obligations and
commitments between them under an environment of uncertainty and
vulnerability.

While Ba’s (2001) theoretical analysis is in the context of commercial exchange, it

remains valuable when considering the importance of trust in paedophile
communities. While such communities are not driven by commercial considerations,
the nature of the products that are exchanged (both text and pictures) requires a high
level of trust between parties.

CREATING A COMMUNITY
Communities arise spontaneously on the Internet when a group of likeminded people
share a commitment to set standards about their communication which is maintained
over time. However, communities can also be artificially created. Wood and Smith
(2001) gave an example of one company who have gone to considerable lengths to
appeal to people’s desire to feel that they are part of a community when online:
‘GeoCities (http://www.geocities.com/) who provides subscribers with free computer
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 129

storage space for their personal web pages in exchange for displaying advertising
banners, uses the community metaphor in both its language and imagery’ (116).
People who register with GeoCities are called ‘homesteaders’, and when registering
for space to post their pages, are asked to choose from over forty different
‘neighbourhoods’. Such neighbourhoods are designed to match people with similar
interests. Early on in its creation, GeoCities attempted to use visual cues to create a
sense of proximity. People registering would tour a virtual suburb, looking for
properties that were marked ‘vacant’. GeoCities has its own community rules to help
in managing conflict and to promote a sense of peaceableness. Wood and Smith
(2001) suggested that this has been achieved through a sort of virtual community
watch, where community members are seen as guardians of their content guidelines.
Members are encouraged to use a standardised form (GeoCities Content Violation
Reporting Form) to report offences such as pornography, piracy and profanity, so
that the offending sites can be disciplined and, where it becomes necessary, shut down.
The sense of community has been purposefully enhanced by GeoCities through the
appointment of individuals to act as community leaders. Such people are responsible
for assisting newcomers in the production of their pages, organising communal events,
and offering awards for outstanding design skills. GeoCities works very hard to ‘make
people feel at home’, no doubt because this meets people’s need to belong, increases
the likelihood of commitment and sustained engagement and through this offers the
perfect medium for promoting advertisements.

VIRTUAL PAEDOPHILE COMMUNITIES

We will now turn our attention to some of the ways in which people with a sexual
interest in children form communities on the Internet. To this end, we will consider
in some detail one study arising out of the COPINE project which sought to examine
the evidence of community in the context of one bulletin board (BBS2), which is
dedicated to child pornography and/or child sex interests (Linehan et al., 2002). The
study focused on the process through which people learn different ways of
participating in a virtual community, and how virtual space offers multiple shifting
identity positions rather than static roles. The data reported in this study were
gathered from two sources, but we will focus on the first of these. The first source
was an Internet bulletin board site (BBS2), which was logged onto, monitored, and
from which the ensuing discussions between participants were downloaded. A total
of 120 hours of interaction on the bulletin board were analysed discursively (Wetherell
1998). The second strand of data was gathered through interviews with two convicted
paedophiles who had used the Internet as part of their offence. This again was analysed
within the same framework. The analysis involved searching for patterns, a concern
with function, and openness to alternative readings and to what was not said.
One of the first issues explored was to what extent interactions on BBS2 constituted
a ‘virtual community’. Two patterns emerged from the data that would support the
notion that participation on BBS2 could be usefully described as a ‘virtual
community’. The first of these related to evidence of group dynamics, and there were
130 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

two particular themes that were associated with this. These related to differing
member status on BBS2, and member concerns with protecting both themselves and
the board from infiltrators. Both from the evidence of progressing status within the
group, and from the distinction made between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (possible infiltrators),
there emerged the sense that this group, at least for some of its members, represented
a community to which they belong.
Members posting to the board often referred to different types of participant,
reflected in terms such as newbies (new members), wise ones, or regulars. These terms
are frequently seen in other contexts on the Internet. In relation to this particular
study, the aim was to examine the kinds of knowledge or activity that members
associated with high or low status. As Linehan et al. (2002) suggested, the distinction
between high and low status is a rather gross one and in reality there is a fluid, rather
than simple, dichotomy. The theme of member status was often linked to interactions
involving challenges to, or attempts to establish, credibility. It was also linked to
information-seeking activities. For example, showing respect to a wise one may be a
good way of getting information while at the same time acknowledging their higher
status.
In the following extract, ‘Icarus’ (all members use an alias or nickname when
interacting on the board) expressed dissatisfaction with the board and recommended
that it be closed down:

All the regs are gone. All here is left is ‘wannabe members of Pu even I have
never posted anything’. Board is full of newbies who don’t know anything and
certainly will not post anything. I’ve been around years and seems that this is
the end of this board. Only technical chat, newbies and spammers left. Don’t
bother to ask what i had posted just try to remember.

‘Icarus’ accounted for his dissatisfaction in terms of absence of regulars and the
predominance of newbies on the board. Newbies have low value or status because of
their lack of knowledge and posting activity. This theme of newbies and low status
was echoed in many other contributions to the board. In the following example,
‘Sleeper’ supports the board through reference to the ‘wise ones from the past’, who
presumably add to the status of the board:

*Sleeper>icarus: Abit Harsh don’t you Think? There’s Always Hope. Andthere
are Still ‘Wise Ones’ from the Past Here (Different Nick’s) if you
wouldLook>Take Care.

From contributions across the data in this study a sense was gained of different status
accorded to participants within the community. Members were given value on the
basis of:

1 Their frequency and quality of ‘on-topic’ postings. Members often made requests
either for new child pornography or for a particular picture to fill a gap in an
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 131

existing collection. Those members who could provide either new pictures or
‘fills’ gained status among participants on BBS2.
2 Having technical and/or security expertise. Many of the discussions on BBS2
involved technical or security topics. Members often gave or requested
information on the latest hardware or on good encryption devices. Status was
gained through sharing information, thus demonstrating expertise on the
technical aspects of accessing, downloading and storing child pornography.
Given the nature of their activities, concerns about security were also prevalent
in their discussions, and knowing how to evade detection was also a route to
gaining status.
3 Finally, credibility was gained through the duration of the participation on the
board.

The further pattern that emerged from the data related to concerns about security.
This was not surprising given the illegal nature of the board’s activities. A common
theme in relation to this was how to protect the board from infiltrators. There were
different types of infiltrator: those who erased sites; the police; and other watchdog
types who may lurk on BBS or seek to catch members in the ‘real’ world. The following
posting from ‘Gandalf’ highlights some of the commonly expressed concerns about
safety and security, in particular the degree to which posts through proxy servers could
be traced:

*Gandalf: If I post the url to a site here using a proxy server what likelihood is
there of the cops requesting the logs of a company in the Far East or a European
university to see who I really am?! The site I put up I did at an Internet café so
even if the proxy-stuff fails nobody could prove it was me (I didn’t notice any
cctv cameras!). But if I put the url here how much effort will be made to trace
the real me down and destroy me?

‘Gandalf’ saw the police as a problem, and he was afraid of being exposed. His concern
with maintaining anonymity and the consequences of being caught was shared by
many members of the board, and can be seen in the following:

*Pirra8>I really feel that the fact that we don’t post much is because we have
a lot of diligent ‘observers’ that watch what we put up, and quickly tell the
servers to pull the site. It is tough spending 2–5 hours posting, only to have it
pulled in 10 minutes. What is the solution? Where is there a site that will allow
posts? Do we need a secret ‘club’ that will allow you to get files? News is very
easy to post and download from. Maybe we should concentrate on using news,
and leave web sites go to h*ell? This board can still be useful in that case. But,
a revision of policy has to be done gradually. I really see no alternative. Pirra8-
the number 8 pirate.
132 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

‘Pirra8’s contribution was in the context of a discussion about the status of the board
and the problem identified was the speed at which pornography pictures are pulled
from sites. While many security concerns reflected personal identity, here there is
evidence about the importance of the material posted and the amount of time and
effort involved. Associated with this was the suspicion that some of the extreme
pictures posted (for example, rape or torture images) were really posted by the police
to alienate members. An example of this can be seen in the following posting:

*flatgirls>Torture? Can anyone else (besides dark lurker) see the techniques of
LE on this board? The idea is to spread doubt about the morality of this hobby
of ours…anyone who asks for l*litorture, etc is looking to dissuade casual
visitors with the impression that we are a bunch of child killers… I’m with you
dark lurker…and Smile…this won’t work on anyone who has taken
Psych101…change your nick and try something else!!!

The posting from ‘flatgirls’ appeared to fulfil a number of functions: it warned

members about possible infiltrators on BBS2; it attempted to set boundaries and what
was acceptable material for posting; and it functioned to portray the group as having
morals.
A second strand of data supported the idea of BBS2’s being a psychologically salient
community for its members. Many of the messages posted made explicit reference
both to the status of the board and to the kind of learning environment it provided
for its members. Both of these themes suggested that some members at least were
sufficiently engaged with the board activities for it to constitute a community for
them. Members actively reflected on the board, what it was doing and how it could
be improved. ‘Icarus’s message about closing down the board prompted a number of
replies. The following posting came from ‘Necrolord’:

*Necrolord>Close this board down?! What are you nuts, icarus?! This board is
the best place for all us pervs to communicate with each other and share
thoughts, opinions and information on the subject we all luv! (but are afraid
to admit!) And I’m sure all the regulars are still lurking around, cuz theres no
better place other than the newsgroups. And like Sleeper says ‘theres still hope’
that this board will be back better than ever! Only time will tell… So please
icarus, don’t be so pessimistic and hope for the best!!!

‘Necrolord’ supported the continuation of the board, describing its utility in terms
of the opportunity to communicate around a topic of importance. The board also
derived status from still having regular members ‘lurking around’, as these were people
who were more likely to have technical expertise and pornography collections.
Overall, the criteria used by members to assess the value of the board included:
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 133

1 the presence of regulars or wise ones (who could post child pornography or who
gave advice);
2 the quality and frequency of on-topic postings;
3 the development of newbies to ensure further secure postings.

While the quality and security of posts was linked to the presence of regulars, there
was also evidence that new members could profit from BBS2 as a learning or
apprenticeship environment. Such an environment then stresses the importance of
teaching newcomers and is illustrated in the following statement by ‘HeLLioN’:

*HeLLioN>Hey Icarus, thanx for the contributions but think about even you
get something or other from this board, the newbies will get their share, will
collect the oldies pix and get knowledge about how to protect themselves this
is the main reason for this board make the newbies grows wise and increase our
community then this seed will return in for of new posts like the ones you do,
that’s the way.

This notion of apprenticeship is seen in a number of ways, such as asking advice from
the ‘wise ones’, who were of higher status:

Is there a way I can crack/recover omega zip disk which I read/write protected
with a password. Any help from the wise ones? Thank you in advance.

Examples were also seen in participants referring to themselves as a ‘stupid ignorant

newbie like me’ or by making explicit reference to their newness, ‘am very new to
this and need advice’. Such requests usually were answered, and often information
would be posted by other participants directing newcomers to specific sites where
they might obtain useful information. This information was not only directed towards
newcomers, but also served to heighten security awareness and knowledge within the
group.
Linehan et al. went on to examine how, given their ‘deviant’ status within society,
members of BBS2 legitimised their interest in child pornography and their own
identities as paedophiles. The most common ways of accounting for and legitimising
members’ interests and identities included making comparisons with groups outside
the BBS2 community and justifying activities in terms of promoting the maintenance
and development of the group. Members positioned themselves as being the victims
of oppression and intolerance, with others (such as police, general public, and Internet
Service Providers) all attempting to oppress members’ rights to pursue their interest
in child pornography. This was given emphasis by comparisons between their
situation and that of the civil or gay rights movements. This clearly attempted to
place the rights of paedophiles alongside more socially acceptable movements, and
to suggest that over time their rights will be acknowledged and accepted. A similar
ploy is seen when participants drew on discourses of citizenship and rights to justify
their activities:
134 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

*Fresca>Gandalf>Normally, you have to bring attention to yourself. Millions

surf the Net in all types of content. ISP’s or Mr.LEA are only interested in
those who originate illegal material. The 2nd amendment is what keeps the
InterNet going. Just abide by the limits. Good luck.

Other research, in the context of the Internet and adult sexual interest in children,
has supported this notion of community. Jenkins (2001) talked of those who use
Internet child pornography as being members of a subculture, as they possess a huge
corpus of specialised knowledge, but in this context without direct faceto-face contact.
Jenkins suggested that such communities are made up of highly deviant individuals
who in most cases operate as loners, never having personal contact with another
deviant. He gives evidence to show that such people communicate through
nicknames, concealing identity and location, and that any suggestion of contact is
usually met with derision. Jenkins (2001) gave an example of postings to support this:

*Stupid>what the hell…sure why not. We could start a club, maybe next door
to the Girl Scouts? Nice neon sign in the window: ‘Pedo Trade Meeting Every
Friday at 5pm—bring the kids, we have on-site child care’??!! Why would you
want to meet anyone? Enjoy the anonymous camaraderie…don’t push your
luck.

He emphasised that members do have intense associations, but that these take place
electronically. He also suggested that ‘child porn networks really do not demonstrate
the sort of hierarchy or division of labor required for teams and formal organizations’
(90). However, there is evidence from the COPINE interviews that in fact some
members do move from electronic contacts to offline contacts, and that there is indeed
a hierarchy of relationships (as demonstrated above), although these may not exactly
replicate those seen in the ‘real world’. These are issues that we will discuss in more
detail later in this chapter.
Jenkins’s (2001) research on BBS postings suggested clear evidence that such
communities maintain unity and solidarity through shared interests and passions,
rather than any commercial ‘nexus’, with some participants maintaining boards out
of their own pocket, as a public service to the community. He suggested that, in a
similar way to other subcultures, this world is characterised by a specialised knowledge
and language that sets it apart from the mainstream. Again, the emphasis is on the
acquisition of knowledge and skills which will allow for the search for newer and
more desirable pictures and videos, but which will also ensure some basic security for
board members. The issue of a specialist language is a feature of computer newsgroups
and BBSs, with words such as ‘lurker’ and ‘newbie’, but as Jenkins indicated, the
community interested in child pornography has its own special terms. For example,
boards will often discuss whether material is on-topic or off-topic, which makes
reference to whether the pictures are images of a child (sometimes referred to, in the
case of girls, as loli) or pornographic pictures of adult women. As well as having shared
interests, knowledge, language and codes of behaviour, such communities also
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 135

demonstrate structure. Linehan et al.’s study (2002) demonstrated how respect is

accorded to knowledgeable and experienced individuals, who have either operated
and survived for many years or who have gained respect through posting the ‘best’
pictures. Jenkins (2001) gave a quote from one of the boards which clearly
demonstrated this hierarchy, ‘“Logical progression is: newbie, lurker, regular, chat
member, poster, newsgroup poster, trader, wise one. Takes about a year to get to be
a wise one. After that you might get to be Admin, create your own paysite, or become
an underworld guru”’(94). Clearly there not only exists a hierarchy, but there is
opportunity for progression through the hierarchy that is dependent not on attributes
such as education or social position (although having the financial means to buy
sufficiently good hardware and software is relevant), but through acquisition of
specialised knowledge and pictures.

COMMUNITIES WITHIN COMMUNITIES

It would appear that for those with a sexual interest in children, the Internet provides
a sense of community that can be related to on multiple levels. For some people, the
Internet is a resource, a means of obtaining desired objects (pictures, fantasy stories,
videos) from other likeminded people. The illicit nature of such material means that
the person has to take one step inside that community to find the right language and
skills to gain access, but need not communicate in any other way. This is demonstrated
in the following extract from the COPINE interviews (initials refer to individual
respondents; numbers to transcript location):

Yeah but I didn’t want to get caught…at it. I know people get prosecuted for
trading pictures and I didn’t want to get prosecuted for that… I keep it within
my own four walls…and I’m quite happy looking. (DX: 16)

But even looking required some level of skill and knowledge:

and he says well what you have to use you have to use this programme called
turnpike and I says well how do you use it so…because the turnpike was his
programme it logged onto his…his his server that he’d got…o I used we I used
his programme to log onto his server with his passwords and everything then
he was showing me that the pictures weren’t downloaded off…off websites
none of none of the pictures were sort of I didn’t go searching through the web
looking for different sites on the web they were all off newsgroups. (OC: 16)

Such passive community membership clearly does not qualify the person to be a
‘netizen’. While there is passion about the products, and possibly about the process
of engagement with the Internet, it does not carry with it ‘sufficient human feeling,
to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace’ (Rheingold 1993). In fact, for
many people the fears about safety and the feelings of social discomfort about meeting
others on the Internet appear to be sufficient reasons to stop further communication:
136 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

the more people tend to be there the less I tend to be myself and the more I
tend to be the clown so that’s like you know basically the mask you put on
rather than be you know thinking you know you’re in any kind of danger stick
a mask on so I think cos so when you’re in a chat room or something you know
I mean OK there might only be a hundred people logged on but a hundred
people is a lot of people. (TS: 29)

What then moves people from being passive participants to being active
communicators within these communities? The ability to trade material, as opposed
to simply downloading from BBSs or Web pages, means that the person has more
control over the material available to them, and ultimately this is reflected in the
quality of their collection:

the channel flourished…we had a fairly large group of people that met with
each other to trade pictures. (QH: 16)

However, trading images for some participants was not the sole function of the
community but became a vehicle for new friendships:

I mean it wasn’t all just sex. You didn’t just come on and say ‘are you trading’.
I mean some people did … some people didn’t want to be your friend. (El: 106)

The importance of such friendships must be emphasised, for in a tightly knit

community there is a need to be able to trust the other individuals. Members of such
communities may not expose themselves through face-to-face introductions, but they
reveal a lot about themselves through: their collections; asking and giving advice;
sharing personal information; sharing fantasies and ‘real-life’ accounts; and through
the very medium by which they communicate—text. Communities clearly exist
within communities, with ever more secret and complex layers of security to protect
the respective members. As previously discussed, such communities have many of the
qualities seen in the offline world. One example of such a community is that of
wØnderland, which received such extensive coverage in the press. wØnderland was
composed of a group of people, many of whom called themselves paedophiles, who
were interested in trading pornographic images of children. They came from a wide
range of countries and were equally diverse in terms of age and socio-economic
background. They communicated with each other through IRC (Internet Relay
Chat), and Jenkins (2001) suggested that there were approximately two hundred
members in over forty countries. The following quotations are drawn from interviews
with two senior members of this community, and are used to illustrate how
wØnderland can be conceived of as a community within a community.
wØnderland demonstrated a clear hierarchy, in that there was an identifiable figure
associated with its founding, and a number of ‘ops’ (operators) who were responsible
for policing the channel:
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 137

a guy called Harry Mudd who was one of the…[mm] what we call senior ops
he was there right not right from the beginning but from early days [mm] he
he’s sort a like seniority cos he’d been there longer than most most people [mm]
an some people had been what we called founders had actually founded the
channel [mm] right when the Internet first started and [mm] IRC first started.
They’d actually left an of course he’d ended up in charge. (El: 63)

The community had a clear set of rules (not always adhered to or enforced) about
the purpose of the channel, its ‘moral boundaries’, and who was allowed to join. QH,
as a senior member of the community, was self-appointed in determining the
‘ideology’ or ‘philosophy’ of the group:

one not law enforcement and two not hurting the not hurting any kids [mm].
That was like the underlying rule in the channels that I would lay there for
them and run so to speak was a [mm] nobody that came in was…hurting their
kids or hurting any kids [mm]. That we were all just looking and that’s it [mm].
It was a it was a voyeur a voyeur [mm] philosophy type of thing [mm]. (QH: 8)

The whole philosophy that I had was let’s meet with each other or one paedo
to another we can socialise with each other, we can get the pics that are already
freely available we can trade them we can look at them but we don’t touch any
kids [mm] ever. (QH: 8)

Well when we were actually running the channels if you wanted to be a member
of the group you you just popped into the channel an [mm] started trading
and if you traded correctly [mm] n you didn’t F-Serve [mm] and you didn’t
abuse other users [mm] an you didn’t trade crap basically [mm] an you didn’t
trade snuff or anything that showed kids actively being hurt [mm] then
eventually we we’d end up voicing him more or less? [okay] as a trustworthy
trader an that was pretty much how you joined the group but when we went
into the secret channels we only invited the best traders there [mm] people we
knew were trustworthy we knew weren’t [mm] weren’t cops or anything [mm]
and we knew had collections. (El: 65)

While trading pictures of children was seen as the core activity of the group, the
relationships formed online were also important, both because they allowed for the
acquisition of other desirable goods (new computer stuff), and also because they
fostered a sense of fellowship:

I got almost I got…more satisfaction from actually just interacting with my

fellow paedoph fellow paedophiles [mm] and just finding new new computer
stuff to putz around with [mm] thaaan that I did actually looking at the pictures
[mm]. (QH: 12)
138 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The importance of being liked and having prestige within the community is clearly
evident, and was one of the motives for moving the community to a more secure
setting:

I wanted people to like me. I’ve always been like that I’ve always wanted people
to like me… Anyway I got to know the channel ops [mm]. Eventually…they
made me an operator of the channel but right after they made me an operator
there was part of the culture in the online paedophile community is that there
might always be a bust so to speak [mm] and some of the more unstable people
in our community they start bust rumours just to get everybody crazy [mm]
so to speak. And (coughs)…they…started a rumour that the whole channel a
a on the net was being monitored by the Dutch police [mm]. A rumour that
later turned out to be completely untrue [mm]. Am so they moved the channel
over to Downnet under a different name and right after that one of the original
channels found there’s a guy named Zipper came back and asked me if I wanted
to start another channel [mm]. I said yes cos I jumped at the chance cos it
would give me prestige in this new found so called community that I had that
was there. (QH: 13)

Securing the channel required a greater level of technological sophistication, and

correspondingly a higher level of investment in the community. The acquisition of
knowledge came through socialising with other members of the community, many
of whom (like Zipper) appeared to have a very fluid relationship with the channel:

the thing that was more important to me was the actual socialising [mm]
thatwas the important thing to me [mm]. He said do you want to start a channel
with me. I said yes. Aaa we tried keeping the channel and then this thirdperson
aaa became known as ZZZ Z E E [mm] aaa came and said listen Ihave a a robot
user that will hold the channel down for you [mm] You mayhave heard the
term egg drop bots [mm] which is basically a program thatwhen you run a a
it looks like a user name on IRC [mm]. Well it’s actuallya robot that can hold
the channel down for you and do all [mm] sorts ofstuff and what not. Am we
brought we bought the the robot in and thenZipper disappeared leaving me
to run the channel. (QH: 14)

The people who sought to be members of the inner circle that was wØnderland had
already been identified by themselves and others as being sexually interested in
children. Moving from the periphery only took place when the person had proved
themselves to be trustworthy:

People would join the channel if they hung out for awhile we got to talking
[mm] and they would eventually become quote unquote part of the circle
[mm]. Again this wasn’t a group like a group that would meet in real life and
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 139

that would produce pictures and whatnot [mm] this was just am (tapping the
desk)…people that were already into it. It’s kind of like you don’t become
gay by going in a gay bar. You already are [mm] you just go into the bar so to
speak. [mm] (QH: 16)

Central to this community was the ability to protect its members from law
enforcement agencies, and it achieved this by moving from a channel identified with
paedophile material to one that allowed them effectively to remain hidden:

It was tight it was very strong am the channel flourished a eventually we started
noticing that this would be like the beginning 96 we started realising that law
enforcement was starting to notice us cos this I think was about the time that
the Orchid Club [mm] nonsense started am…weeee…moved the channel first
to a non paedo, cos this channel had a paedo name [mm] to a non paedo named
channel. [what was the channel name?] Kid and pre sex pics [mm]. Am… This
was am we moved it to a non paedo named channel called LOL [mm] Still on
Undernet [mm] Erm we stayed there. [Was the LOL?] Laughing Out Loud
[okay]. LOL was also the name [mm] one of the more faa was also short for
Lolita. [The Lolita series?] The Lolita the Lolita magazines. [okay] Actually
there was actually a magazine called Lolita that was out in the seventies [mm].
Am…and…then for awhile we moved to this non descript am IRC net called
aa Web Chat [mm] which was like very… This this was one my quote unquote
more brilliant a manoeuvres because a Web Chat dot org was actually a very
very how shall we say Christian… IRC net and I figure what better place to
hide it. (17)

Protecting the community meant that it became increasingly closed to new members,
as access was through a complex layer of passwords.

Then we moved the channel to this IRC server [mm] and I was able to
implement even tighter security measures and whatnot. I mean nested levels
of passwords that you would need [mm] and we started implementing
encrypted hard drives very heavily and strongly encrypted hard drives. (QH: 18)

The rules that protected this closed community also became more complex, starting
with general rules about not physically meeting other people and rules about
behaviours that related to the content of the pictures:

I never met anybody [mm] on the internet in real life [mm] ever. That was
another one that my first that was one of like my very deep rules on internet
relay chat the first rule being don’t hurt any kids [mm] in any way shape or
form no kid is to be harmed [mm]. Rule number two was that this was to
remain anonymous. We were never to meet in real life [mm]. Because at that
that can lead to that could possibly lead to child molestation’s [mm]… (QH: 15)
140 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

These rules were also positioned within a moral framework—downloading, trading

and looking at child pornography was seen as a lesser crime than physically abusing
children, and was even presented as a way of preventing child abuse:

I did have other people write rules and I would amend them [mm]. But again
the rules were more for cohesive community. My I I I knew that the community
was built around committing a felony [mm] but my philosophy was that
hopefully we would commit [a] the lesser sin of transmitting the pics rather
than the greater the sin of going out and [mm] molesting children. (QH: 21)

Indeed, should these rules be infringed by, for example, somebody trying to trade
pictures of babies or sado-masochistic pictures, then they might be banned from the
channel:

I would warn the user about it. We would give them a three strikes and you
were out that means if we caught them a third time they were gone. (QH: 26)

As the community became more secretive and more exclusive, the rules for the channel
became increasingly complex and ultimately resulted in a fracturing of the
community:

Well yea he he…he had he brought up this weird text file called
DaConstitution? Which had all these rules written down that [mm] people
wouldn’t be new users wouldn’t be invited by anyone but IRC ops [mm] if
you wanted to invite one [mm] talk to an IRC op it [mm] d the person you
want to invite must have at least 10,000 images [mm] and very few duplications
and so on [mm] or be a producer an there were all these hundreds of rules an
I was like saying ‘you’re cutting us off from our news base’ [mm] and yet there
was no talking of vetting [okay] it was like…if you wanted to invite someone
the IRC op would got and talk to them and that would be it [mm] they would
then be invited if they enough images and that that wasn’t even secure [okay]
an I part partly I blame Harry for us all being arrested simply because of that
when we eventually did have another bust up and I I quit I just couldn’t take
any of the of Harry’s shit anymore [mm] an I quit an all of the channel came
with me which…surprised me [mm]. Amm…it shouldn’t have really looking
back but it did it always surprised me when everyone supported me an [mm]
and sided with me in an argument like this an Harry was left on his own [mm]
and he blamed me for that afterwards but he set up his own channel he nicked
an another close friend of mine called Gary. (El: 65)

Arguments such as these were a feature of this community and seemed to emphasise
the tension between freedom and control within the group. QH uses the metaphor
of the channel representing his home, and other individuals choosing to dictate the
way things should be within that home:
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 141

what happened was we ended up having a bitch fight in the channel where he
kept changing the channel topic to Harry has to apologise to Plato [mm] and
I kept changing the channel back and finally I banned him from the channel
saying ‘this is my house’ [mm]. You know it’s kind of like you have guests in
your house and one of them tells you ‘oh you have to move your fireplace to
the other side’ [mm] you tell them to go to hell [mm] cos it’s your house.
Whether you’re right or wrong is moot point it is your house. Amm the friends
that I had the four core friends took his side [mm] and this was despite the fact
that I had been a friend to these people. (QH: 20)

The result of this argument was profound and effectively the community fractured,
with the oldest member being excluded.

And basically what they did was one day I went to the server and I found the
channel empty. What they had done basically was that they had made another
server and secretly without my knowledge moved everybody there…leaving
me. (QH: 22)

This, however, was not the end of wØnderland, but the beginning of two new but
related communities:

Am…and I built another group up [mm] a very even larger and more
flourishing one than the last one, the only difference was this one was more
towards my philosophy of lets just trade pics and that’s it [mm]. We might
occasionally talk about fantasies that we had but that was it. (QH: 25)

You know like the community of people the friends that I built up and
destroyed and and once again I’m going to keep repeating this I’m not saying
it was right or wrong. I’m saying this is what happened [mm]. We found a few
and we made more stronger security measures and we got together we formed
a little channel one little robot and we I started getting pictures off the
newsgroups [mm] and we sort of started trading again. (QH: 29)

In part the community broke up because not all members agreed with the ground
rules, and also because there was a jockeying for power within the group. Examples
of rule breaking included members of the community meeting each other offline:

And I ended up telling all my close friends secretly am…on am…the IRC op
notice thing we had which none of the other users could read [mm] we knew
that. I said look this guy’s talked himself into this, this Caesar he’s talked himself
into meeting me an [mm] if I if I go off line or start doing funny stuff (short
laugh) in the next few minutes then it’s not it’s a set up it’s the cops an you’d
better run [okay] for it (laughs). So all my friends were very scared and they
were monitoring me al all all the ops were monitoring me. (El: 69)
142 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

In this instance there is a suggestion of a coerced meeting and that there were also
fears with regard to the safety of the person involved. However, some meetings
appeared to be a product of the relationship moving to new levels of closeness and
intimacy:

And he wanted to m he desperately wanted to meet me [mm] so he invited me

up there an he even he was sending the money as well cos it would cost sixty
quid on the train [mm] an he sent me sixty quid to get up there [mm]. (El: 69)

A further example of rule breaking included the production of material, as this clearly
involved the actual and current abuse of a child. At least one such member of
wØnderland became involved in production and made his photographs available to
selected members of the community:

There was less and less trading going on because a lot of us by now had most
of what we were interested in from each [okay] other’s collections. And there
were very few new people am or producers. I mean Paul was one [mm] and I
was one of the few people that he trusted enough to give everything that he
was making with his kids. (E1:67)

Within this community, trading reduced as members reached saturation point within
their collections. However, the desire for new material remained and gave power and
status to people like Paul who were able to make and distribute videos that were of
good quality and highly pornographic. Shirky (1995) has suggested that synchronous
communication on the Internet promotes a greater sense of community than
asynchronicity can: ‘When people use real time chat, they are usually less interested
in what’s being discussed than in who is doing the discussing, less interested in text
than in the community’ (92). This is clearly demonstrated in wØnderland, where as
trading reduced, communication and intensity of relationship increased. This was
the case whether or not members went on to meet each other offline:

It was to me cos I never had that many friends, real friends amm [mm] and
suddenly I had hundreds of em [mm] as it were. It was…a lot of people who
were a a at the very least friends and in some cases really really close friends
[mm] like brothers, we we called each other brothers cos we felt like we’d we’d
been born to be brothers [mm] because we shared such a close view [right] We
we seemed plugged into each other’s minds sometimes [mm] we we’d like speak
with one voice I mean if somebody was going to say something and they saw
that one the other one was speaking [mm] they would stop because they’d
know that whatever they wanted to say was being said. (El: 59)

They were am…it was hard to say them there wasn’t that much of a distinction
between an an average normal friend to me and a really close one a brother
[mm] but…if I had to put a figure on it I’d say there was like 15 or so [mm]
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 143

an… I had a special affection for most of the people in this country [okay]…
(El: 62)

[And were you trading material at that point?] On and off but as I got more
into running the channels I had less and less opportunity to trade because more
and more often I was sorting people’s problems. (El: 54)

What seems different about these friendships to those achieved offline was a sense of
being in control. In part this was a function of anonymity—you can disappear
whenever you want to, and there is only a physical presence if you wish there to be.
It was also a function of status that was acquired through one’s position on the channel:

The important part was that I couldn’t be hurt on line [mm]. See on line aa
because of my computer knowledge I’m like a God [mm]. …it it’s kind of like
in this room if I wanted to ignore you I can type a command then I won’t hear
or see you [sure]. On line I can do that [mm]. And one of the reasons why I
formed the groups that I formed was because I could selectively get rid of people
that I didn’t want around. (QH: 66)

The Internet was basically a way of my building a community to my

specifications that I could somewhat control [mm] without actually having any
any physical contact with anybody [okay mm]. Just how much I control I had
is extremely questionable. (QH: 72)

This semblance of control features in other aspects of community behaviour. The

status accorded to operators meant that they could effectively control what was
happening within the channel, which went beyond the basic rules of the immediate
group and extended to the whole IRC community:

An then that was IRC war basically. We we…three times we got the whole of
the Undernet IRC network slow to such a crawl the operators of the network
came to us and they cleared out what ever channel we were fighting up they
cleared it. (EI: 53)

Control also included the right to include, as well as exclude, people:

I had a command on the net I could…a…perform certain commands on them

say if there was a a particular trader who we’d discovered a new guy… That
we could prove that he was worthy…of being traded with, he was trustworthy…
we could actually voice him as well. (El: 54)

Decisions were also made about the nature of activity in other groups with regard to
their appropriateness and aspects of this community almost took on vigilante status,
policing the channels and disrupting activity that they saw as immoral.
144 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

It it we had to become organised to survive [mm] and not only that es especially
when we were on Undernet we ran the entire paedophile scene [mm] people
did not start channels that were talking openly about [mm] actively abducting
an raping an murdering kids [mm] or torturing them [mm] I mean there was
some kiddy torture channels an we constantly went into those channels and
monitored the conversation under false identities [mm] of those spoofing our
IP so that we could we could not be traced back to our own channel [mm]
Am…we specifically did that so we could check up that these people were were
indeed just fantasising. (EI: 64)

What brought this community to an end?

Jenkins (2001) suggested that wØnderland came to an end because ‘police found
some illegal activity largely through chance and put pressure on accused individuals
to act as informants until a wider and much more serious network was identified and
wound up’ (152). As with other cases, the discovery partly emerged through the
identification of a child who was being abused. However, it is also the case that the
end of the wØnderland community may simply have marked a transition point for
the emergence of another version of the same community. By the time that arrests
had been made and the channel had been closed, wØnderland had already been
through several cycles of creation. It is unlikely that all the members have been
apprehended and there is little evidence to suggest that those who have ‘gone
underground’ are not still actively engaged in similar communities. The nicknames
of those who were caught have also entered into the folklore of Internet child
pornographers, and such names are now emerging in the newsgroups, presumably
borrowed by new traders.
It may be that instability is an inherent feature of communities such as wØnder-
land. Reid (1998) has argued that some of the reasons that online communities break
down are related to the singularity and flexibility of the online personas. In the offline
world, people have the capacity to change what aspects of self they choose to present
to suit the context in which they are operating. However, there is continuity and
coherence in these self-representations that is possibly different to the singularity that
is seen online.

It has been all too easy for virtual communities to encourage multiplicity but
not coherence, with each individual persona having a limited, undiversified
social range; this cultural schizophrenia makes the virtual community brittle
and ill-equipped to evolve with the demand of circumstance. The human body
cannot sustain increased growth of undiversified cells: that is cancer. The
cultural body also demands diversity and adaptability; all too often these
qualities are absent in online communities and thus they fail. (30)

wØnderland adapted to change by becoming increasingly restrictive and by

attempting to enforce a hierarchy that was every bit as oppressive as anything in the
 A VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 145

offline world. The emotional tone of the exchanges in this community were often
disinhibited and aggressive, and we can see evidence of this in members ‘ganging up
against’ each other and colluding in the exclusion of the community’s most senior
member. Reid (1998) used the metaphor of ‘Charivari’ as a way of understanding
the public punishment of members of virtual communities. Charivari was a medieval
way of controlling errant members of a community through public ridicule and
physical taunting. Yet, as Reid pointed out, such community members invariably had
to stay within that community and therefore the sanctions produced some level of
individual change. This is not the case on the Internet, where the ‘chief concern is to
protect the community by reconfirming the solidarity of the remaining members and
to expel transgressors’ (34). In part the difficulty in managing the community lies in
the anonymity of its members. People choose the aspects of themselves that they wish
to present, and can manifest themselves as multiple characters or personas. It is
possible that this very flexibility reduces the complexity and depth of the people within
the community and leads to a fragmentation of the self. The context in which
communication takes place encourages serial presentations, a potential cycling
through of personas, but in a very superficial way. Such personas have a very limited
range, and in the context of wØnderland, made it difficult for the community to
adapt to the demands that were made on it. Reid (1998) has suggested that for online
communities to survive there has to be flexibility, accountability and persistence.
Where communities are built around the exchange and production of illegal products,
and the representation of self is part of fantasy, such coherence is unlikely. What is
more probable, as we have seen with wØnderland, is that these communities cope
with change by splitting and reforming themselves. One possible consequence of this
is a succession of communities such as wØnderland.
146
 Chapter 7
The process of collecting

The word ‘collecting’ is often used to refer to the process through which an individual
with a sexual interest in children acquires child pornography material. That same
individual is often referred to as a ‘collector’ of child pornography. We see reference
to seized collections in newspapers after an individual has been arrested for possession
of child pornography, and the size or qualities of that collection are often emphasised.
Sometimes the term collection is used to refer to that which an individual has, which
may be little more than an aggregation of items. On other occasions, however, we
use the term collection in a more sophisticated way to refer to something more than
a simple aggregation, focusing on organised and structured quantities.
This chapter will explore what we mean by collecting generally, and with particular
reference to child pornography. As in the case of our discussion of virtual community,
collecting refers to a broad concept that goes beyond the confines of the child
pornography world. However, an understanding of that broad context will help us
to bring into better focus the process of collecting related to child pornography. As
part of that exploration, we will identify psychological and social qualities of collecting
that are of particular relevance to our understanding of the dynamics of collecting
child pornography, both in itself and with reference to the Internet.

WHAT IS COLLECTING
At a very general level, we can define collecting as the selecting, gathering and keeping
of objects of subjective value (Muensterberger 1994). This definition emphasises the
subjective aspects of collecting, primarily because the intensity of the feelings often
attached to what is collected is not always commensurate with its monetary or
commercial value. The emotional intensity that is part of collecting behaviour is also
seen in the definition given by Belk (1995a), ‘the process of actively, selectively, and
passionately acquiring and possessing things removed from ordinary use and
perceived as part of a set of non-identical objects and experiences’. This is a useful
starting-point for our discussion of the role of collecting in child pornography, for it
emphasises a number of features of collecting:

1 collecting is a process. Its development depends upon what has gone before, and
the availability of items to be collected in the future;
148 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

2 that process involves active and selective qualities, in that generally a collection
involves some definite and identifiable objects;
3 collections are held in sets of related but different items;
4 the objects collected share common qualities but are non-identical;
5 there is a driven quality to collecting, characterised by Belk (1995a) as passionate.

We might add to this two further central factors:

6 there is a social context to collecting, whereby the collector interacts with others
who share his or her interests to acquire and develop a collection;
7 related to this, the notion of competition in having a bigger, better and more
comprehensive collection than other collectors is relevant. This competitive
quality need not necessarily be socially expressed, but may be a personal factor
not revealed or expressed to others.

Other authors, whilst offering different definitions of collecting, broadly concur with
the general outline above. They tend to identify the notion of process as a central
element, that collections have specific qualities, and that collections are not necessarily
related to intrinsic value, but acquire value through their qualities, selectivity and
context for the collector. Kron (1983) suggested,

To qualify as a collection, the items collected must have some similarity and
interrelationship. By being part of a collection each piece is transformed from
its original function of toy, icon, bowl, picture, whatever, into an object with
new meaning—a member of an assemblage that is greater than the sum of its
parts. (193–4)

Another important aspect of collecting and collections is that they have personal, as
well as public, meaning. Each item within a collection has a distinct meaning for the
collector, which is determined by a variety of both external and internal or
intrapersonal factors. As suggested by Muensterberger (1994), while two collectors
may crave the same object (seen, for example, in intense and competitive bidding in
a salesroom), their causal reason for desiring it, and their way of going about obtaining
it, may be very different. The collected objects are seen, therefore, to have a use or a
function for the collector. Belk and Wallendorf (1997) have argued that collections
are a reflection of an individual’s identity, in that they offer the opportunity to express
personal qualities and reflect individual experiences. Within a loose psychodynamic
oriented context, these authors present a number of ethnographic case studies that
focus on gender and identity qualities of collections to illustrate how collections reflect
past experiences, and relate to fundamental identity qualities of the collector.
Muensterberger (1994) goes beyond this to suggest that collectors assign power and
value to objects because their presence and possession seem to have a modifying
function in the owner’s mental state, such as keeping anxiety and uncertainty under
control. Collecting then becomes more than the experience of pleasure from having
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 149

obtained yet another object. Collectors are never satisfied with the acquisition of one
object, but make repeated acquisitions. Within a psychodynamic framework, such
acquisitiveness is seen as a vehicle to cope with inner anxiety and to distance oneself
from the future anxieties, with all the confusing problems of need and longing.
In the normal course of events, everyone acquires objects. Even the most
nonmaterialistic person can experience the shock of discovery of items when moving
house, when objects from the past, such as discarded, forgotten and unused clothes,
suddenly come to light in the process of packing. In affluent Western societies, where
there is an emphasis on consumption, the acquisition of unnecessary objects, be they
items of clothing, toys, kitchen utensils, or whatever, marks the passage of life. Items,
although perhaps only used once, provide entertainment and diversion, and perhaps
give an added interest to an otherwise dull event or occasion. Acquisition of items in
itself is, therefore, neither unusual nor inappropriate, nor is the continued retention
of such items after any sense of utility is passed. But this is not collecting in the sense
we mean here, and is rather better characterised as accumulation.
We can therefore distinguish between accumulation and collecting. Accumulation
lacks the specificity of collecting, and also its selectivity. It is essentially a passive
refusal to dispose of items, rather than an active acquisition of specific items. We can
also distinguish between collecting and hoarding. Hoarding refers to largely utilitarian
items, retained for future need. The items hoarded may all be the same, and a quality
of a ‘hoard’ is not that individual items are unique, but rather it acquires value in
relation to some future need (even if illusory or unlikely). Hoarding, therefore, can
be seen as having a functional quality, in that the items hoarded can at some date be
consumed or used when need arises. Of course, hoarding can become separated from
utility, and become a process in its own right. The miser, for example, hoards money
not because of the future utility of his or her money, but because an essential quality
of the miser is that the hoarded money is not spent, even in extreme situations of
great need. But the sense of specificity and selectivity that characterises the collection
is missing in the hoard. It is also the case that the word ‘hoarding’ carries with it very
different attributions to those of collecting. The latter tends to be associated with
objects that have, or will acquire, some extrinsic value. When we talk about hoarding,
we rarely make reference to the aesthetic value of the items collected. For example,
people may hoard food during transport strikes, or paper clips or stamps removed
from articles arriving through the post. However, hoarding in itself may have some
of the qualities of collecting and can in itself become problematic. This may relate,
for example, to content. While we might consider stockpiling canned food as being
excessive, we are unlikely to see it as being as problematic as hoarding scraps of used
paper. Hoarding often is most visibly a problem when it relates to volume. While
this might also be an issue with collecting, a house full of clocks or china cats is
unlikely to have the same negative impact on the outside observer as a house full of
empty cardboard boxes. Hoarding equally becomes problematic when there is an
intensity of involvement in the behaviour itself, such that it excludes other more
socially accepted activities, or, when the behaviour is blocked, it is the source of
considerable emotional distress. Here we see an overlap with what might be called
150 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

pathological aspects of hoarding, where the inability to dispose of items relates to

some underlying emotional state.
In terms of the process of collecting, a further final distinction needs to be made
between the collector and the dealer. Dealers acquire large numbers of items, and
because they may well service collectors, the dealer in a sense holds collections.
However, the critical difference is that profit rather than the intrinsic value to the
dealer of the acquired items drives the acquisitive activities of the dealer. The dealer
acquires collectible material to sell on to other collectors, and will dispose of the valued
rare item rather than retain it. There is, of course, a more complex case where the
dealer is also a collector. In these circumstances, the dealing behaviour may well
support a more fundamental activity (for the individual) of collecting. The individual
may deal in items to support his or her own collecting behaviour, using the process
of dealing to develop his or her own collection. In this case, the rewards of both
dealing and collecting are combined—an issue of some significance when we come
to consider the involvement of child pornography in collecting behaviour.
Collecting, therefore, refers to a deliberate act of selection and choice where items
are acquired beyond a level appropriate to necessity or need—whatever its origins, a
collector makes choices to extend and acquire the items collected, according to some
defining quality. Thus, a collector may collect toy soldiers, beer mats, hatpins...an
almost endless array of objects are collected and collectible, depending on the whim
and interests of the collector. Collections are not, therefore, simple aggregations; they
reflect structured and deliberate choices. Such choices may be highly specific, as in a
search for a particular rare item to add to a collection, or may be very general, as in
collecting variations on a broad theme. Collections can be quite personal and private;
they generally acquire their meaning, however, by reference to the individual, and
the collections of others, either as reference points or as elements of competition.
Collectors are not a homogeneous group and we have little understanding of the
different ways in which the collection functions for the individual. Why should there
be differences in the content of collections, such that one person amasses toy soldiers
while another collects glass paperweights? It is often hard to understand the attraction
of collecting some items, such as railway tickets. There are also differences in the act
of collecting, such that some collectors seek to own a single example of an item within
a given category, while others wish to try and collect all items within that category.
Collecting seems to be a feature of growing up, at least in Western societies. Until
at least adolescence, children collect things (Newson and Newson 1968). Such
collecting may serve a purpose in terms of cognitive development, and Webley and
Lea (1993) emphasised the importance of swapping collected items in the
development of economic understanding of children. Collecting has been variously
suggested to support in children the development of selectivity, categorisation skills,
knowledge development and learning, competition, specialisation and goal-focused
development. Commercial organisations recognise the importance of collecting for
children, by producing items that are within the means of children to either buy or
acquire for collection. The early baseball cards that were avidly collected are now
replaced by Pokémon® and Digimon® cards, but the engagement of children with
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 151

collecting these cards represents very clearly the process and features of collecting
outlined above. On a slightly grander scale, the success of Barbie™ dolls, or the My
Little Pony toys also illustrates the power that collecting can exercise over choices
made by parents and others in gift purchase. Industries and businesses exist to feed
collecting habits, not simply in terms of making available items that are collected,
but in generating new items of interest. For adults, so-called ‘collectable’ items, such
as commemorative coins, are explicitly marketed as being suitable for collecting; the
manufacturers seeking to engage the item with collectors to ensure additional sales.
What is not clear, however, is what limits an engagement at any given time with a
collection. Sorting through childhood memorabilia invariably unearths a multitude
of collections (cards, stamps, coins), most of which have been abandoned somewhere
along the line when they ceased to have the same function for us. This may relate
simply to the commercial aspects of certain objects, such that as a particular television
programme went down in popularity, so did the goods that were attached to them.
It may also be that developmental changes in the child mean that certain objects
which were of age-appropriate interest now appear childish. There are many more
abandoned collections than there are ones that have been sustained.
Belk (1995a, b) suggested that there are sex differences in items collected. He noted
that men are more likely to collect automobiles, guns, stamps, antiques, books, beer
cans, wines and sports-related objects. In contrast, he suggested women are likely to
collect jewellery, houseware items such as dishes and silver, and animal replicas. Belk
further suggested a series of dichotomies characterising male/female collecting:
gigantic/tiny, strong/weak, world/home, machine/nature, extinguishing/nurture,
science/art, seriousness/playful, functional/decorative, conspicuous/inconspicuous,
inanimate/animate. These dichotomies look remarkably like stereotyped sex-role
qualities, an issue developed further by Belk and Wallendorf (1997). If collections
are assumed to be reflections of individual identity, as they argued, then collections
would be expected to reveal sex-role stereotypes.
A necessary element of a collector’s approach to collecting is recognition of the
‘whole’ to which his or her collection relates as a ‘part’. The collector has a sense
(however unapproachable) of the extent and nature of the possible items within the
category collected, of which his or her collection is a fraction. Acquisitiveness may
well be a factor in collecting behaviour, but the selectivity shown by the collector
suggests that choices are strategically made in relation to a sense of the overall category
of items collected. Recognition of this may help in understanding the driven qualities
of collectors, in that completeness provides a powerful motivator to focus and drive
collecting. Muensterberger (1994) argued that one central aspect of collecting
behaviour is that there has to be a more or less continuous flow of objects to collect
and that it is this flow that captivates the collector. There is, therefore, a point at
which interest in a collection may change when supply diminishes beyond a certain
point. Part of the thrill of collecting relates to surmounting the obstacles that get in
the way of securing the desired object, but there has to be some real possibility of
obtaining it.
152 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

A related feature of collecting is cataloguing. Most collections are not a random

accumulation of objects, but have a structure. Collecting is not only the acquisition
of objects, but also what the collector does with the object afterwards. Again there
are huge variations between collectors, in part determined by the nature of the objects
themselves. The collection needs to be accessible (whether or not this actually
happens) and in the main, the objects need to be stored in some way that protects
their physical integrity. There would be little point in the butterfly collector putting
all the specimens in a cardboard box, as this would make them inaccessible and likely
to lead to their deterioration. Accessibility may have a public or a private quality, such
that the collection may be openly displayed or kept only for viewing by the collector.
Any collection will also display some level of organisation. This may be as arbitrary
as some feature of the objects (such as colour, manufacturer, species, etc.), or relate
to some aesthetic quality of the item. Most children who start collections of stamps
will buy large bags of unsorted stamps that they then categorise according to the
country of origin. As the collection becomes more sophisticated, the stamps may be
re-sorted according to particular years or special issues. One feature of such organising
behaviour is that it increases the actual engagement that the collector has with the
objects collected. This may be on many levels, such as sustaining the pleasure
associated with the collection, or simply increasing the amount of time or money
spent in meeting some perceived need in relation to the collection.

PROBLEMATIC COLLECTIONS
In the majority of cases, collecting seems to be a normal, even useful aspect of life.
As a hobby or pastime it may meet many needs, and give a focus and purpose to life.
Indeed, Belk (1995a) suggested that collections in many cases are maintained to
compensate for lack of career success and recognition. Certainly, the personal qualities
of collection referred to earlier would support this view. There is also undoubtedly a
sense in which the collector through his or her collection retains and saves items that
may have value. Just as entomologists maintain reference collections of insects, so
collectors might be thought to be maintaining reference material of the artifacts they
collect, and the creation of catalogues of collectible items has its parallel in the creation
of databases of other forms of information. It is probably easier to see the significance
of this with respect, for example, to the collected works of a particular artist, than to
collections of beanie babies. However, even beanie babies might be argued to be
representative artifacts of the late twentieth century, and have an intrinsic value in
that sense, regardless of the personal value for the collector.
As we considered with hoarding, collecting can, however, be problematic. We can
identify three aspects that may move it from a benign or even useful social activity to
one that is associated by others, if not the collector, with problems:

1 level of engagement and rate;

2 social and financial exclusion;
3 content.
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 153

Engagement and rate

Collecting implies an active process of seeking out the items collected. In hunting for
antiques, for example, travel to various auctions and viewing sales would be a normal
and acceptable element of the process of collecting. It could be argued that
engagement in this process had many positive features—travel, social involvement,
or mental stimulation from acquiring expertise—making it an ideal hobby for the
retired or the shy, and giving a sense of purpose to the individual who lacked fulfilment
in their occupation and even their relationships. However, when the process of
collecting becomes all-engrossing, and when it takes place to the exclusion of other
activities, then we can see that it might be problematic. Clear and definitive attributes
of the problematic in this sense are difficult to express in a general way. But where
collecting, and the behaviour associated with it, becomes a priority over other
activities, such as caring for children, engagement with work, and maintaining social
relationships with partner and friends, then we can reasonably describe such
behaviour as problematic. In a social and personal context, therefore, collecting may
have a cost associated with it, as well as potential benefits. When the costs in either
personal or social terms outweigh the benefits, then we can describe the behaviour as
problematic. The issue here revolves around level of engagement, and the very high
rate at which collecting behaviours may occur.

Social and financial exclusion

An associated, but not necessarily related problematic factor, can be expressed in terms
of exclusion, at personal, social and financial levels. When collecting behaviour
becomes so extensive that it occupies all of life, then problems can be identified at a
personal level. Intensive focusing on a narrowly defined collection, to the exclusion
of other interests, limits, rather than broadens, the cognitive consequences of
collecting. Similarly, intense focusing, along with spending long periods of time
involved in the process of collecting, might be thought seriously to diminish social
opportunity. If all an individual does relates to his or her collection, and if all energies
are devoted to it, then the space available for normal social interaction must necessarily
decrease. The psychological and temporal space for family contacts and parenting are
necessarily reduced in such circumstances. Whilst collecting may be a positive
experience for an introverted or socially isolated individual in that it can provide
opportunities for social contact, it can also narrow rather than expand them. A related
factor concerns the financial commitment some collecting can develop. Even low-
level collections of everyday items incur some cost. But if your focus is on World War
II tanks, then the cost of acquisition, restoration and maintenance of your collection
enormously expands. Extensive travel to auctions or exhibitions can be a broadening
experience, but on a limited budget it can be crippling, with consequences not only
in terms of budgets, but also in terms of social arrangements, such as parenting
activities.
154 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Content
The final problematic area relates to content of collections, an issue of obvious
relevance to the concerns about child pornography. Collectors of beanie babies, for
example, may or may not feel they can display their collections publicly. In any event,
they can participate in public exhibitions without fear of legal sanctions, and interact
openly with other collectors with similar interests. Not all collections allow this,
however. Where the content of collections is illegal, then such openness is not
possible. One obvious area where this might be the case relates to stolen artworks.
That there is a considerable market for stolen works of art can be seen in the scale of
theft of very valuable items. Some very rich people seem to be prepared to spend
considerable amounts of money to acquire stolen antiques, paintings and other items.
Such items cannot be disposed of on the open market (because they would
immediately be recognised as stolen), and quite clearly the ultimate purchaser of
stolen works is also committing a crime. Yet the trade flourishes.
This form of collecting seems not to have the same kind of social context as
discussed above, presumably because of fear of exposure. Nor can the collector openly
participate in social events associated with collecting, as his or her collection is illegal
and private. This seems to suggest that some forms of collecting can be much more
solitary than others, where the intrinsic value to the individual of the item collected
itself is the principal, if not the only, factor driving collecting. Other factors may be
significant here, however. Possession of a stolen ‘old master’ may not be something
that can be flaunted and displayed; but the collector knows it is possessed. The power
associated with the possession of an enormously valuable item is coupled with the
power of possessing a secret. In addition, whilst possession of a stolen old master may
be a totally private act, acquisition of something stolen necessarily involves interaction
with the thief, or his or her agents. Successful engagement in a private world of
conspiracy can also be a very important factor, especially for the very rich. It is a very
clear demonstration of living outside, and perhaps above, society’s rules.
In the context of concern to us, the form of problematic content of collections is
pornography. Collections of adult pornography may not be illegal, but would not
meet approval in all circles, which as above may limit its social context. We have no
idea of the extent of collecting adult pornography, as distinct from its acquisition.
However, given the strength of sales of pornographic magazines and videos, there is
clearly an enormous market for it, and anecdotally reference is made to collecting.
Unlike collections of beanie babies and stolen works of art, collections of pornography
can have a more obvious sense of utility, in that they presumably meet the attributes
of being pornographic through generating sexual arousal, and providing a focus for
fantasy and sexual behaviour such as masturbation.
Child pornography represents at one level a subset of broader pornographies, but
is distinguished not only by the social approbation it generates, but also by its
illegality. Paradoxically, however, because it is illegal, we know rather more about
collections and collectors of child pornography as a result of arrests and seizures than
we do about collectors of other pornographies.
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 155

COLLECTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Considering the speculation about the role of pornography in sex-related offences,
there is remarkably little empirical data about collecting child pornography. Lanning
(1992), from the perspective of law enforcement, suggested that one feature of
paedophile behaviour is that paedophiles almost always collect child pornography or
child erotica. The emphasis is on collection as it relates to saving material, rather than
simply viewing it. He lists the kinds of item collected and includes: books, magazines,
articles, newspapers, photographs, negatives, slides, movies, albums, drawings,
audiotapes, videotapes and equipment, personal letters, diaries, clothing, sexual aids,
souvenirs, toys, games, lists, paintings, ledgers, photographic equipment and so on.
The defining feature of such collections is that, in some way, they all relate to children.
Clearly not all paedophiles collect the same things, and such collections vary in size
and scope. Within the sample of offenders interviewed for the COPINE project,
materials seized from offenders while in prison typically included shoe-boxes of
magazine and newspaper clippings, pictures from children’s clothing catalogues
pasted into home-made albums, and seemingly innocent school photographs of
children known to the offender or stolen from other prisoners. Such collections were
limited by access to appropriate materials, and may have appeared to a casual observer
as innocuous. However, within the prison these collections had value and would be
traded between people with a sexual interest in children, as well as used for fantasy
and masturbatory purposes.
Lanning (1992) suggested that factors that influence the qualities of paedophile
collections include socio-economic status, living arrangements and age. Until the
advent of the Internet, accessing actual pornography (as opposed to erotica) was
difficult, risky and expensive. The size of collections, therefore, was related to
affluence. In a similar way, paedophiles who can ensure privacy, either in the context
of work or domestic arrangements, would also tend to have larger collections.
Collecting is also a process, and material is acquired over time. With reference to
collecting more traditional forms of pornography, this often meant that older
paedophiles were likely to have larger collections. The level of exclusivity of sexual
interest in children is a further feature. For example, Lanning (1992) asserted that
‘Situational Child Molesters might also collect pornography but not with the high
degree of predictability of the Preferential Child Molester’ (23). The COPINE data
would suggest that where there is not an exclusive sexual interest in children, but an
interest in a variety of illegal or unorthodox material, then child pornography becomes
one aspect of the collection, rather than the totality. This is seen very clearly in relation
to the acquisition of Internet pornography, where collectors would have categories
based on some characteristic of the material saved. This is illustrated by the following
extract from an interview with TS:

I think I had three main directories towards the end which was probably
something like er paedo er animal…rape…and then the subdirectories were
whatever they were…say if it was a group it’d be called group. (23)
156 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Prior to the advent of the Internet, collections were likely to be limited to whatever
was readily available, and certainly animal and rape pornography would not have
been easily obtained.
Hartman et al. (1984) identified four types of collector which they called closet,
isolated, cottage and commercial. The closet collector of child pornography was one
who acquired material from commercial sources, kept the collection a secret and was
thought not to be actively engaged in the molestation of children. The isolated
collector was described as actively molesting children as well as collecting child
pornography or erotica. The fear of discovery ensured that this collector used
pornography either for solitary sexual behaviour or in the context of the victim. The
materials collected might also include those of the victim produced by the collector,
as well as those from other sources. The cottage collector was said to share his
collection and sexual activity with other individuals, primarily as a means of validating
his or her own behaviour and without any monetary consideration. This is similar to
our earlier discussion of the exchange of erotica in prisons, as such collectors will often
share, swap or trade pornography. The commercial collector sees his collection as a
commercial proposition and will sell duplicates of his collection to others. Hartman
et al. (1984) suggest that although primarily motivated by profit, such collectors are
also likely to be actively engaged in the abuse of children.
There is little research that has explored why paedophiles collect child pornography
and erotica. Lanning (1992) argued that collecting this material may help paedophiles
satisfy, deal with or reinforce their compulsive, persistent sexual fantasies about
children, and fulfil a need for validation. As we have already considered, many people
with a sexual interest in children need to justify their own interest, and the availability
of material to collect is one way of achieving this. This is similar to collecting articles
or stories written by paedophiles, which serve the dual function of supplying
information and also normalising the interest. Collections can also act as trophies,
memorabilia of previous relationships with children. They fix the victim at the very
age they were at when most attractive to the paedophile and this may be one of the
reasons why many paedophiles carefully date and label their collections. This is
considered in more detail in Chapter 4 which examines both the psychological
functions of pictures and the role of community.
Lanning (1992) discussed five ways in which those with a sexual interest in children
may use their collections of child pornography. He suggested that its primary use is
for sexual arousal and gratification. In this context, its function is similar to adult
pornography in that it enables fantasy. In Lanning’s analysis, such use is described as
a prelude to actual sexual activity with children, although the evidence to support
this is equivocal. As we will see, in the context of the Internet, it appears that there
may be offenders whose activity is limited to viewing and sharing material, rather
than in sexual engagement with children (Quayle et al., 2000). A second use is said
to be the lowering of children’s inhibitions by exposing them to pictures of other
children apparently enjoying sexual activity. This form of vicarious learning can also
serve to normalise the activities for the child, and increase the possibility of elevating
both curiosity and arousal. A third use of such collections is blackmail. While there
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 157

have been very few studies of those who are the victims of child pornography, it is
agreed that such victimisation is a source of extreme shame (Svedin and Back 1996).
Children are likely to assume some of the responsibility for what has taken place, and
photographs are a permanent record of what has happened. Threat of disclosure of
such material can be used as blackmail to ensure the child’s silence. A fourth use of
child pornography is as a means of exchange. Lanning talked about this exchange in
the context of information. The paedophile may exchange part of his collection for
information about a given child, the value of the exchange lying in the extreme
qualities of the pictures. A fifth use of collections is thought to be profit, in that
historically, where material was difficult to find, there was a commercial value attached
to it. Even non-pornographic pictures that can function as erotica may have
commercial value if used in the context of a magazine.
As we have previously considered, collections are extremely important to the
collector and have a value beyond any commercial considerations. Equally, the person
who collects child pornography is willing to spend time and money on the collection,
although they are unlikely to make profit from their collection. In the context of hard-
copy collections (such as magazines, individual photographs and videos), such
collections were thought of as constant, in that the collector was unlikely ever to
throw things away. This may in part reflect the difficulties experienced in acquiring
the collection in the first place and the fear that once lost, such material may never
be obtained again. As with other collections, child pornography tends to be organised
and maintained in some way and reflects a high level of permanence. The collector
will try to find a way to preserve the collection, either by hiding it or placing it in the
care of another person. Hiding traditional pornography is not easy. Magazines tend
to be bulky, and photographs are likely to deteriorate unless they are kept somewhere
dry. The activities involved in preserving a collection of child pornography are
influenced by a need for security, while at the same time leaving the collection
accessible. The material is, after all, illegal, but the collection serves little purpose if
the collector cannot get at it. The ways in which the collection is concealed are largely
determined by the person’s living circumstances and the nature of the collection. For
example, if the person is living on their own and has no prior criminal history, then
they may feel secure enough to keep their collection within their immediate domestic
environment. Where the person lives with their family or shares accommodation with
others, then the collection is likely to be hidden, for example, under floorboards or
in locked trunks. Where the collection includes non-pornographic material, then the
collector might feel sufficiently confident to leave some of this on display. One
offender interviewed by the COPINE project had photographs of his victims framed
and sitting on his dresser. To all intents and purposes they appeared to be family
photographs.

Collections of child pornography on the Internet

If we consider the role of the Internet in collecting behaviour, we can see that this
new technology facilitates collecting in many ways. Primarily, it increases ease of
158 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

access to material that is clearly pornographic, as opposed to erotic, across a wide

number of categories, including child pornography. Not only is there a wide variety
of previously unobtainable material on the Internet, but access can be gained in secret
without all the risks associated with attempting to purchase commercially produced
items. Essentially the activity becomes as anonymous as the person wishes it to be.
Pictures can be downloaded without the need to identify oneself or to communicate
with another person. Equally, such activity can take place within the context of an
identifiable community.
Along with ease of access comes volume. As there is little commercial exchange in
relation to child pornography, most images can be obtained without any financial
loss. Some of the factors that in other circumstances limit the size of collections no
longer apply in connection with the Internet, and many collectors talk about the
rapid acquisition of large numbers of images:

my collection grew in the space of maybe six months from about 3,000 to about
almost 40,000 pictures. (QR: 7)

I didn’t stop really until I had about 100 images and and for some reason the
computer disconnected itself. (EI: 40)

Such rapid acquisition is facilitated by trading images with others, or by accessing

somebody else’s collection:

An I didn’t have that many pictures but somebody took pity on me and let me
into his collection…he gave ’em to me…50,000 odd images in there…a lot
of them repeated, a lot of them duplicated…but I mean that was where a lot
of my collection came from. (EI: 49)

The ability to trade images and even to let people have free access to the collection is
an important feature of the Internet. Paedophiles who use IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
can make available the contents of their hard drive to other users using, for example,
FTPs (File Transmission Protocols). This remains the best method of transferring
large amounts of material across the Internet and can usually be accessed
anonymously:

once my collection grew past 40,000 I really didn’t trade all that much. I would
mostly let people take just what they wanted off my FTP site…for want of a
better word my collection site…my museum…while I was conjuring up new
ways of evading law enforcement and securing the collections. (QH: 7)

Prior to the Internet, trade had to be done either through magazines or by word of
mouth, which meant a potential loss of anonymity. Equally, materials had to be sent
through the post, which both restricted quantity and increased the likelihood of
detection. Through the Internet, trade in pornography not only becomes easier, but
carries with it anonymity.
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 159

For those who wish to communicate with likeminded others through the Internet,
the sense of sharing knowledge of one’s collection and the opportunity to compare
collections increases. Here we have a community of collectors who can bypass many
of the problems associated with the possession of illegal materials. While the collection
of child pornography may remain a secret from the people who occupy the collector’s
immediate and ‘real’ social world, within the context of the Internet the collection
can be as visible as the collector wishes it to be. Along with ease of access is also ease
of storage. Unlike hard copies of photographs, images stored electronically, either on
the hard disk, diskettes or CD-ROMs, take up very little physical space. Images can
even be stored electronically at a location both anonymous and distant from the
location of the collector’s PC. Storage also implies some level of organisation.
Whether this is simply placing all images within one file or folder, or sorting them
according to some complicated system of categories, depends on the collector and
the importance placed on rapid access of material. Organising material electronically
means that photographs can be moved easily, so that there is a dynamic to the
collection. As it increases, or the focus changes, there is a potential parallel change in
the way that the collection is catalogued:

but at some time later on I changed them to erm teen girls teen boys and then
young girls young boys…then I split them up again the boys’ ones particularly
into circumcised and uncircumcised ones… I called it cut teens and cut boys
or something. (OK: 50)

Child pornography, as it appears on the Internet, often emerges as a series of

photographs. The series are identified by a name and usually a number, although the
person producing or distributing the series does not necessarily release them in the
production sequence. Collecting on the Internet often means looking for material
that is new to the collector, or completes part of a series:

You were hoping that someone would post something that you had a series of
that had a few gaps…you were hoping that somebody out there would post
some. (EI: 47)

The advantage to the collector of collecting series of photographs of a child, as opposed

to single shots from a series, is that it adds value to the collection, both subjectively
and with regard to the community. For the individual, there is satisfaction in
completing a series, but there is also potential for increasing the capacity to create
sexual arousal. Invariably, the series has a theme—it tells some sort of story:

so you like get an idea of the full event that was going on…it’s probably more
like action which is probably later on I went down to erm…movie format erm…
you know so you get an idea of…the full continuation rather than just one
photo…or like a snapshot…(TS: 19)
160 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The seeking out of new material is an important aspect of collecting per se, but in the
context of child pornography it has a more sinister aspect. As we have noted before,
many of the images available on the Internet are relatively old (in excess of twenty
years). In order to supply the demand by collectors for new material, more
photographs have to be taken that depict the ongoing sexual abuse of children. Within
the complex social network of the Internet, accessing new or private collections
requires the exchange of material that is of interest to other collectors. For some
collectors, this has directly led to the production of new material through the abuse
of children in the collector’s immediate social network, to enable access to other
material:

The progression for me came when I started offending against my daughter …

I was in the chat rooms…and obviously chatting to a lot of other people who
were trading images…people would send lists of material that they had…and
they were reluctant to give me access to any of that material unless I could come
up with any new material… I was sort of left out of this sort of arena that was
going on, this trading of private pictures…my motivation was to come up with
some images that I could trade for this new material…it was then that I thought
about steps of…of involving my daughter in…in creating video to actually
trade to get the material that I wanted. (ES)

Collecting child pornography is facilitated through the acquisition of good computer

skills. Using software to both access and sort photographs increases the overall number
of images that can be looked at:

well what I’d do is I’d load up PaintShopPro and look at all the thumb-nails
because it shows you the file names underneath…and I’d split my screen and
have on… PaintShopPro on one side and Windows Explorer on another…and
all the images I didn’t like…erm… I’d just highlight them all and I’d just delete
them. And all the ones I wanted to keep I’d move into another folder. (ME: 18)

This last excerpt from an interview transcript also highlights another potential
difference in collections from the Internet, as opposed to hard copies. While none of
the people interviewed through the COPINE project had ever deleted all of their
images, the majority of them had deleted some and were selective about what they
kept. This possibly relates to the fact that photographs, once available on the Internet,
are unlikely ever to go out of circulation. For the collector, the decision to delete
images and remove them from the collection can be reversed very easily should the
images acquire some other function or should the nature of the collection change.
One of the main difficulties in collecting child pornography through the Internet
relates to the identifiers allocated to each picture. While collectors disapprove of the
names or labels of each image being changed, as this makes the process of collecting
more arduous and leads to the potential duplication of images within a collection, it
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 161

is apparent that some collectors do alter the identifiers. This may be because the child
in the series looks like a child known to the collector, or because a collector does not
like the name allocated to the child. These are very personal reasons, and only become
problematic to the community if the same collector allows ready access to his
collection. However, there are occasions when the identifier on the photograph is
changed to create the illusion that the material is new and different to what it really
is, thus increasing the currency of the photographs. This clearly would not be
acceptable within a tightly knit group of collectors.
When we talked earlier about collecting, we noted that a distinction needs to be
made between collectors and dealers, although they are not mutually exclusive. On
the Internet, while we are seeing an increase in the amount of commercially available
child pornography, the vast majority of images are not commercially produced. The
advent of the digital camera has meant that collectors can easily become producers
of child pornography, usually in the context of domestic or institutional access to a
child or children. As the move from collector to producer and distributor of such
images is not commercially driven, we might assume that what motivates the
individual is power. Given access to a child or a group of children with whom he or
she has influence, the producer can choose what photographs to take, when to take
them and when, where and to whom to distribute them. The release of new material
is followed by a flurry of Internet communications demanding more images of the
same child or children, release of parts of a missing series, and even requests for specific
types of abuse within the images. Some new images may be privately distributed to
a chosen group of people on the Internet. Such private images are invariably not for
general release, although the control that the individual has over these images is
illusory, as invariably they will eventually become part of a larger distribution network.
The selective release of material to enhance the status of the poster (and perhaps
producer if they are the same person) can frequently be seen in the Internet child
pornography environment. Incomplete series, for example, are posted to newsgroups,
generating a flurry of activity and requests for more material. Subsequent postings to
‘fill in’ the missing pictures may follow, but perhaps with gaps of months. The
attention span of avid collectors can be very long indeed, as can their patience in
waiting for the material they seek.
In the context of the Internet, the qualities of an individual’s collection relates
largely to preference, rather than to availability, although where pictures have a
currency in terms of trade, then there may be items within a given collection that
have no direct appeal for the collector. Clearly there are differences between collectors
that in many ways mirror the differences between collectors in general. Some people
selectively collect photographs of a preferred age group, or have a preference for a
particular content. For example, many with a sexual interest in children preferentially
collect the soft-focus sentimentalised erotica of photographers such as David
Hamilton. Other collectors are more eclectic, although still discriminating, in the
pictures they choose to save. Here the focus is still on children, but may include, for
example, categories of photographs that relate to pictures such as ‘panty shots’, or
162 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

mutual fondling or masturbation. Still other collections reflect the collector’s

preoccupation with sexual extremes, such that a variety of pornographies are retained.

THE COLLECTOR OF PORNOGRAPHY BEFORE AND

AFTER ACCESSING THE INTERNET
It may be useful to compare and contrast the different types of collection and
collecting behaviour by looking at an individual who was convicted of the possession
of child pornography obtained from the Internet. The same person had, however,
been an avid collector of pornography prior to accessing the Internet. Our interest is
not in this case per se, but rather in the differences and similarities evidenced in his
collecting. ES is a man in his thirties who has been collecting pornography since his
early teens, and the following is presented as illustrating pre and post-Internet
behaviour.

Before the Internet

ES initially purchased pornography from two outlets near to his home. He lived with
his family, and although he clearly had his own space within the house that ensured
him some privacy, he still had to get his purchases back into the house:

I’d smuggle them back in under my coat.

His interest was in hard-core pornography:

I had to have all new all different ones.

I was looking for the most hardcore extreme sort of stuff then.

For ES the problem was one of access, as most of the magazines did not contain
sufficient extreme material to satisfy his fantasies. To meet his requirements, he would
resort to sending off for them through the post. One difficulty with this was that he
had to pay for this, and invariably the material he got back was no different from that
which had been contained in the magazines:

It was always a con—I don’t know how many times I fell for that.

The purchase of a video recorder when he was in his twenties prompted him to switch
the focus of his collecting to video tapes:

Basically the stuff that was advertised was straight hard core sex… Imanaged to
find someone who specialised in S&M films…and then fromthat I found
someone who did a couple of…unusual stuff…there wascombination animal…
I found one who did sell some child tapes…abouta half hour’s worth of shorts…
about that age so it was different so it wasdifferent so I’d have a look at it.
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 163

As earlier, his interest was always in new and more extreme material, the unifying
feature of which was humiliation. His preference was for material that he could believe
in as genuine, rather than role-played, and the videos of children met this criterion:

with a young child that was being molested, that was genuine, whereas it could
always be faked or consensual in adult film.

The source of tapes was largely through magazines, initially exchanging with people
who liked horror films, or ‘video nasties’, because there would be brief segments of
the films that would be ‘underground’. People offering videos through specialist
contact magazines would usually give a contact box and number, but ES would usually
give his own address. At this stage collecting was important to him, not only because
it allowed him access to preferred material which he could use to masturbate, but
because the collection allowed him to exchange films with others:

I would continue swapping with him so that I could build up my own collection
and swap them for something else.

ES would collect anything at this stage that fitted with his preference for ‘degradation
or humiliation’, and this would be the case even when the material was offensive to
him. For example, he made himself look at ‘scat’ movies (involving faecal material),
until he no longer felt physically nauseated. Collecting involved writing to people
through the magazines and getting ‘replies from about half of them’. He would keep
in contact with an individual until he had copies of all of their tapes and then he
would stop writing to them.
In spite of the difficulty in getting videos, ES had a sizeable collection:

I think I had about 3…00…probably three hour tapes…half a drawer of SM…

there might be half a drawer of scat and then some amateur…caning…then
there’d be a series pregnant…animals…I’d sort of divide them…eventually…
once I’d got too many in the different categories.

Not all of his contacts were interested in child pornography, and the majority had a
single focus to their collection:

One person would usually have a collection of one type of film…you’d very
rarely meet someone like myself who had different categories.

Over the course of each year, ES would regularly swap tapes with approximately
twenty-five people at any one time. To do so, he would make copies of tapes to send
people, never sending the original tapes:

I would keep them for swapping and being a collector I didn’t like throwing
them away…if I thought they were…particularly well made, particularly
164 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

extreme…particularly…something unusual different on them... I wouldn’t

want to get rid of them in case they were useful in the future for swapping.

Videos were seen as preferable to magazines, both in terms of their content but also
because of security issues:

Exchange and Mart was quite useful… I did actually through that get erm six
Lolita magazines…which I threw away after a few years ‘cause I got nervous
holding them.

Tapes you can wipe…magazines are harder to conceal. I threw them away. I
got nervous one night and thought I don’t want these anymore.

After collecting video pornography throughout his twenties, ES felt that he already
had ‘practically everything that was available’, and finally purchased a computer and
went online.

After the Internet

ES had told himself that he would use the Internet for a variety of things, including
organising his collection of videos by using a spreadsheet, etc., but within a few hours
of going online he was accessing child pornography.

The aim was child pornography because it was still very rare…and obviously
if I could get child pornography I could get anything else.

Initially, he downloaded pictures and placed them all in the same folder, but as his
collection quickly grew, he needed to start sorting it:

shoving everything into one folder and then eventually…after a couple of

months… I started categorising it and putting it into different folders.

His interest was not solely child pornography, but mirrored his earlier collection:

I didn’t just collect child pornography… I went in there every night and had
categories for practically everything…everything I already had on video I had
a category for.

Child pornography was readily available through newsgroups, rather than web sites,
and ES developed a routine of logging on every night:

You would go through…you would start off with…you’d got the child
pornography so you’d probably go for that first…you then probably spend…
time looking through unusual name news groups seeing whether there was
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 165

some kind of perversion or something that you’d not got before…trying to

find out which news groups had the best supply of pictures.

As ES’s collection grew, he needed more and more sophisticated software to help him
manage both accessing pornography and cataloguing it:

You have about 20 news groups eventually and collect all headers for that
newsgroup…get all the new messages and just go through it one at a time… I
had it set up…download and put into folders…start finding about picture
viewers…it was recommended on the FAQ…you get thumbnails and
everything.

His system of categorising became increasingly complex to cope with the volume of
images and involved ‘folder within folder within folder within folder’. This is seen
most obviously in relation to the child section of his collection:

towards the end there would be…you’d have…what did I have…started off
by drawing, pictures, movies…n the pictures it would be…start off being boy
girl…girl would be girl series which would be a good… particularly these would
be the main ones where you could have…say a girl called Jackie or something
and you’d have maybe 20 or 30 pictures and they’d be in folders…then there
would be subfolders with different series of the same girl…but apart from that
I’d have girl single pictures like er…which didn’t belong to a series…there’d
be girl solo girl masturbation…girl masturbating with a dildo if there was a
dildo involved there’d be…erm girl cum shot if she was just on her own…if
that was a girl series there’d…then there’d be a bizarre folder which would be
if there was girl animal…if there was a pose with an animal…girl scat girl piss…
or something like that we’d say…girl erm…there was…girl S&M I think if
there was some kind of caning or spanking aspect to it.

Within these categories he was looking for, ‘new, digital because they were good
quality…recent, because they became more real…more extreme’. However, this did
not stop him downloading material that he already had in order to try and improve
the quality of his collection:

if there were some reposted I’d compare them with what I had and see if I could
get that picture…if it was a bigger picture or a better quality picture, get rid of
them.

He would also look out for more pictures of a newly posted child:

if someone posted one or two pictures of a new girl, you’d be keeping an eye
open for that.
166 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

As with his prior collecting, the only limit he set with regard to what he was willing
to keep was availability:

When I started collecting any age was possible and I did have a section on
babies yes…if there was snuff, for example… I would have downloaded that…
without qualm.

He tried routes other than Usenet within the Internet in order to obtain new material,
such as IRC:

I then initially tried IRC erm…very slow, very cumbersome but you could get
a few more rarer pictures…there was baby pictures, there was some…bondage
with children.

He also accessed chat rooms, his selection being based on the extreme quality of the
names used:

You were in chat rooms… I’d go for the most extreme named ones possible…
baby sex…child snuff or something… I’d go onto… I would click onto people
who had extreme nicknames… Childabuser or something like that.

ES’s collection of pornography from the Internet was considerable, and was much
bigger than his hard-copy collection. Clearly this related in part to storage:

I had huge collections of pornography… I had erm…on the child side…10,

000 girl pictures 5,000 boy pictures…7 CDs of girl movies 7 CDs of boy
movies…3CDs of adult animal movies… I’d have categories of CDs of animal
pictures… I’d have…not so much of scat because I had a big collection and lost
them when my computer crashed and never really got back into collecting them
again because it meant it meant going over old ground…but there were things
like adult drawings cartoons of famous …cartoon characters in sexual situations
erm…pregnant…birth pictures…death pictures like accident series in the
grotesque group er erm…lesbian…there was a huge collection of lesbian
material...10,000… Bukaki was probably about 5,000…erm… Crush was
about 2,000 erm.

One factor that limited ES’s ability to collect pornography was the fact that he was
unable to produce any new material himself. He was able to copy videos from his old
collection, and some of these he used to trade, but he was not able to make new
photographs:

In the final year I had a go at er…since I had the video tapes I had a go at
making videos and I posted the final six from the old ColorClimax films… I
think I was more interested in how to be anonymous so it was a case of got
Hack Agent…followed the instructions…you had to change lines in certain
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 167

parts of the text then you had to post in a certain way… I was using News
Scene…which took away where you were posting from but then those who
were knowledgeable could tell where it was coming from.

I didn’t have anything of my own which I could swap for…that was personal
that I could swap for anything else that was personal…some people would say
oh I’ve got stuff that’s not available sort of thing but I’d only swap for other
stuff that’s not available…so 1 couldn’t get into that at all.

According to ES, the factor that made him stop downloading pornography from the
Internet and which prompted him to get rid of his collection was primarily related
to effort. The material that he wanted was largely in video format, and he felt that
he had exhausted what was available, ‘after about two years I had everything that was
available on news groups’, and yet there was still a desire for new, good-quality films.
For example, in relation to one series of child pornography video clips posted not
long before his arrest he says, ‘They were British, they were new, good quality,
hardcore…for me sort of like perfect collecting material’. But the collection of new
material was becoming increasingly onerous and frustrating:

There was one group that was just posted…erm I actually got rid of my
collection just before I was arrested and this was the build up towards it…one
group had just posted 20 to 25 minute long boy movies…erm…there were
erm…er…3 or 4 hundred megabytes big… I had an ISDN line… I’d download
from 6 o’clock in the morning till 8 o’clock at night…3 or 4 movies…they’d
be posted in little bits of parts…and I’d have to download which might take
an evening… I’d have to combine the different parts and there may be a part
missing…you’d have to copy one part from another to duplicate this missing
part…you’d have different systems for reassembling them…and it got more
and more… I couldn’t collect it all…and it became so frustrating that I wasn’t
watching telly, I wasn’t reading, I wasn’t doing anything…

One evening I got rid of all the computer porn and all my children video tapes,
though I did keep the other video tapes…but then two weeks later I got raided
by the police.

CONCLUSIONS
It may be useful to revisit the features we initially identified as being important aspects
of collecting, and look at what aspects of ES’s behaviour meet these criteria. There is
strong evidence of ES’s collecting behaviour as a process, in that it was not static but
dynamic, each development or stage being contingent on what and how he had
collected before, and the availability of what was left to collect in the future. The
process of collecting clearly had a modifying function in terms of how ES felt, and
he was able to associate different emotions with different aspects of his collection. It
168 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

seems that in part, what brought the process of collecting to an end was that the effort
involved in securing desired objects was starting to outweigh the pleasure gained from
securing them. There is some evidence, however, that the process of collecting would
have started all over again.
ES’s collection was quite eclectic in that, unlike many other collectors of
pornography, he did not focus on one particular specific subset of subjects of
pornographies but actively collected any material that related to humiliation and
degradation. In the main, the focus was on visual material, because this was the most
salient stimulus in evoking sexually arousing fantasies for him. Therefore the items
in his collection were held in relationship to each other, but were different from each
other. They shared common qualities but were not identical. ES repeatedly
downloaded the same material, but selected which he was going to keep with regard
to their aesthetic properties (an odd notion in the context of scat videos). There was
also a driven quality to ES’s collecting, both prior to and after going online. He
collected to the exclusion of any other social relationships or activities, and he would
negotiate his way through a variety of obstacles in order to achieve this. Indeed,
outside social activities were replaced by ‘inside’ social activities, which related to
collecting pornography. In the main, the pornography-mediated relationships were
both superficial and functional. When he had exhausted the use that somebody could
be to him with regard to expanding his collection, the relationship was discarded.
There did not appear to be a particularly competitive element to his collecting, but
he acknowledged wanting to be able to collect ‘it all’.
In some respects ES’s collection of pornography shared the same qualities preand
post-Internet, but with his involvement in the Internet, became more extensive and
more extreme in its content. This in part was a function of availability and ease of
access. He no longer had to contact people through magazines, write to them and
then wait to see if they would respond. Instead, in the course of an evening he could
access large quantities of material across a variety of categories and in the safety and
privacy of his own home. There was the same quasi-social aspect to these contacts,
only where he had previously given out his home address he could now be more
security conscious and remain largely anonymous. Ultimately, he was looking for the
same format for the material in his collection (videos), and paradoxically, while he
was able to source material that was new to him, the technology involved in obtaining
videos through the Internet ultimately meant that he became frustrated and destroyed
part of his collection.
In conclusion, while ES had always been a passionate collector of pornography,
this became more extreme when he used the Internet, such that other interests, such
as watching the television or reading, could not be met. This, in part, was because of
the volume of pictures downloaded and the amount of time that by necessity had to
go on sorting and cataloguing the images. Storage of material downloaded from the
Internet was much easier, with none of the apparent risks involved in acquiring and
storing hard-copy magazines. However, his cataloguing behaviour had an almost
obsessive quality to it, and involved a seemingly endless number of subcategories.
 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING 169

Again, this was possible in part because of the ease with which he could sort and index
material on his computer.
ES illustrates most clearly the notion of process in collecting, and it is the
development and features of this that characterise the collector in general. What ES
also illustrates, however, is the significance of the Internet in enabling the process of
collecting both to develop further and to exercise even greater control over his
behaviour. Combined with the particular qualities of the material collected (in terms
of fantasy and sexual potential), we see the emergence of a very powerful force.
170
 Chapter 8
A model of problematic Internet use

Previous chapters in this book have explored the range of activities related to child
pornography and the Internet. Although the issues raised are matters of considerable
public concern, we have noted many times that there is little by way of consistent
analysis in the area, and a marked absence of conceptual thinking from which more
empirically based approaches to management of the problem can draw. As an attempt
to address this gap, in the following we present a model of adult sexual interest in
children and problematic Internet use. Such a model might serve several functions.
It enables us to think of sexual offences against children that arise out of Internet use
as being part of a complex array of behaviours, rather than any single activity. Such
behaviours occur in relationship to each other, although, because of the process of
offending, not all people who use the Internet will engage in offence-related behaviour
to the same degree. For example, the person who downloads child pornography as
part of an array of pornographies, but who does not communicate with others, trade
or produce material, may be qualitatively different from the person who uses children
within their social world to produce images to trade on the Internet. The latter has
necessarily committed a contact offence against a child in the production of material,
but has also had prior engagement with the Internet pornography world that
necessitated the production of pictures. It is also evident that while there are people
who have previously acknowledged a sexual interest in children, for whom the
Internet becomes a medium for meeting their expressed preferences, there are equally
those who seem to have had no prior knowledge that the images might be sexually
arousing for them. In the latter case, we do not know whether such ‘dormant’ interests
might ever have found expression without the Internet. This model also allows us to
look at the cognitions or ‘self-statements’ that people generate in relation to their
activities, that enable them to behave in ways that bring them into conflict with the
law.
In developing the model, three issues seem important. The first is to note that
adult sexual interest in children on the Internet embraces both illegal and legal
activities. Collecting child pornography is illegal, but talking about fantasy or
engaging in sexual role-plays while they may be inappropriate are not necessarily
illegal. Sharing information about computer security is not illegal, but sharing
information about access to children is illegal in many jurisdictions. Furthermore, as
we have noted, not all pictures that are attractive to, and collected by adults with a
172 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

sexual interest in children are necessarily illegal. Any model of behaviour in this area,
therefore, must embrace not only clear offending behaviours, but also other related
though not necessarily illegal activities. The second issue is to emphasise the notion
of process as a key element in understanding the expression of the behaviour we are
concerned with. As we have seen in earlier chapters, offending is a dynamic rather
than static process, with individuals moving along a range of potential continua,
related to satiation of sexual arousal, processes of engagement with both collecting
and communities, and the exploration of different online personas. Previous history
of contact offences, personal circumstances and opportunity are also critical elements.
The third issue is to note that the use of the Internet for sexual purposes extends
beyond the relatively narrow confines of our concern with child pornography to
embrace many other forms of sexual interest. What is referred to as ‘cybersex’ seems
to be a major part of many people’s experience of the Internet (Cooper et al. 2000a),
and for some that experience may well have problematic qualities. In particular, a
number of authors have made reference to its compulsive and addictive features
(Cooper et al., 2000b; Orzack and Ross 2000). The use of the Internet for sexual
purposes, therefore, is not unique to the paedophile community, and the more general
problematic qualities of cybersex may well find their parallels in paedophile behaviour
and activity.
In the following we have adopted, as our starting-point for developing a conceptual
model, a focus on research that emerges out of cognitive behaviour therapy, one
therapeutic context to the management of offenders guilty of sexually related offences
against children. This is an appropriate starting-point, because it is in the management
of offenders that issues related to causative factors become most prominent. In
addition, the model presented quite explicitly draws on the discussions in earlier
chapters related to processes of collecting, notions of virtual communities, changing
notions of identity and the sexual qualities of pictures. It seeks to pull together the
various discussion threads from previous chapters into a conceptual framework,
drawing on cognitive-behavioural approaches to the management of offenders.

A MODEL: CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT

The theoretical perspective that dominates both our understanding and treatment of
adults who are sexually interested in children is a cognitive-behavioural one. In this
context, as we discussed in Chapter 3, offender differences in empathy, social skills
and cognitive processes have been a major focus for research and therapy (Geer et al.
2000). Distortions in the way offenders think are assumed to reflect attitudes and
beliefs which are used to deny, minimise and rationalise behaviour, related to
underlying belief systems or schema which play a role in precipitating and maintaining
offending (Murphy 1990). While it is unclear whether such distortions are part of
the aetiology of offending or are post hoc rationalisations, they are not only a focus of
therapeutic intervention but have also been used to provide an index of risks of
recidivism (Langevin 1991).
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 173

Authors such as Ward et al. (2000) suggest that the problem for the offender can
be viewed as partially arising from deficits in one central mechanism: the ability to
infer mental states. This has the result that the offender has difficulties in being aware
of other people’s beliefs, desires, perspectives or needs. Such an inability is clearly
context-specific, however, as many people who have committed a contact offence are
able to describe in detail how they targeted a child perceived to be vulnerable and
how time was spent in ‘grooming’ the child to increase the opportunity of offending.
Given this, it might be argued that the grooming process in particular shows a highly
developed understanding of at least this aspect of the child’s vulnerabilities and needs.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approaches are largely based on such an
understanding of offender behaviour and are guided by a relapse prevention
framework. Marshall et al. (1998) asserted that the majority of programmes are
predominantly derived from the same conceptualisation of treatment and are being
increasingly applied to diverse populations, and they suggest that ‘Care providers are
trained in skills that are meant to equip offenders with the capacity to meet their
needs in more appropriate ways, and clients are taught to apply these skills to avoid
or abort an identified relapse process’ (477). Typically CBT programmes include
modules that focus on victim awareness/empathy, fantasy in offending, sexuality and
relationships, and assertiveness and anger management (e.g. Eldridge and Wyre 1998).
In this book we have identified and discussed what in many ways is essentially a
new category of sexual offender, whose offence relates to downloading, distributing
and perhaps also producing pornographic pictures of children. In terms of offences
related to downloading child pornography, such offenders may have no known
contact with a victim, and may appear to be more similar in some ways to the voyeur
(Quayle et al. 2000) than contact offenders. In earlier chapters we have discussed the
limited research about such people and noted that we have little knowledge even as
to whether they share the same characteristics and behaviours as contact offenders.
However, given the wide use of the Internet, and the thousands of pornographic
images of children available to those who wish to look (Taylor et al. 200 1b), the use
of the Internet by sexual offenders has remained largely unexplored. Even very recent
reviews of those committing sexual offences against children (e.g. Geer et al., 2000;
Ward et al, 2000 and Ivey and Simpson 1998) make no reference to the Internet and
the possible relationship between offending and child pornography, or indeed
pornography in general.
King (1999) has called for basic research about the Internet and human sexuality
that might help practitioners. He has argued that it is not the simple availability of
pornography online that has created this need, but the fact that people now have
access to types of material that were previously available only at great expense and/or
personal risk. This, added to the current anarchical nature of Internet
communications, means the possibility of increasing social problems as people are
faced with conflicts related to self-regulation of their behaviour. This broad issue
clearly goes beyond sexuality and the Internet, and other authors have suggested that
in extreme circumstances what we are seeing is a trend of people spending increasingly
more time with technology than with other people (Kennedy-Souza 1998).
174 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Despite the growth in numbers of Internet-related offenders within the judicial

system, there has been little therapeutic research that has focused on either the
assessment or treatment of people who download child pornography from the
Internet, or who use the Internet in other ways to express sexual interest in children.
Earlier research (Quayle and Taylor 2002b) has identified difficulties experienced by
professionals who work in this area both in understanding the nature of the offence
and accommodating this as part of existing sex offender programmes. Related to this,
Marshall et al. (1998) asked us to consider in what ways we need to modify our
programmes in order to educate ourselves to treat different types of sex offender
effectively.
Within the last few years one way of conceptualising problematic Internet use has
emerged in the concept of ‘Internet Addiction’ (Griffiths 1998). This is seen as a kind
of technological addiction, falling within a subset of behavioural addictions, and
involves excessive human-machine interaction, which can be either passive (such as
television) or active (such as computer games). Such interaction is thought to ‘usually
contain inducing and reinforcing features which may contribute to the promotion
of addictive tendencies’ (Griffiths 2000:171). Cooper et al. (2000a) have also focused
on addictive and compulsive qualities related to Internet use, emphasising sexuality
as the critical factor, rather than Internet processes per se. The label of addiction may
be seen as problematic (Davis 1999), however, and diagnostic tools such as DSM-IV
(APA 1994) use instead the term dependence, while others such as Cooper et al.
(1999) talked of pathological use. However, with regard to people who download
child pornography, none of these labels appears satisfactory, as they seem to both
suggest a model of Internet use as an illness, and also relegate it to an extreme end of
a continuum of behaviour. In contrast, in the context of the model proposed here, it
would seem more helpful to think of the downloading of child pornography as
‘problematic’.
Davis (2001) has presented a specific cognitive-behavioural model of Pathological
Internet Use (PIU), which focused on associated maladaptive cognitions. The model
he presented distinguished between specific PIU and generalised PIU. Specific PIU
referred to a condition in which an individual pathologically used the Internet for a
particular purpose, such as online sex or gambling, while generalised PIU referred to
general ‘time wasting’ activities on the Internet, such as repeatedly checking e-mails
and surfing through different web sites. Specific PIU usage was purposive and tended
to be content-specific, and as such is particularly relevant to the problems associated
with downloading child pornography. Generalised PIU in contrast related to
multidimensional over-use, resulting in dysfunctional behaviours across a broad
spectrum.
In identifying the aetiology of Pathological Internet Use, Davis suggested that it
resulted from problematic cognitions that either intensified or maintained the
maladaptive response. He presented a model, within a diathesis—stress framework,
emphasising cognitions (or thoughts) as the main source of problem behaviour.
According to such a framework, any abnormal behaviour is a result of a predisposed
vulnerability (diathesis) and a life event (stress). Distal contributory causes identified
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 175

in this model were the diathesis element in the diathesis-stress model, and were
described by Davis as underlying psychopathology (such as depression, social anxiety
and substance dependence); these were seen as a distal, necessary cause of Pathological
Internet Use. The stressor was identified as the introduction of the Internet or some
new technology related to the Internet. One example given in relation to this might
be the first time an individual locates pornography on the Internet, or goes into a
chat room. The event becomes a catalyst for the developmental process of PIU. Davis
(2001) suggested that if the event is reinforcing, this increases the likelihood of the
individual repeating the activity and becoming susceptible to forms of secondary
reinforcement, such as the sound of the computer connecting with the Internet.
The central element to this model is the presence of ‘maladaptive cognitions’. Such
cognitions were seen to be ‘proximal sufficient causes of PIU, in that they are sufficient
to cause the set of symptoms associated with PIU' (191). Maladaptive cognitions
were broken down into two main subtypes: thoughts either about the self or about
the world. Davis gave very general examples of such cognitions, but it is not clear
where these are drawn from. Davis (2001) gave an example of specific PIU as someone
who compulsively and pathologically uses pornography, ‘pornography is an
immediate stimulus-response condition. Internet users are able to immediately locate
pornography online, and get immediate reinforcement from it. This behavioural
association becomes strong, and the need for more explicit materials becomes
stronger. As a result, the individual demonstrates symptoms of specific PIU' (192).
As the problem is content-specific, it is suggested that the problem might still have
occurred even if the Internet had not been a factor.
In a similar vein, Putman and Maheu (2000) have suggested that people at risk of
developing problems related to compulsive online sexual behaviour may be vulnerable
owing to underlying depressive symptoms and difficulty coping with stress, where
factors unique to the Internet result in their engaging in levels of sexual behaviour
that interfere with everyday life. Once using the Internet, ‘behavioral factors can
combine with individual vulnerabilities to establish and maintain problematic online
sexuality. Individual vulnerabilities such as anxiety, depression, stress, and
interpersonal difficulties may increase a person’s susceptibility to behavioural
conditioning because the online sexual behaviour temporarily removes the dysphoric
state’ (93).
The work in this area is interesting, as it suggests some sort of dynamic interaction
between the person and social context, rather than emphasising inherent and static
qualities of the individual. There is still, however, lack of clarity in relation to both
the diathesis and the stress elements of the model. Does the notion of pre-existing or
underlying pathology refer to current mood state or some earlier experience? Are there
‘critical periods’ in terms of the development of such pathology? How do we make
sense of pathological Internet use where such pathology cannot be identified? Equally,
the notion of maladaptive cognitions is not straightforward. Are such cognitions in
existence prior to engagement with new technologies, or do they arise out of it? Such
issues are problematic in many such diathesis-stress accounts and are not unique to
this model.
176 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

However, the emphasis on maladaptive cognitions in Davis’s model gives a useful

starting-point to develop thinking more generally about adult sexual interest in
children and problematic Internet use. Of course, there is a sense in which it might
be argued that in this case the presumed cognitions are highly adaptive, in that they
enable the individual to gain access to, and use in some way, preferred material. Such
cognitions are, however, problematic in the sense that they support behaviour that
ultimately is exploitative of others who are more vulnerable. Figure 8.1 below presents
a model of potential problematic Internet use, drawing on the broad notion of PIU
described by Davis, but extends it to focus specifically on factors related to adult
sexual interest in children and the Internet. The model relates concepts already
emerging from the COPINE research programme, such as Setting Events, Process
Factors and Cognitive and Social Factors discussed in Chapter 4, to both problematic
cognitions and behaviours.
While the focus of the model is the person expressing a sexual interest in children,
it also allows us to think about the many ways in which children are victimised by
such engagement with the Internet. What is apparent from previous chapters is that
there is not only one category of behaviour that relates to such sexual interest, but an
array of behaviours, all of which potentially function in relation to each other.
However, central to the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, and central
to the model proposed here, is the role of child pornography. As well as aiding our
general understanding, in expressing relationships in this way, this model has the
potential to be adapted to form the basis of a focused and specific treatment module
to be used as part of a sex offender programme. It also aids the development of notions
of dangerousness of offenders in the relationship between child pornography
possession and the potential to engage in contact offences. This would also be in
keeping with authors such as Gelder (1997) who have stressed the importance of a
focused approach to psychopathology, particularly in relation to abnormalities of
cognition.

A MODEL OF POTENTIAL PROBLEMATIC INTERNET

USE
The schematic model presented in Figure 8.1 facilitates the examination of behaviours
and cognitions related to problematic Internet use outside a pathological framework.
In the model, such problematic cognitions are assumed to support problem
behaviours such as accessing illegal material, sustain engagement with the Internet
and may lead to the commission of further offences. These cognitive distortions are
characteristic of a set of attitudes and values that support the legitimacy of sexual
interest in relation to children, and in particular the use of the Internet as a means of
meeting this. The characteristics of such cognitions (drawn from the discussion in
Chapter 4) are that they:

1 justify the downloading of child pornography because they are only pictures and
do not involve actual contact with a child;
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 177

2 normalise this behaviour because of the large number of people who are also
engaged in the same online behaviour;
3 objectify the images through a process of collecting which distances the offender
from the illegal content;
4 justify other forms of engagement with the images or, on occasions, real children
through colluding in an online social network.

As in earlier chapters, the data on which this model is based derives from the research
of the COPINE project. For the purpose of the discussion here, illustrative examples
are drawn from interviews with twenty-three men, all of whom have been convicted
of downloading child pornography as part of their offence behaviour. The
methodology related to these interviews has been previously described in Chapter 4.

Setting events
In the model, the concept of distal and proximal setting events replaces ‘contributory
causes’ used by Davis (2001). Given the discussion in previous chapters, this seems
more properly to describe the array of factors that contribute to setting the scene for
offending, and moves the discussion away from notions of pathology. It must also be
emphasised that this is not an attempt to generate a static or essentialist framework,
where, for example, sexual abuse is a necessary setting event for the subsequent
development of problems. In attempting to make sense of our experiences we generate
accounts for ourselves that we also use in a more public domain. In doing so, we select
elements of our experiences, both past and present, that we feel have some salience
or credibility. In part this is reflected in current social discourses, and it is perhaps
inevitable that our current focus on child sexual abuse should find its place in
offenders’ accounts. This moves us away from notions of ‘accuracy’ or ‘truthfulness’
to examine how individuals construct their world. In talking about offences, this
sample of offenders frequently, but not exclusively, gave examples of distal setting
events which included early sexualised experience and poor adolescent or adult
socialisation, while more proximal events were in relation to an existing sexual interest
in children, the commission of a prior contact offence and dissatisfaction with a
current persona. Offenders often used these setting events as an explanation of
offending behaviour. Examples of distal cognitions related to earlier sexualised
experiences included:

John got down these magazines and we were all being very quiet and we were
sitting on the floor and looking at them. It was basically pornography…they
were pictures of Paul doing stuff…ng all sorts of things I mean. (EI: 55)

This quotation is from the account of EI’s first introduction to sexual abuse as a child,
which involved viewing pornographic photographs involving his friend (John).
Cognitions like these appear to normalise the involvement with child pornography
and act as a way of explaining, or justifying, continued adult interest in this area.
 178 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Figure 8.1 A model of potential problematic Internet use.

 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 179

Explanations of this kind are often juxtaposed with statements of how traumatic that
personal abuse or exposure had been, which seems rather paradoxical, given that the
same person may go on to talk about own adult sexual involvement with children as
an expression of love. It leaves unanswered how apparently traumatic events might
play a part in inflicting further such events on others, and inevitably raises questions
about the relationship between fantasy and fact, or the interpretations based on
accounts of this kind. Other examples of distal setting events made reference to long-
lasting difficulties in relating to adults, with the Internet providing the means for
sexual exploration or expression that involved no actual contact with people:

I wouldn’t talk to them…you know…unless they spoke to me I always acted

nervous around then…and I think it was because of that…that it was more
easier…it was easily accessible on the Internet…just to erm…just to look at
the images there. (LD: 15)

The following quotations are illustrative of what might be seen as examples of more
proximal setting events, either in terms of providing a way of effectively dealing with
current dissatisfactions in the individual’s life, or as a means of engaging in sexual
interest in children without necessitating the abuse of a child within the offender’s
immediate social world:

I think it mattered to the extent that it shut out the…part of my life that I was
finding difficult to deal with…it was sort of my time, it was my space... I got
to the stage where I started to feel…annoyed if I felt…other people were
intruding on that. (MQ: 33)

I told them that my whole philosophy was we’re paedos…let’s look at the
pics…let’s jerk off but let’s not hurt any kids. (QH: 24)

ENGAGING WITH THE INTERNET AND THE

BEGINNING OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE
The setting events identified relate both to Internet use and the development of
problematic cognitions. The decision to go online, on the basis of evidence from the
COPINE interviews, may be a way of generating solutions to both distal and proximal
setting events. The majority of respondents in the interview sample had taught
themselves how to use the Internet, and gaining access to it brought opportunity to
find pornography. While some respondents developed skills sufficient only to help
them gain access to such material, most quickly acquired high levels of skill either
through chatting to others, reading Internet magazines, or buying or downloading
software packages. Long periods of time spent on the Internet provided opportunity
for practice that was highly reinforcing. This can be conceptualised as part of the
180 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

process of engagement, which was facilitated by cognitive and social factors. It is

worth noting that there was often a rapid increase in feelings of power associated with
being able to find material, bypass security measures and gain credibility with other
Internet users. This is reflected in cognitions that indicate an emergent sense of power
and control:

But it was by going through and searching and… I suppose practice they say
makes perfect…that I found these sites in Russia which had a whole sort of
data base. (MQ: 17)

yes a lovely little world that you’d get into…and you knew you could be in
control of it. Nobody was going to stop me…seeing what I wanted to see. (DX:
60)

As respondents started to download, what emerged was the increasing normalisation

of accessing and collecting pornographic material. Cognitions supporting this make
reference to others engaged in similar behaviour:

I was finding more explicit stuff on the computer and I was looking at the
computer and thinking oh…they’re doing it…it can’t be that bad…it’s there
you know. (KQ: 7)

there was the knowledge that at least a lot of the material was of interest not
only to myself but to other people. (11:9)

For all respondents there was a rapid increase in the amount of time spent online and
a reduction in actual social behaviour. There was a sense of not wanting to or not
needing to move away from the computer in order to be with people. This was seen
particularly where participants moved from picture- to text-based material and where
they sought out ‘chat’ with others through IRC. Cognitions reflect the difference
between the social world offline and the more exciting online environment:

you’re not getting anywhere…it was like I was doing overtime I was doing
stupid overtimes like double shifts sometimes you know I used to work… I
think like when it became like me only social outlet. (TQ: 13)

er it was a little…it was a fantasy world for me…and it was so different from
the mundane existence I’d been leading. Here was something that was
dangerous…it was exciting…it was new. (11:15)

ESCALATION OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE

Engagement with the Internet is a dynamic process, and in the case of offending
activity, it seems to involve a process of escalation. Given this, it is important to note
that presumably some individuals, having reached this point, reduce their level of
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 181

engagement with the Internet, rather than increase it. Access to this information is
difficult, for, of course, we only see in offender accounts the result of escalating
involvement. Perhaps the issue here relates to the nature and personal significance of
the setting events as factors sustaining involvement with the Internet. For those for
whom escalation occurred, there were frequent references made to the addictive
qualities of the Internet, as an explanation of continuing and escalating involvement
with the child pornography world:

it was a real sense of addiction. Every opportunity that I had to get online when
my wife wasn’t in I would do it. (11:15)

and the first thing I do like any drug addict looking for his next fix is I go on
the Web for…paedophilia…especially pictures. (QH: 5)

and I’d stopped for a while but it was like constantly in my head… I wanted to
get back to it. (DX: 18)

These cognitions were used as a way of rationalising staying online and looking for
child pornography, and engaging in other forms of sexualised activity. Downloading
behaviour, therefore, was often seen as a form of illness over which the respondent
has little or no control. However, one relevant difference to note in relation to the
Internet is that there are few external controls, by way of people or situations, which
are going to influence this behaviour. Once online, downloading pornography is not
censured but is reinforced by the community engaged in similar behaviour. To
challenge that community by expressing doubts about what one is doing is to run
the risk of censure or even of losing the social contact with others.

OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
As a result of these processes, the model proposes a number of behavioural outcomes,
some of which are clearly forms of illegal behaviour (termed offending behaviour)
and others drawing on the same roots that are not illegal (referred to below as non-
offending behaviour). The model proposes four forms of offending behaviour:
downloading; trading; seduction; and contact offences. All revolve around
engagement with the Internet and the possession of child pornography.

Downloading
Given such circumstances, spending time online was associated with an increase in
the number of images downloaded and a corresponding expansion and/or focus in
collecting. Collecting behaviour taking this form generated cognitions that appeared
to distance the respondent from the content of the collection and objectified the
children within such images:
182 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Well I had a good collection. I had a strong collection actually ‘cause er…there
were very few duplicate pictures in it…See most people when they’d organize
their collection there’d be a lot of duplicate pictures and it was all of this
disheveled mess…my organizational skills were er quite excellent. (QH: 17)

well in the pictures folder there’d probably be a folder called er panties and
there’d be like front and behind. (OC: 60)

In many cases, preference was shown for some pornographic images over others. In
the main this involved downloading large numbers of images and then sorting and
cataloguing new images, identifying as part of this those pictures that were attractive.
Some respondents looked for images to complete a series, and kept the series name;
others liked to complete a series but changed the name to suit either the child or a
particular fantasy:

I began to collect certain series…of pictures erm one at a time…erm. You know
you’d get a particular series that you’d particularly like. (OK: 22)

The fact that sexual activity involved masturbation to images as opposed to real
children was used as a justification of this behaviour:

it was purely a visual image to allow me to achieve an erection so I could go

into the bathroom and masturbate. (KQ: 22)

it wasn’t a person at all it was…it was just a flat image…it was a nothing. (OC:
54)

Sometimes the images had a specific sexual focus: for example, one respondent liked
to look at circumcised penises and would collect, but not exclusively, pictures that
related to this. Another liked pictures of’ Aryan’ boys, whereas one respondent
indicated a preference for ‘action shots’ that depicted actual penetration. For all
respondents, however, collecting was driven by a search for new material, sometimes
to complete a series and at other times with reference to a particular sexual fantasy.
This meant that ‘old pictures’ once catalogued might seldom be looked at again.
Newness was also referred to as part of a socialisation process—it legitimised exchange,
whereas old material did not:

I would tend to look at what…what had recently been posted so it wasn’t about
tracking through to find specifics but a half dozen or so or a dozen or o and
new this week. (JK: 27)

it kind of legitimised my…sort of personality on the Net…in that I can show

you I liked this…you can talk to me because I can show you I like this material.
(11:16)
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 183

Collecting pictures from the Internet led to an increase in both fantasy and sexual
activity. Many of the participants had had a very low level of sexual engagement with
others (even where there was a sexual partner) and solitary sexual activity increased,
for some dramatically, while downloading and sorting material (both pictures and
text):

I would say after probably two or three hours I would say…about two or three
hours and then I would masturbate. If I hadn’t found anything particular that
I liked on the Internet I could always go back to me disks and feed off them.
(DX: 9)

Cognitions that supported such sexual activity made reference to the fact that it was
only fantasy, or made comparisons with adult heterosexual relationships:

and as long as you keep your sense…that it’s fantasy…then it’s OK. (MQ: 19)

But the big thing I kept saying and I believed it…with every inch of my body
…was that this was OK because I’m not touching… I’m not touching
anybody…it’s better for me to sit here fantasising and looking at pictures…
and I’m not I’m not doing anything else. (OK: 68)

Being able to access images at will for the purposes of masturbation was also
accompanied by feelings of control, often absent in real-life relationships. This notion
of control was also evidenced in some of the preferred fantasy material about ‘teaching’
children about love and sex:

and then I started to…wonder if he’s old enough to clim(ax). I mean this is
the thought that came into it with the pictures… I meant to tell you that as
well…you know about making their first time really good. (OK: 58)

Downloading pictures was not necessarily the end point in this form of offending
behaviour. Closely related was an involvement in collecting text material, which may
substitute for pictures as a stimulus for sexual arousal.

Trading child pornography and the importance of virtual/real

adult contact
Not all collectors of child pornography moved from collecting to contact or
communication with others (either adults or children). Some people seemed to prefer
to engage only with the Internet as an individual, taking pictures or text from others
but in the absence of any social exchange. But for all respondents who sought to
communicate with others, the relationships formed assumed importance and were
selective, and access to both material and relationships were often through a carefully
policed private channel. Several respondents contacted people they had met through
the Internet and arranged physically to meet them. These contacts often had a
184 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

mundane quality about them, including telephone calls, sending flowers and cards.
For all respondents who made contact with others, the ‘reality’ of the relationship
was important in legitimising and normalising their interests:

my rule was that they had to be decent…stable, not police officers and have
some pictures. They didn’t have to have a huge collection…if they had stuff I
didn’t have great…if they didn’t I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it. (QH:
21)

For those respondents who engaged in any social interaction with the Internet
through IRC (Internet Relay Chat) or other forms of person-to-person contact, the
process of sustaining that engagement required the participant to have credibility.
Such credibility often related to qualities of pornographic picture collections, which
served to illustrate the centrality of child pornography to the broader issue of adult
sexual interest in children and the Internet. Credibility and status could be achieved
through the size of the collection of photographs or through the exchange or trade
of new or ‘rare’ material such as pictures or text. The latter would consist of fantasy
stories, or talk of previous ‘contact activities’. Again, cognitions that supported such
behaviour tended to emphasise the feeling of importance gained from owning and
distributing such images, while at the same time equating the pictures with more
socially desirable commodities, such as works of art:

Well like I said I was very good at finding people to trade with. I was a good
negotiator so to speak and I would tend to find pictures… I managed to find
the whole series from somebody and I let the channel operators know…and
they were deeply grateful. It’s kind of like an art collector who finds a lost
Picasso. (QH: 13)

It appeared that there had to be ‘input’ of some sort both to engage in such
relationships and to sustain them (in a similar way to real-life relationships). This
might be achieved by keeping a file of ‘vital statistics’ in relation to nicknames, so
that when a nickname came up they could immediately respond with personal
material that helped build the relationship. The adoption of nicknames was also a
way of reinforcing fantasies about the self, and, of course, drew on notions of identity
and manipulation of self-representation. For example, one respondent took on the
name Harry Mudd as being a fictional character that he saw as being similar to the
real him—the mischievous rogue—but a part of his persona that he could never
express. Another used Mutznutz as a cartoon dog character—friendly and boisterous
—and would follow this through by signing on and off IRC with a woof.
For those respondents who traded, or distributed, images, the notion of images as
currency appeared to be important. They are currency in terms of trading for new
material but they are also currency in maintaining existing online relationships and
giving credibility. An important aspect of this is the notion of a community of
collectors serving to normalise the process of collecting but also legitimising the
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 185

downloading and saving of images that in other contexts may have been aversive to
the respondent:

some of them I kept with the idea well these again don’t appeal to me but I
might be able to use these some time in the future perhaps for swapping with
somebody else…something perhaps more that I do like or whatever. (OK: 40)

Engagement with Internet seduction of children

Within the sample of respondents available to the COPINE Project, one person used
both a child and an adult persona to effect contact with other children through the
Internet. This was accomplished through chat rooms. As noted in Chapter 5,
assuming a child’s persona (sustained over a number of months) allowed this
respondent easily to win the trust of others he supposed to be children and to engage
in cybersex with them. These necessarily had to be geographically distant
relationships, as revealing himself physically would have destroyed the persona he
had created for himself. The creation and maintenance of this persona lasted for over
twelve months and in itself is evidence of a distorted cognitive style that was at odds
with his offline world. Chatting to others as if he was a child allowed this respondent
to justify his behaviour, as then the activity was taking place between children rather
than between an adult and a child.
However, self-representing as an adult male allowed him to chat to under-age
males, to engage in sexual activity with them both online and via the telephone, and
to arrange physical meetings with them. Justification of such behaviour was largely
achieved through talking to other adults online, and feeling that here in this
community were the only people who would understand.
Public concern about Internet seduction of children is very high, but it is difficult
to gain any true sense of the nature and scale of the problem. For it to occur, it requires
a degree of engagement by both parties, in a sense making real the fantasy of the
compliant and sexualised child. Presumably the frequent accounts of Law
Enforcement ‘sting’ operations in this area, when adults engage with what they think
is a child who later turns out to be a police officer, draws on this ‘shared’ fantasy.
Unquestionably there really are children on the Internet who do in fact fulfil these
fantasy requirements, but it may be that ‘sting’ operations are as much an indicator
of the prevalence of that fantasy, rather than a reflection of risk as such.

Commission of a contact offence

For some respondents, the commission of a contact offence was presented as an
extension of online behaviour, where the fantasy engaged with online was acted out
in real life. A critical limiting factor is, of course, opportunity to access a child in
circumstances where a contact offence could occur. The cognitions that supported
contact offences made reference to the pictures reflecting others having engaged in
similar behaviour, along with passive acceptance by the child:
186 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

I was finding more and more explicit stuff on the computer and I was looking
at the computer and thinking oh…they’re doing it…it can’t be that bad…it’s
there you know… I’m not doing any harm and she doesn’t seem to mind…and
it just gradually built up over a period of time. (KQ: 7)

‘cause by the time I had those images yes so I’d look at those erm…and all I
wanted to do was abuse her really…make sure she was asleep in bed, stalk on
the stairs and keep watching…to make sure she was asleep and then I abused.
(DX: 24)

Contact offences may be limited to sexual assaults, but may also include the
production of pornographic material. In some cases self-statements that supported
such production lean heavily on the legitimacy of the behaviour because it was a copy
of what had been seen online:

when I made this video tape I was copying these er movie clips…that I’d
downloaded er… I wanted to be…doing what they were doing. (KQ: 32)

Such justifications share many of the same qualities as those that accompany
downloading, raising important issues about the relationship between downloading
and contact offences. In terms of risk assessment, this is a very important issue.
In other cases, contact offences were related to the need to sustain and increase
credibility amongst others, as a means of gaining further desired pornographic
material. The following is an account from an offender (ET) of how he became
involved in the production of pornographic videos of his young daughter both to
meet demands from people he encountered online and to gain access to material that
he wanted:

Well, that came about where… I was in the chat room and obviously chatting
to a lot of people who were trading images.
It was like…people send lists of material that they had. They might have 10,
000 and videos and that…and they were reluctant to give me access to any of
that material unless I could come up with some new material
I was sort of left out of this arena that was going on, this trading of new
pictures.
My motivation then was to come up with some pictures that I could trade
for…for these images.
It was then that I thought about steps of involving my daughter…in in
creating video to actually trade to get the material that I wanted.
When I actually started offending it was…my aims were to produce a video
without necessarily abusing my daughter…that’s how I think I began justifying
it to myself.
I think the first instance was when I’d got back into the chatrooms and… I
was sort of talking about I may be able to provide something and in return…
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 187

and I’m sort of asking what would I get in return if I did sort of thing…and
they came up with like longer snippets of videos that were available that they
were prepared to trade with me if I did. And that was like what really made up
my mind to carry out the acts themselves.

Central to this account is how the offender ‘talked himself into sexual contact with
his child that he then photographed and distributed. Having arrived at that point,
he justifies his behaviour as not really being abusive, in part because he involved her
in the production of the material. What this also emphasised is the importance of
newness as being a factor in the production of material and its currency for trading
images.

NON-OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
The model presented here reflects the fact that not all people who engage in
problematic Internet use either go on to commit an offence through downloading
child pornography or attempting to seduce children through the Internet. Within
our sample of respondents (all of whom had been convicted), there was also evidence
of a movement between pornographies and of using the Internet to further adult
sexual relationships. This is often expressed in terms of boredom or satiation, so that
cognitions that support accessing new material are in relation to increasing the levels
of sexual stimulation. Indeed, in time this might lead to a movement away from
collecting and even viewing child pornography:

I was actually getting quite bored as it were…erm…with the sort of child

pornography… I was becoming sort of much more obsessed with bondage…
and sort of torture…imagery. So… I’d kind of exhausted…the potential that
it had for sexual arousal. (11:20)

For some respondents, non-offending behaviour took the form of collecting erotica,
rather than material that would meet the legal definition for child pornography
(Taylor et al., 2001). This material appeared to function in the same way as child
pornography (as a sexual stimulus, as a collectible item, as a means of exchange and
so on), but could be justified because it did not constitute pornography, and was
often described as ‘artistic’. The fact that such material was relatively easy to obtain
and was sometimes in the public domain was used to legitimise the behaviour, even
when the person acknowledged that it functioned in exactly the same way as material
that was frankly pornographic.
A further parallel feature of Internet behaviour for many people involved in adult
sexual interest in children is a preoccupation with issues related to security. Whilst
gaining information on how best to protect a computer, or how to hide material,
does not constitute an offence in itself, it is clearly associated with offending behaviour
and the desire to avoid detection. Thus, engagement through the Internet with other
people with a sexual interest in children does not necessarily focus only on pictures,
188 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

or seductive relationships or fantasy. Bulletin Boards and newsgroups, for example,

frequently contain material relevant to the security concerns of their readers.

PROCESSES
Previous literature, in the context of people with a sexual interest in children, has
focused on a cognitive behavioural model both to help us understand the nature of
the problem and to provide a framework for therapeutic intervention. While such
research is not without its critics (e.g. Geer et al., 2000), it still informs the majority
of treatment approaches for offenders, yet so far it fails to accommodate behaviour
that relates to the new technologies. Recent research that has examined the role of
cognitions in Pathological Internet Use (e.g. Davis 2001), suggested that cognitive
distortions and reinforcement facilitate symptoms and behaviours associated with
spending too much time online. The model that has been developed in this chapter
draws attention to a process model of problematic Internet use that is mediated by
distorted cognitions. This model allows us to examine the various stages that offenders
move through in engaging with the Internet, and the cognitions that support and
sustain engagement. While it is not supposed that this represents the totality of
problematic cognitions related to such offending, it is suggested that this provides a
useful conceptual framework that may inform therapeutic assessment and
intervention.
Such a conceptual framework is desirable in the context of our understanding of
offenders and the management of their offences, because it suggests that offenders
move through stages of involvement with the Internet that are largely maintained by
problematic cognitions about the self and the material being viewed. Such cognitions
may facilitate an increase in the level of problematic behaviour (for example, moving
from downloading child pornography to the commission of a contact offence) or may
allow for the move to other sexually exciting, but legal, behaviour.
Within this model, it is clear that cognitions change when the offender moves from
a relatively isolated position as ‘downloader’ to be involved in a larger social network
that has many of the characteristics of a ‘community’ (Linehan et al., 2002). Within
the more benign context of education, it has been argued that the Internet provides
the opportunity for the development of a ‘community of learners’ (Ingram et al.
2000). The model proposed here addresses this in its account of two crimes that relate
to community: the production and trade of child pornography, and engagement with
Internet seduction of children. Communities facilitate such behaviour through
coaching users in the skills needed to engage with the Internet and avoid detection.
They also allow offenders to justify their behaviour, and the absence of an offline
audience means that such distorted cognitions go unchallenged. It is also important
to note that for most, if not all, downloaders of child pornography, increased Internet
activity results in, or is a function of, decreased social engagement with the ‘real’
world. This is very similar to the findings of Kraut et al. (1998) who suggested that
greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants’
communication with family members and larger social circle, as well as increases in
 A MODEL OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE 189

depression and loneliness. In the work reported here, the amount of time spent on
the Internet precluded many social relationships and limited any ‘reality checks’ on
the appropriateness of downloading child pornography.
It is apparent from this model not only that for some individuals the Internet
presents an opportunity to access material that may be problematic from a judicial
perspective, but that the nature of the Internet itself may be problematic for the user
(Davis 2001; Morahan-Martin and Schumacher 2000). Granic and Lamey (2000)
suggested that the Internet has provided people with experiences that have led to a
reinterpretation of society, relationships and the self. This is very relevant for people
with a sexual interest in children. Through the Internet we see a potential change in
the offenders’ beliefs, values and cognitive styles, as they act and interact outside the
confines of a conventional hierarchy. It is possible that such experiences may empower
sex offenders, who have otherwise felt marginalised within a conventional society.
King (1999) discussed the problems that some people clearly have in abstaining
from problematic Internet content. The respondents in the work reported here
rationalised this by talking about their addiction to the Internet in general and child
pornography in particular. It may be that this is a peculiarity of this sample, in that
the police had apprehended all respondents and their downloading activities had been
taken out of their control. Whether more of this sample would have gone on to
commit contact offences remains unknown.
Clearly the anarchic nature of the Internet (King 1999) means that it will continue
to effect social, cultural and psychological changes. However, the model proposed
here is a first step to increasing understanding of the role that the Internet may play
in offending behaviour and, in particular, offences related to the abuse of children.
190
 Chapter 9
Issues for concern and conclusions

In this book, we have tried to develop a broad and comprehensive view of child
pornography, in terms of the features, qualities and processes that might be involved
in its collection, distribution and production. In this final chapter, we will attempt
to pull together some of the major issues that emerge from the book, and in doing
so try to extend the debate towards conceptual and policy gaps and practice as we see
them.
By way of review and conclusion, perhaps the single issue most clearly to emerge
is the fact that child pornography can have a variety of functions for individuals who
collect, produce and distribute it. However we define child pornography, its role for
those involved with it can be quite complex. Whilst sexual fantasy may in one sense
lie at its heart, there are also ways in which the pictures are a commodity which those
concerned with them use in different ways, and which can meet a number of different
needs for those individuals. Furthermore, it seems that these functions for the
individual can change over time, and that whilst we might identify a range of processes
in which child pornography plays a part, not all individuals are involved with these
processes in the same way, and similarly the functions of child pornography for any
given individual may change over time.
A further principal issue addressed by this book relates to the specific role of the
Internet in the production, distribution and collection of child pornography, as well
as the broader associated issue of the role of the Internet in the sexual exploitation of
children through child pornography. Two problems can be identified in drawing
conclusions with respect to this issue. The first is our general lack of knowledge about
the role of child pornography in the sexual exploitation of children per se, the second
relates to a historical comparative perspective and concerns the extent and nature of
child pornography before the Internet. To properly understand the current situation,
we need to better define its context, but we are ill-prepared to do this. Is the extent
and nature of child pornography growing because of the Internet, or are we simply
more aware of something that has always been there, but hidden? With respect to
new pictures, when they emerge are we seeing something that would have happened
anyway, but in the absence of the Internet did not have an accessible forum through
which to emerge, or are we seeing a genuine growth of something that was not
happening before? The Internet certainly makes child pornography more accessible,
and ease of access presumably means that psychological barriers such as inhibitions
192 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

or fear of exposure are less effective in limiting access. Should we perhaps look on
this in market terms, where increased demand caused by the relative ease of access
on the Internet results in an increased supply? In absolute terms it is difficult to make
accurate judgements about issues related to growth in quantity, but what is clear is
that we are now much more aware than we were that it is a problem, and furthermore
a problem in which the Internet plays a significant role.
However, even given these gaps in our knowledge, there are some things we can
say with reasonable certainty. It does seem that there are different kinds of
involvement with child pornography as we noted above, which may in part be a
reflection of both Internet processes, and the ready availability of child pornography
on the Internet, creating a new situation when compared to pre-Internet days. The
Internet as a network is bounded by specific communication protocols which focus
and shape what is possible, but which may also increase the likelihood of particular
types of behaviour. The isolated quality of engagement with the Internet, the assumed
anonymity, and the possibilities for changing self-representation are all factors that
might lead some people to become increasingly involved with deviant activities such
as child pornography. However, this applies not only to involvement with child
pornography, of course, but to many other areas as well.

COMPLEXITY OF DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
In Chapter 2, we discussed at some length what we mean by child pornography. Two
broad contrasting perspectives were identified: definitions related to legal
specification, and definitions related to more psychological qualities of what people
with a sexual interest in children themselves regard as sexually attractive. In a way,
this is a false dichotomy, because these different approaches to definition address
different issues; in any event, at the extreme end of pictures portraying explicit sexual
behaviour, both views converge. It only becomes potentially more problematic,
however, when less extreme pictures are considered. But, by making this distinction,
we did not mean to argue for a substitution of one definition for the other. Legal
definitions are necessarily precise and have to be grounded in some objective criteria.
The alternative, more psychological approach supplements the legal definition,
because it helps us to place the rather arbitrary qualities any legal approach will have
in practice into some kind of context.
The core quality of any psychological approach to child pornography based on
preferences of adults with a sexual interest in children will necessarily relate to fantasy.
But whilst fantasy is clearly an element in the distorted cognitions that we have
suggested underpin engagement with child pornography, the management of fantasy
per se is something that the law is ill-equipped to address, and indeed many would
feel should not attempt to address. Many people have many kinds of fantasies;
provided such fantasies remain private, and provided they are not expressed in some
form of behaviour that impinges on others, the law can have no effective role. Indeed,
unless such fantasies are expressed in some way, how can anyone know they are there?
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 193

Drawing attention to the psychological qualities of child pornography aids our

understanding of the nature of the problem, but does not necessarily solve the difficult
issues related to resolving what constitutes child pornography. Psychological
approaches might help the law to be better refined, or may play a part in placing into
context collecting behaviours, for example, that may be indicative of a sexual interest
in children. It is not, however, a competing kind of definition.
Whilst the central and core quality of child pornography is its capacity to generate
and sustain sexual fantasy, child pornographic pictures can also be seen to be
important as objects for collecting, and as a focus for social interaction. In Chapter 7
we reviewed the sense in which qualities relating to collecting per se, rather than sexual
fantasy, may be factors in determining some aspects of collecting behaviour. In this
respect, notions of completeness along some attribute or dimension seem to be
important. In Chapter 6 we also reviewed the sense in which child pornography can
be the ‘vehicle’ around which social interaction between people can grow. Such social
interaction has an important role in normalising adult sexual interest in children. It
also facilitates the provision of information related both to the availability of
photographs and to issues of security in both maintaining collections and accessing
the Internet. For some people, social activities also include the opportunity to engage
in fantasy role-play, and sometimes, real roleplay leading to meetings, centred on
sexual encounters with children. Given this, therefore, our understanding of child
pornography needs to be broadened beyond a narrow concern with pictures, to
embrace a much more comprehensive agenda related to sexual abuse of children.
Sexual fantasy may lie at the core of child pornography, but other issues are also
significant.
The central quality of pictures that are attractive to adults with a sexual interest in
children, therefore, is that they enable the generation and sustenance of sexual fantasy
about children. This is expressed primarily in terms of solitary sexual activity such as
masturbation, but may, as we have noted, include other more social activities.
However, the pictures that are used as a vehicle for sexual fantasy and behaviour are
not confined to those we refer to, within a legal framework, as child pornography.
Child pornography in most jurisdictions refers to pictures that meet some legal
criteria. For example, it may be that to be defined as pornography, such pictures have
to portray children in sexual acts, or have to meet some benchmark with regard to
what is considered obscene. Such criteria vary both between countries and even within
countries, such that what may be considered pornographic in one state of the United
States, for example, may not be considered pornographic within another. Child
pornographic pictures at their worst are pictures of sexual assault in progress, and in
this sense, therefore, are at the extreme end (in terms of sexual victimisation) of a
continuum of pictures that adults with a sexual interest in children fantasise over.
Fantasy, however, is both an ephemeral and fickle thing. What constitutes a sexually
arousing fantasy can change over time, as a result of continued exposure (perhaps
related to a form of habituation), changing circumstance (availability of pictures) and
learning experiences.
194 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

According to offenders, and also through inspection of the child pornographic

pictures available on the Internet, core fantasy qualities that seem to be important in
child pornography often emphasise notions of innocence, conventional prettiness,
wholesomeness and, paradoxically, knowing compliance: on the whole, contradictory
elements. Depiction of explicit sexual behaviour is not always, and appears not
necessarily to be, a central quality of attractiveness, although nakedness, and/or
sexually provocative position do seem to be. White, blonde boys and girls aged
between 9 and 12 seem to be the preferred ethnic background and age for the
community that collects child pornography from the Internet (probably a reflection
of the primarily Western white community that uses the Internet).
Given that child pornography is, at its core, about sexual fantasy, and recognising
that the law has a limited role to play in the regulation of fantasy when that fantasy
does not include third parties, why then is viewing child pornography so problematic?
In Chapter 2 we outlined some of the reasons why this should be the case, and it is
worth restating them here.
Perhaps the primary reason is that the production of child pornography requires
a child to be sexually abused in some sense. The process of production requires the
photographer to create a situation where a child is either physically abused, or posed
in sexualised ways, and as such it is a product of an illegal and inappropriate act. The
production of child pornography is not an act of fantasy—it is an abusive act. The
viewer, even though distant from both the child and the producer, is in a sense aiding
and abetting that process, by providing a market for the supplier of the material and
similarly for making evident (through Internet activity, private contact or through
payment for commercial material) a demand.
A further reason why viewing child pornography is problematic is that a
photographic record in whatever media preserves the pictures of that abuse. At worst,
therefore, it is a permanent record of crime, and serves to perpetuate the images and
memory of that abuse for as long as it exists. Distributing and viewing child
pornography, therefore, ensures the continued and even increased availability of the
record of the abuse. As we have noted, the implications of this for the family of the
child and the child itself may be very severe and traumatic. It also represents a violation
of the child and his or her family’s privacy, and generally a visible demonstration of
abuse of position or relationship. This becomes of greater significance in the context
of the Internet. Once a photograph is digitised and distributed on the Internet, it can
be perfectly reproduced or modified endlessly by anyone in possession of it. In the
case of a normal photograph, destruction of the negative severely limits the likelihood
of that photograph being reproduced; in the case of Internet images, the only way to
control reproduction of a photograph is to destroy all copies—an impossible task
once a picture has been posted to an Internet source.
A more complex argument relates to the effects on cognitive functioning of
exposure to child pornography. By generating such inappropriate sexual fantasy in
an individual, we must be concerned about the risk of fantasy becoming reality; we
must be concerned that by watching a sexual assault, the viewer is encouraged
subsequently to commit such an assault. Intellectually this may seem a reasonable
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 195

fear, although empirically the evidence, such as there is, is difficult to interpret. In
the context of adult rape, it appears that the use of pornography by offenders may be
evidence of an engagement in a deviant array of sexual behaviours, rather than, as we
noted in Chapter 4, a cause of offending. On the other hand, some research has
suggested that child molesters were more likely to use such pornographic pictures
prior to and during the commission of an offence. Given the importance of this issue
and in the absence of definitive knowledge, for practical purposes prudence suggests
we must err on the side of caution and assume the balance lies in terms of the dangers
of fantasy becoming reality. There is a much clearer identifiable risk that lies (albeit
for a small number of people) in pornographic material becoming the model that
encourages and generates viewers to take photographs themselves—in other words,
for some people it provides the stimulus (when other circumstances allow) to cross
the boundary from viewing to abusing. It is not clear whether child pornography per
se creates that stimulus, whether the social context in which child pornography is
traded (especially on the Internet) is the critical factor, or whether it facilitates and
gives expression to an intention already formed. However, that there is a relationship
of some kind for some individuals is quite clear, and we must take the potential danger
of this seriously. It is, however, important to maintain a sense of proportion, and risk
factors here, of course, also relate to the access an individual has to children, and the
context and circumstances of that access.
We also know that child pornography for some individuals can be used as a learning
instrument in the ‘grooming’ process, whereby a child is de-sensitised to sexual
demands and encouraged to normalise inappropriate activities. Finally, in a more
general sense, we can reasonably assert that a consequence of viewing sexual pictures
of children is that it may sexualise other aspects of childhood and family life. In
contemporary Western society there is a broad, if confused, consensus that childhood
and family life should not be encroached on in this way.
The reasons why possession of child pornography should be criminalised, therefore,
seem clear enough, and its links with sexual abuse need to be clearly stressed and
understood. However, it is important also to stress that not all those who have an
interest in child pornography are necessarily actual or even potential child molesters
in reality rather than fantasy. For some people, a sense of progression seems to be
evident, where child pornography represents a step on the way to sexual assaults on
children. But, as can be seen in the model of offending presented in Chapter 8, others
may stay at one phase, or shift to other elements without necessarily going through
all other phases. Some offenders clearly progress from a history of contact offences,
discover child pornography, collect and eventually produce their own material for
trading on the Internet Others seem to engage in solitary collecting through non-
interactive protocols (such as newsgroups), and, as far as can be judged, never engage
in contact offences. For yet other people, the social context to collecting seems to
become of greater importance than the material itself; and perhaps for others sexual
fantasy associated with a strong attraction to risk taking is important. Adler (2001)
emphasises the potential significance of risk taking from an unusual legal perspective,
and extends the argument to suggest that there will always be people within our society
196 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

who are attracted to what is socially constructed as taboo. A further group seems to
pass through child pornography as part of a progression through a range of
pornographies; perhaps these people can be characterised as seeking sexual stimulation
through novel or extreme materials.
What we can say is that the dynamic processes associated with child pornography
are at the moment complex and obscure, and it seems likely that not all individuals
who collect child pornography do so for the same reasons, or indeed necessarily have
the same degree of sexual interest in children. The significance of the factors
influencing this may also change over time. In terms of making judgements about
the extent to which people in possession of child pornography represent a serious
threat to children, there is a need for more research to better identify the issues
involved. However, whatever we might say of individual risk, it also needs to be
stressed that engagement with the processes we have identified is a serious threat to
children, and involvement with these processes represents endorsement and
facilitation of them. On conviction, possession of child pornography should therefore
attract heavy sentences regardless of the extent of risk for an individual of contact
offence. In our view, the issue revolves around the identification and management of
risk, and subsequent provision of treatment, rather than sentencing practices per se.

Contact offences
How then do we make sense of child pornography in relation to contact offences?
The original evidence cited in this book largely comes from interviews with offenders
and the people who work with them. Many of these offenders appear to have no
history of contact offences, and the offence for which they were convicted generally
involved downloading and possession of child pornography. Few of these offenders
admitted to intentions to commit contact offences, and most spoke about the barriers
they felt that hindered the actual real-life expression of their sexual fantasy. Some
even denied sexual arousal by the photographs they were found in possession of. On
the basis of this evidence, and on the basis of the limited literature in this area, there
are grounds for supposing that there is a group of offenders who focus not on actual
sexual assaults on children, but on fantasy contact with children—fantasy driven by
child pornography. This fantasy world gains support from its social context, and from
the ready availability of child pornography in which the Internet plays a crucial role.
There are even some limited grounds for suggesting that, in some cases, access to
child pornography may protect against actual sexual assault, by offering the adult
with a sexual interest in children the opportunity to express sexual activity with a
surrogate child (a photograph) rather than a real child.
However, making inferences in this area is difficult. Most of the published
literature, and the evidence cited from the COPINE interviews used in this book,
involves convicted offenders. As a general rule, convicted offenders are unlikely to
admit to offences they have not been convicted of (although that in fact has
happened), and inevitably, because of hindsight and the fact of being either in prison,
or under probation supervision, and perhaps exposed to therapy, there is a very human
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 197

tendency for individuals to put the best light on their actions. Perhaps more
importantly, however, all were stopped in their actual or potential offending
behaviour by being arrested. Would the offenders whose voices you have heard in
this book have committed a contact offence if they had not been apprehended? There
is, of course, no answer to this. We do know, however, that the numbers of new
pictures that emerge are very, very much less than the number of people who collect
pictures. Similarly, we also know that producers of child pornography appear to be
relatively rare (at least in terms of those photographs that are publicly distributed and
identified). What we do not know, however (and what inevitably complicates the
analysis), is the extent to which taking photographs is a factor in sexual assaults against
children (involving photographs that are never distributed or disclosed to third
parties). Anecdotal reports would suggest that many offenders take pictures of their
victims to keep as trophies or reminders of what the child looked like at their preferred
age. Such photographs may be shared with others, and may appear in the collections
of child pornography we see, but many are more likely to be kept as personal
memorabilia.
We need to maintain a sense of proportion in making judgements related to
predicting the extent to which an individual possessing child pornography might
engage in contact offences. Quite clearly, producers of child pornography are involved
in sexual assaults against children. Where opportunity allows, some collectors of child
pornography may become involved in assaults (which may or may not involve
photographs) through exposure to child pornography, and some people may become
involved in other forms of assault or potentially assaultive behaviour through activities
such as seeking to meet children through chat rooms. There is also the possibility of
individuals ‘commissioning’ the production of photographs or engaging in the
direction of sexual assaults through videoconferencing. The evidence, such as it is,
suggests that all of these groups are in a minority when compared to the very large
numbers of people who in some way or another access child pornography on the
Internet.
One way of representing the structure of offending suggested in this book can be
seen in Figure 9.1 which illustrates the relationship between the three different kinds
of involvement with child pornography we have identified.
The figure shows how producers of child pornography trade pictures with other
producers, and with others who collect pictures (collectors), and others who might
both collect and trade pictures with others (distributors). It illustrates that not all
producers necessarily trade pictures, that not all collectors and distributors necessarily
have contact with producers (although some may), and that the numbers involved
in the differing activities are in all probability very different Consistent with the
notion of process introduced in this book, individuals may move between different
roles, depending on circumstances.
Once a picture moves out of the hands of the producer, its distribution is effectively
out of control. We know that pictures can rapidly pass from person to person through
the different Internet protocols, and indeed there is evidence that some individuals
specialise in (and gain status by) providing the channel whereby privately produced
198 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Figure 9.1 The relationship between the three different kinds of involvement with child
pornography.

pictures are given wider distribution through reposting material. What this means is
that any particular photograph may have passed through many hands before it
eventually emerges in some public forum, such as the newsgroups. It therefore follows
that the individual in possession of a photograph cannot be assumed to have anything
other than a tenuous link with the original producer. If there are clear linkages, these
can only be identified from the context to the individual’s collection.
One of the major challenges in this area is the development of assessment tools
that will enable effective discrimination between those involved in child pornography
who represent little threat and those who represent a real threat of committing a
contact offence, either in terms of producing child pornography, or in another form
of assaultive behaviour. In terms of Figure 9.1, we need to discriminate between the
sense of risk associated with the relative position of an individual in the offending
process, and also (but probably of different character) the degree of risk of an
individual moving towards more extreme involvement with child pornography.
If the above is correct, and there is indeed a high proportion of individuals who
only collect child pornography, what this also suggests is that whilst the numbers
involved are unknown, sexual interest in children is much more widespread than we
might imagine. In the present climate, few people would openly acknowledge this,
but, in a sense, the numbers engaged in behaviours associated with accessing child
pornography on the Internet gives us an indication of the extent of such interest.
Some practitioners find conclusions of this kind difficult to accept. Sometimes this
may be because they have a vested interest in maintaining a particular personal
position. But a more coherent objection relates to a fear that by introducing questions
about the relationship between involvement with child pornography and contact
offences, we are in effect suggesting two categories of offender, and furthermore, in
a sense, saying that one is of lesser significance than the other. This is certainly not
the position put forward in this book. As noted above, we would strongly argue that
possession of child pornography per se should be subject to severe legal sanctions, and,
regardless of its relationship to offending, this can be argued simply on the grounds
that production of child pornography depends upon an audience for the sexual abuse
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 199

of children. But we would also argue that one consequence of an undiscriminating

view of the role of child pornography might be a failure to develop the most effective
strategies for dealing with the behaviour of offenders. This would also be the case
with attempts more generally to control the problem, particularly in the context of
the Internet. This issue is developed in greater detail below.

The Internet
What does the Internet bring to this? We have identified in the preceding chapters
a range of issues that seem to be particularly relevant as far as the Internet is concerned.
One major issue is that the Internet has enabled child pornography to be more widely
distributed than ever before, and associated with this increased distribution has been
unrivalled ease of access with limited risk of exposure or detection. Thus, until the
advent of the Internet, access to child pornography was relatively difficult and
required a deliberate effort on the part of the collector to acquire it and to safeguard
himself in the process. Also the media used in preInternet times was relatively bulky
—hard-copy magazines, photographic prints, cine file and videos being the most
common.
These two simple issues have important consequences. First, Internet-based
collections of child pornography are no longer bulky. Digitised images do not make
the same storage demands that hard-copy images do, a fact of considerable importance
in terms of hiding material, and general personal and collection security. This also
means that collections can become large, because storage is in the main no longer a
significant limiting factor. Second, ease of access means that large collections can be
relatively easily acquired and developed, which is obviously associated with ease of
storage of digitised images. Perhaps of greater significance, however, is that ease of
access and low risk of detection also means that individuals who might not have
engaged with child pornography because of the risk, or because of lack of opportunity,
can now do so. It also means that people who in other circumstances would never
experience child pornography may well do so with relative ease, either through
expression of a latent sexual interest in children, or as a result of adventitious access.
These factors are of considerable significance in explaining why the Internet has
become such an important forum for child pornography. But there are other issues
as well that can be identified as being both of significance and specific to the Internet
As we have noted, child pornography on the Internet has important functions other
than simply sexual arousal. It is at the centre of the sexual exploitation of children on
the Internet, and it facilitates a number of important social processes. Perhaps the
greatest source of concern is that the social engagement on the Internet around and
with child pornography both de-sensitises and normalises adult sexual interest in
children. What might have been a personal fantasy becomes less fantastic and more
real through social engagement around these issues. Furthermore, objectification of
children becomes more possible, when sexualised pictures of children become objects
to trade or collect.
200 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Internet processes also enable and drive the production of new material. The sheer
volume of material available means that in the main, specific and perhaps obscure
fantasies can be met. But continued exposure associated with ease of availability also,
in a sense, reduces ‘the value’ of pictures to individuals. Newness therefore becomes
an attribute of continued sexual interest and arousal. The Internet also seems to serve
for some people as a stepping-stone to other forms of abuse. Normalisation processes,
which allow of open discussion of kinds and methods of sexual exploitation of
children, for example, presumably contribute to this.

Conceptual issues
From our discussion to date, we can draw together a number of issues that merit
further attention. The first relates to the paucity of knowledge on the changing
interplay between adult sexuality, the Internet, adult sexual interest in children and
child pornography. Research in this area has been very limited, with little by way of
systematic investment in understanding the processes that may be involved. This is
very troubling, given that the issue of child pornography has attracted major political
interest, and that as a consequence prison sentences resulting from prosecutions for
possession of child pornography are generally very severe. There has been a rapid
growth in law in this area, associated with a number of important policy
developments. The issue of child pornography has become one of the major driving
forces for the development of law enforcement co-operation, and press interest assures
high exposure to any arrest or new development. But, as we have noted above, there
are many issues that remain obscure and poorly understood. It is difficult to imagine
any other substantive policy area where significant resources are committed with so
little understanding of the underlying processes. (See Adler 2001 for a discussion of
these issues from a legal perspective.) Some of these issues have already been discussed
above, but include:

• our concept of the sex offender;

• the role and significance of child pornographies in the context of other
pornographies on the Internet;
• the paucity of research on pornography and the Internet, especially as related to
both the offender and the victim;
• paucity of knowledge on links between child pornography and contact offences;
• lack of understanding of the effect on future offending of exposing young people
to child pornography, either adventitiously or purposively.

Where does this leave us?

We can identify a range of issues that seem relevant to dealing with the problems
presented by child pornography and the Internet. The first relates to controlling the
problem, through regulating the Internet and the broader issue of censorship, and
the role of Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 201

REGULATING THE INTERNET AND CENSORSHIP

The inescapable conclusion of much of the above discussion is for the development
of some form of regulatory framework for the Internet. Individuals collect and
produce child pornography, but the Internet itself seems to have a critical role. It is
often said that the Internet was designed to make it effectively uncontrollable.
Certainly, its international character means that no single national jurisdiction can
exercise control over it or unilaterally limit any particular aspect of it. Similarly, the
structure of the various communication protocols means that their operation is largely
automatic and resistant to unilateral modification. However, perhaps the greatest
problem exaggerating lack of control relates to the volume of users. Many millions
of people each day access the Internet in some way, and the technical and physical
resources required to track each access on any scale would be enormous. But it is
important to note that with respect to an individual’s activities, tracking and
monitoring is not necessarily technically difficult, although it may be costly.
Other aspects of the Internet that are often thought to be necessary qualities of
unregulation may be much less significant. In particular, the anonymity, which the
Internet is thought to provide, can be much less in practice than in theory.
Sophisticated users can certainly hide themselves through a variety of connections,
and there are commercial services that offer anonymous access. But in all cases, point-
to-point communication protocols require Internet addresses to send information to,
and these addresses are necessarily accessible given adequate tracking resources. The
use of nicknames, etc. in IRC may give the appearance of anonymity, but any person
logged into a network can be identified through their unique Internet address. The
issue of anonymity, of such importance in discussion related to the distribution of
child pornography, is primarily, therefore, an issue only because we allow it to be, by
allowing access to anonymiser services, by allowing anonymous postings to
newsgroups, and by not monitoring and recording information at critical points of
access. That to do so would require investment of additional resources is beside the
point.
Clearly the issue of regulating the Internet gives rise to many concerns. The
distinctive and valuable culture that has grown around the Internet is important, and
should be preserved; e-commerce is potentially an important source of wealth
creation, and powerful pressures will be deployed against anything that might limit
the capacity of business to generate wealth from the Internet. However, choices have
to be made that might involve setting the limitation of some freedoms against the
capacity to generate and sustain sexual abuse of children. Arguments around the issue
of censorship are politically and morally complex, and, of course, extend beyond
issues related to child pornography and child protection. Ironically, one of the
strongest arguments against censorship relates to an emphasis on the dignity of the
individual and the choices an individual might make, and against anything that
interferes with self-development and self-fulfilment. Notions of freedom of expression
are clearly related to this, especially in the context of government regulation of means
of expression. But is it really censorship to strive to abolish something that is a source
202 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

of abuse and a reduction in dignity? Freedom of expression rests upon notions of the
common good, and on a framework where rights are matched by duties. The liberty
and sense of empowerment that the Internet has offered marginalised groups has to
be set within a framework where the exercise of that liberty does not victimise other
marginalised and powerless groups. The law is probably an ineffective way of
achieving this balance, but in the absence of other avenues, it may be the only option
available.

The role of ISPs

The agencies that can effect change outside legal proscription and law enforcement
are the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). They alone control access to the Internet
for most consumers, and represent the medium through which access to Internet
networks is possible. There is strong pressure towards the development of
selfregulation within the Internet industry, but the regulatory pressure often seems
to be tempered by commercial considerations. Unilateral limitations implemented
by one service provider in some circumstances may be seen as placing that organisation
at a commercial disadvantage in comparison to others who have not imposed such
limitations. For example, where one service provider limits access to newsgroups
known to carry child pornography and others don’t, presumably adults with a sexual
interest in children will tend to subscribe to those ISPs that do carry unrestricted and
uncensored access to newsgroups. This, of course, may represent lost revenue to the
first ISP. Most ISPs would no doubt publicly reject that this is a factor in the decisions
they make about access to newsgroups, but the existence of companies providing
‘uncensored’ access to newsgroups suggests that there is at least a commercially viable
market related to this.
One difficulty is that individual ISPs, or even national groupings, cannot ‘control’
access to the Internet, because the determined subscriber can always seek access
through a third-party service, located elsewhere. However, what is disappointing is
that, even at national levels, there seems to be little co-operation or co-ordination
between ISPs to formulate coherent collective strategies to limit access to child
pornography. As a first step to reducing the amount of child pornography available
on the Internet, this must have a high priority. It is difficult, for example, to see why
newsgroups which are known to carry child pornography are allowed to survive, let
alone made available to ISP subscribers.
Yet what is needed if self-regulation is to be meaningful is a coherent international
structure to be created that would begin to address these problems on a global scale.
Improved co-operation between ISPs and law enforcement agencies, as reflected in
the aspirations of the Cybercrime Convention, does not substitute for a proactive
approach to self-regulation, deploying the technical capacities of the ISPs to limit
and control access to child pornography. The aspiration here should not be to
eliminate child pornography from the Internet, which is probably an unachievable
aim. More realistically, we should seek to eliminate easy points of access (such as
newsgroups) and exercise more control and monitoring over point-to-point
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 203

communication and web site hosting. In a similar vein, ISPs should not seek moral
authority by distorting claims that they are in some sense guardians of privacy on the
Internet. Freedom as an abstract moral concept sits very uneasily in organisations
created for commercial gain, and ISPs have no role in the defence of presumed
freedoms in the absence of a clear sense of rights and obligations. If international
regulation became a reality, however, identifying ‘rogue’ ISPs would then be an
important step in focusing attention for governments and other institutions to
develop strategies to limit or control access to such companies; an achievable aim. It
is disappointing to note that the United Nations in general, and UNICEF in
particular, have taken so little action in this area (Taylor 2001).
There is a broader challenge to the ISP industry in this, however. Conceding the
legitimacy of control over child pornography will no doubt be seen as the thin end
of a wedge of greater public attention to the problem of pornography in general on
the Internet. Lane (2000) has drawn our attention to the scale of pornography on
the Internet, and the very considerable amounts of money made from it. This money
is made at an individual and social cost, however. Cooper et al. (2000a) reported one
of the few quantitative examinations of patterns of problematic and compulsive use
of the Internet for sexual purposes, based on a survey of 9, 265 adults. They suggest
that 17 per cent of their sample fell within the problematic range for sexual
compulsivity in terms of the characteristics and usage patterns of Internet users, and
they further suggest that this group seems to spend between 35 and 45 hours per
week online. Some 8 per cent of this group (and around 7 per cent of the sample as
a whole) reported pursuing sexual material solely from work. This study was not at
all about child pornography, but, given the discussion in earlier chapters in this book
about processes of offending, it would be naïve to not assume some links between
broader sexual activity related to pornography on the Internet and developing interests
in child pornography. Clearly this is a contentious issue, and the evidence is far from
clear. But it does give rise to a number of questions that might be put to ISPs about
their role in the distribution of pornography in general, about web site hosting
practices, and more generally on their social responsibility in this area.

Effective investigative strategies

At the moment, the principal lead in the control of child pornography on the Internet
is taken by law enforcement agencies. Networks of hotlines, which act as points of
referral for members of the public to report inappropriate or illegal material,
complement the efforts of law enforcement agencies as sources of information and
investigative skills. Other agencies, whilst expressing concern, seem to have limited
roles in actually addressing the problems. The European Union, through its STOP
and Daphne programmes, has been particularly active in funding innovative
initiatives for both law enforcement agencies and non-government agencies to
develop research or practice-based initiatives.
By its very nature, law enforcement agencies tend to address individuals or groups
of offenders, rather than processes or victims. Efforts by law enforcement agencies to
204 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

apprehend offenders tend to attract enormous publicity, but headlines emphasising

the scale of collections, or the conspiratorial nature of the networks often seem
designed to generate political consequences and perhaps allay public fears, rather than
control of the problem. Despite very high expectations (and very considerable
resource commitment) associated with high-profile cases such as Operation
Cathedral, the actual effect on the amount of child pornography available, or the
degree and extent of distribution and collection, is minimal. Even more important,
however, operations designed to disrupt networks involved in the exchange of
photographs give a false sense of achievement related to the apprehension of producers
of child pornography. Very few children who appear in child pornographic
photographs and videos are ever identified, and the discussions in earlier chapters of
this book related to the multiple functions of child pornography might give some
indications as to why efforts to disrupt trading networks are unlikely to have high
success rates in relation to the identification of child victims.
Recognition that there are a variety of kinds of involvement with child pornography
has obvious implications in terms of the development of policing strategies in this
area. At the moment, because an unfocused and undifferentiated view is taken of
offenders as noted above, it is unlikely that appropriate victim-focused interventions
can develop. This is not to say, of course, that in disrupting networks, some producers
will not be identified—the new material that is of so much importance in sustaining
collecting is, of course, fed into private networks and broader distribution from
somewhere, and the points of entry of material into networks is obviously of
significance. But given the sheer scale of trading of child pornography on the Internet,
disruption of individual networks is unlikely to have any significant impact.
More importantly, however, a lack of targeted intervention means that resources
justified as preventing the abuse of children are, in fact, directed at individuals
involved in the collection of child pornography, which, as argued here, may constitute
a potentially different group. A focus on evidential issues related to specific children
particularly at risk who are known about from pictures, or picture series, for example,
tends not to be the driving force behind investigations. A symptom of this is the way
in which, when reporting operations, an emphasis is placed on the number of child
pornography pictures recovered, as if this in some sense represented a measure of risk,
or a reduction in the vulnerability of children. The reality is that large collections are
more a reflection of an individual’s ability to use the Internet, and perhaps a measure
of an individual’s engagement with other collectors in collecting networks. Disruption
of networks, however, does have attractions in terms of police deployment, in that
such investigations offer attractive targets for learning about high tech crime in
general, and readily fit into policy initiatives that look for quick results that lend
themselves to, at times, spurious quantification.
The discussion in this book suggests that disruption of the social context that allows
the transition from solitary collecting of child pornography to engagement with some
form of community is a critical point in the development of adult sexual interest in
children and the Internet. To the extent that disruption of the distribution processes
of child pornography achieves this, it is clearly a worthwhile activity. However, if
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 205

more general disruption of distribution processes is the principal objective, law

enforcement intervention is unlikely to provide the most cost-effective approach.
Given that trading on the Internet in child pornography requires access to an Internet
Service Provider, it is likely to be much more cost-effective to place the burden of
control on the Internet Service Providers who provide the Internet access, whose
technology enables trading to take place, and whose proprietary and generic network
protocols are used to exchange photographs and video clips.
The emergence of a regulatory framework, perhaps akin to those used in Health
and Safety Regulations, would place the burden of control on those who have
immediate control over the environment (the ISPs). This then leaves law enforcement
(or regulatory agencies) the task of ensuring and enforcing compliance with
regulations. This would seem a much more satisfactory arrangement, and more likely
to effect rapid and permanent change.
A much more effective and strategic use of focused police resources would be to
target specific pictures with a view to the identification of the children involved. This
would imply a shift of attention away from offenders to victims, something that police
services in general are not particularly effective at. Pictures can provide considerable
evidence about such issues as location, and there have been a number of notable cases
where children have been identified from evidence contained in, or related to,
pornographic images. This is much less high-profile work than breaking up networks
of traders, and does not yield immediate results that can be publicly characterised as
‘fighting child pornography’ or ‘waging war on pornographers’. It also probably does
not fit readily with the popular contemporary imagery of policing, emphasising
glamour, action and drama. In most cases, this is primarily a sordid domestic world,
one where private betrayal, bribery and inducements and hidden secrets characterise
what happens. But the identification of the children involved seems a much more
important primary activity for law enforcement agencies than disrupting trading
networks. It is also much more difficult, much more resource-intensive, and much
more challenging.
A substantive criticism of the criminal justice system’s response to child
pornography is that it has over-focused on offender issues, at the expense of victim
issues. At its worst, the child victim becomes an object around which adults (offenders,
police and social services) devote resources to sustain their own construction of events,
and their own vested interests, rather than those of the child. We `eed to engage in
a major reappraisal of activity in this area.
The identification of victims of child pornography itself presents considerable
difficulties, however. One central operational factor for the police is the identification
of new pictures from old. New pictures are examples of a crime currently in progress,
a child at risk of current sexual abuse. But obviously to make this judgement it is
necessary to be able to recognise new pictures from old. There are examples where
police resources have been committed to investigations of pictures 30 or 40 years old,
on the assumption that they were current cases. This is a complex area, and requires
special knowledge to engage in investigations which not all police forces or even
specialist paedophile units have. Recent investments in databases of child
206 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

pornography photographs, although presented as aids to the identification of victims,

will contribute little if anything to this issue. Face or background recognition software,
for example, amounts to little more than expensive and complex indexing techniques,
and seems to be premised on the assumption that child pornography production is
a complex conspiracy that can involve multiple children in multiple locations. The
regrettable reality is, however, that people who have legitimate access to a child
produce most child pornography in domestic settings. Complex conspiracies may
occur, and certainly should be investigated, but not at the expense of the probable
greater incidence of domestic production of child pornography.
Investigating the identity of children involved in child pornography can give rise
in some circumstances to significant moral dilemmas. It may seem reasonable to
launch investigations into cases where there is evidence of a recent sexual assault; this
can be justified as preventive action against a serious crime against a child, who by
definition cannot give consent to what may be happening, and is presumably at risk.
Mobilising significant resources in these circumstances is appropriate, and
investigations may even need to be supplemented by other strategies, such as the
release of information to the media to aid identification of locations or individuals.
Clearly decisions related to this must be made carefully, with a balance struck between
the risks associated with publicity and the danger a child may be subjected to through
continued exposure to sexual assaults.
It is less easy to justify commitment of resources to seek to identify children who
are now adults who were involved in older pictures. There are two reasons for this:
unless detection is very straightforward, the deployment of the specialist resources
necessary should presumably focus on ongoing abuse, rather than past abuse, because
this is where need is greatest. However, another and more important issue relates to
the effects of identification of a child on that individual as an adult, and their family.
Victims’ rights to retain control over their own experiences are important here. When
an individual seeks help, by disclosing events in the past, then it is reasonable to follow
through on such disclosure. But it cannot be right to force disclosure on to someone
who has come to terms with his or her own past, and who fears the loss of control
over that experience which will inevitably come about in a police investigation. This
is a very complex issue, where policy guidelines are poorly thought through and
expressed. It is not an easy issue, but one that has direct practical relevance for both
the psychological health of victims and police policy. Relentless pursuit of the offender
is not always an appropriate policy for the adult victim.
An area of sexual abuse of children on the Internet that attracts considerable
attention is the use of chat rooms to seduce children into actual meetings. Child
pornography may play a role in this, but the concern here relates to the potential for
actual assault, rather than fantasy. However, given the role of fantasy in sexual activity
on the Internet, particularly in chat rooms, concern must be expressed about the
extent to which the entrapment activities that are used by law enforcement agencies
in these circumstances are actually encouraging the behaviour they seek to control.
As we have noted in earlier chapters, there is a complex relationship between fantasy
and reality on the Internet. The processes involved in establishing a successful
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 207

entrapment scenario may well blur the boundaries, resulting in a false sense of the
scale of the problem.
Perhaps a critical distinction to make when considering investigative policy related
to the production of child pornography relates to organised profit making, perhaps
by organised criminal groups, or associated with domestic production. A central and
primary task of any offender-focused law enforcement activity in this area must be
to remove the capacity to make profits from the production and distribution of child
pornography. Networks of distribution of child pornography that we are aware of at
the moment (such as the wØnderland conspiracy, for example) were not involved in
making profit either from distribution, or from the production and trading of new
material. However, there is evidence of individual producers seeking to make financial
gain from their own domestic production of child pornography.
One of the most alarming new developments in this area, however, is the growth
in what appears to be organised criminal involvement. Commercial web sites selling
child pornography videos exist, many of which appear to have their origins in Eastern
Europe. Not all these web sites sell material portraying explicit sexual activity, and
not all owners of such sites are responsible for producing the material which they sell
access to. But, quite clearly, there is a market for this material and unscrupulous
individuals and organisations are moving into it. The potential for links with child
trafficking and child prostitution are obvious further areas for concern. Dealing with
this requires a major investment of law enforcement resources, at an international
level, and must be regarded as a high priority. Given that the children that seem to
be involved in this material appear to come from economically disadvantaged regions,
a focus on the identification of children in those locations must also be of the highest
priority. Unfortunately, international investments of this kind in law enforcement
activity are complex, and we lack the structures for effective implementation.
However, we should not be distracted from these objectives by easy options focusing
on disruption of trading networks in countries with more effective law enforcement
systems; these limitations should not be allowed to hinder policy development.
In exploring what intervention strategies should seek to achieve, perhaps one gap
in policy thinking in this area is a failure to learn from what we already know about
crime and criminal behaviour. The model presented in Chapter 8 focuses on the
behaviour of offending, and as such, can be readily absorbed within criminological
frameworks such as the Rational Choice Perspective (Cornish and Clarke 1986;
Clarke and Felson 1993). This approach to crime analysis, amongst other things,
focuses attention on points for intervention to control the expression of criminal
behaviour. Within the context of concern to us, the model presented in Chapter 8
suggests that intervention to address escalating Internet use, targeted at those
individuals at risk and associated with the emergence of problematic cognitions, may
have utility. Two issues follow from this:

1 those individuals may not of course be aware of the extent of their problematic
behaviour, and therefore may need assistance in recognising both its emergence
208 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

and the consequence of increasing involvement (perhaps in terms of heightened

risk of commission of contact offences);
2 it is likely that the expression of such behaviour already involves engagement
with illegal images.

This seems to argue for the development of strategies to limit access to child
pornography on the Internet (as argued above) associated with appropriate selfhelp
provision to enable potential offenders to escape from and control the process of
escalating involvement. The natural and appropriate medium for this is, of course,
the Internet.

THE MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCTS AND PROBLEMS

The products and problems associated with child pornography fall into two broad
classes: those associated with perpetrators, and those associated with victims.

Perpetrator issues
The current debate about the management of offenders guilty of sexual offences
against children seems to have a one-dimensional quality to it. There seems to be a
sense of impotence associated with the child sex offender, such that there is little
confidence in any of the efforts made to reduce future likelihood of offending. Highly
politicised trials, associated with a focus in the media on extreme and tragic cases, has
created a climate where the offender is demonised and where the only solution to
‘protecting’ children is permanently to incarcerate the offender. Undoubtedly, there
are some offenders who, no matter what, will remain a threat to children; there are
some offenders who seem to structure their lives around molesting children, and who
are unlikely ever to be able to control their offending. As with other forms of
offending, therefore, there are groups of incorrigible offenders who seem to represent
an enduring threat. But are all offenders involved with child pornography the same?
Do they all necessarily represent the same degree of threat, or even a threat at all, in
terms of contact offences? We have discussed this earlier in this chapter and in previous
chapters of this book, and the conclusions seem to be that there may be evidence to
support a more differentiated view of offending related to child pornography.
However, what we really need is much more research to explore this issue. Political
or moral posturing is not a substitute for balanced assessment in this area, as in others.
Current sex offender treatment programmes appear to make no assumptions about
kinds of offender, which may be problematic when applied to Internet-related
offences. Whether or not possession of child pornography is necessarily a precursor
to a contact offence, an increasing number of people are coming into the criminal
justice system guilty of possession of child pornography involving the Internet with
no apparent history of contact offences. Is it prudent, let alone effective, to mix such
people in therapeutic programmes with acknowledged contact offenders?
Anecdotally, we know that possession offenders gain knowledge of grooming practices
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 209

through exposure to contact offenders. We also have anecdotal information that

contact offenders learn about the Internet and child pornography through exposure
to child pornography offenders.
If intervention programmes are intended to address the problems offenders present
with, then there is a prima facie case to be made for a more differentiated approach
to therapeutic intervention programmes. At present, sentencing and therapy often
reflect a standpoint that seeks to deny offender access to the Internet. However, what
we may be conveying to the offender is that they cannot learn to control or limit their
behaviour, but rather have to avoid or abstain from Internet use. The viability of this
position, given the dramatic increase in both the availability and use of the Internet
in everyday life, is questionable. Associated with this is a need for more effective and
specific assessment of individuals. If we see offending behaviour in terms of a process,
rather than a set of attributes, such assessments need to be ideographic; they need to
focus on the individual, their context, and the processes related to his or her offending.
An emphasis on functional analysis of offending behaviour would also seem to be
appropriate.
At present, police resources are deployed to apprehend those involved in accessing,
distributing and producing child pornography. The forensic analysis of computer
hard drives, CD-ROMs and disks is largely focused on detecting sufficient material
that might secure a conviction. This largely reflects the illegal nature of the
photographs or video clips themselves, and may be substantiated by quantification
of the types of image and the overall number collected. However, while such an
approach is successful in that it facilitates a conviction, it does little to further our
understanding of the offender or the process of offending. Such forensic analysis rarely
takes into account the ways in which an individual’s collection was structured and
organised, or the relationships between aspects of the collection. Indeed, there is a
possibility that the evidence is largely destroyed by the renaming of series of pictures
or fracturing of files. Highly structured collections may, for example, be indicative
of an individual who not only collects pictures but who trades them. The collection
in itself may yield information about a network of which the offender is a part. This
information is not simply academic. It may provide vital information that informs
the assessment of risk, and which would also enable therapeutic intervention.
Sentencing practices are necessarily bound up with issues related to
offenderintervention issues. There is unquestionably strong current public demand
for high sentences for offences related to sexual exploitation of children. However, it
is important that a sense of proportionality is maintained, both between these offences
and other serious offences, and between different kinds of sexual offence against
children. A particular problem relates to the objectives of sentencing in this area.
Punishment, protection of the public, effective control and therapeutic intervention
are obvious factors that relate to sentencing, but in this context the balance between
these factors often seems confused. Aside from issues about absolute length of
sentence, and consistency of sentencing practices between judges, a particular issue
relates to the role of the Sex Offenders Register, which needs to be more fully explored.
210 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

At the moment, in the public eye (if not the authority’s), entry on to the Register
is seen as an element in the punishment process as much as a means of effecting
control over an offender once released into the community. If this is what it is meant
to be, and entry on to the register is, in some sense, a substitute for prison, then
procedures and resources need to be put in place to ensure offender compliance. If
entry on to the register is related to control, and perhaps therapeutic assistance,
however, then again appropriate but different resources need to be put in place. In
the absence of a clear investment, it is unlikely that the Register will achieve anything
in terms of control over further offending.

Victim issues
Earlier in this chapter, we discussed some of the victim-related issues in our discussion
of law enforcement practice. The identification of victims is difficult, and it is much
easier for the police to focus on offenders, both in terms of opportunities for detection
and in terms of the publicity derived from successful operations. Yet surely any
concern with child pornography must focus on protection of the child victims. Victim
issues need to be at the very top of the agenda in both investigations and social welfare
or probation interventions.
However, there is no point in developing strategies for the identification of victims,
if the necessary support structures are not available, or sufficiently developed.
Necessarily, a focus on victims will involve close inter-agency liaison, which can be
both personally and professionally challenging. This can be illustrated in a simple
way. In the main, children involved in the production of child pornography are
identified through investigation, rather than disclosure. In addition, victims of child
pornography, as with victims of other kinds of sexual abuse, often are reluctant to
disclose what has happened to them. Pornographic pictures are, of course, clear
evidence of some elements of the abuse, but the children involved may often only
disclose to the police what they feel the police already know. This can result in the
difficult situation that the offender may effectively be the principal source of
information about the extent and nature of victimisation of the child; the offender
in effect can control what is known about the abuse. In terms of assessment of the
child’s needs, therefore, there needs to be close communication between the police
officers investigating the offence and the social welfare or therapeutic teams dealing
with the child. This implies a much greater degree of commonality of approach and
a sharing of information than is currently the case.
Earlier we made a distinction between new and old photographs, in terms of
structuring policing priorities. This distinction is critical if a focus on the control of
current abuse is to be maintained. Child pornography gives a view into the hidden
world of child sexual exploitation, and, consistent with what we know about that
world, it is primarily domestic in character, with perpetrators having legitimate access
to the child. High-profile examples of sex rings involving the multiple stranger abuse
of children should not distract attention from the ‘mundane’ but more extensive
domestic abuse which constitutes the core of new child pornography as it appears on
 ISSUES FOR CONCERN AND CONCLUSIONS 211

the Internet. This is not to underestimate the consequences of abuse in the past
involving the production of child pornography for the individual concerned, nor is
it to say that there are different categories of victim, some more deserving of attention
than others. But the realities of old pictures (which as we noted may have been
produced 20 or 30 years ago) are that they involve people who are now adults and
who, for good or ill, have accommodated to the world they find themselves in. Further
education about the effects of child pornography, and the development of facilities
to support adults who disclose past abuse would perhaps change this analysis. But
above all the needs of the individual involved must always remain paramount, and
social welfare or law enforcement agencies should have as their primary objective the
empowerment of victims, however administratively or politically inconvenient that
might be.
We have very little knowledge of the long-term consequences for victims of
involvement in child pornography. The knowledge for the victim that a highly
sexualised picture may continue to circulate long after that child has grown up and
matured must be a source of concern, in terms of the psychological well-being of the
victim. But because both the Internet and its role in the distribution of child
pornography are relatively new, we have not yet seen much evidence on which to
base strategic interventions. Fears of identification and the intrusion of traumatic
memories are obvious sources for concern.
Does the Internet add a distinctive element to the trauma of sexual exploitation?
For the moment we cannot answer that question with any authority, but anecdotal
accounts suggest that we should take the risk of this seriously. This, of course, adds
even greater weight to the need to prioritise the identification of victims in law
enforcement initiatives in this area, as well as to emphasise the need for greater efforts
to diminish access and availability through effective ISP actions.

SOCIAL CONTEXT
Castells (1998) in his brief discussion of child pornography, in the context of the
broader issue of social effects of the new technologies, makes the following point: ‘It
is easier to blame the messenger than to question the sources of the message; that is,
to ask why our informational society engages in this activity on such a large scale’
(156). He identifies the following as factors that contribute to the development of
child pornography: globalisation of markets; anonymity; and the search for further
sexual excitement in a society of normalised sexuality fuelling the demand for new
emotions, associated with poverty, and the crisis of the family identified as significant
supply side factors. His chilling conclusion is that ‘the network society devours itself,
as it consumes/destroys enough of its own children to lose the sense of continuity of
life across generations, so denying the future of humans as a humane species’ (157).
The extent and nature of child pornography certainly seems to question whether
we have indeed created a humane society. Perhaps the answers to why this has
occurred lie at one level in terms of the emergence and/or more public expression of
aspects of human sexuality. Or, perhaps, more accurately, we should refer to the
212 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

recognition of aspects of sexuality that have until now been either ignored or repressed.
Child sexual abuse is not something new, nor is child pornography. The Internet has
certainly made child pornography more available, and through some of the distinctive
processes of the Internet has probably enhanced the sexual exploitation of children.
The lesson to emerge from our review of the nature and qualities of child pornography
is that in terms of those who collect child pornography, there are no particular
attributes or qualities that we can identify; offenders are in the main depressingly
ordinary individuals.
But offending takes place within a social context. Castells above has identified one
aspect of that context, as it might relate to the emergence of the new technologies.
But an equally significant element of that context is the sexualisation of childhood
that we have seen over recent years. Kincaid (1998) has drawn our attention to the
paradoxical qualities of this; we seek to protect children from sexual exploitation in
ways that we have never done before, often drawing on notions of romantic innocence
to justify this. Yet, through advertising and through the emergence of youth culture,
we encourage younger and younger children to wear make up, and to wear what in
adults would be seen as sexualised clothing. Designers ‘dress little girls as adults,
undress teens (Brooke Shield’s “There’s nothing between me and my jeans”) and
disguise adult women as little girls’ (Kincaid 1998:104).
Our understanding of child pornography needs to be grounded in this broader
social context. Our preoccupation with child pornography, both in terms of the
activities of collectors and in terms of the almost excessive media preoccupation with
reports of child abuse related to child pornography, draws on this social context. In
demonising the child sex offender through failing to make distinctions between kinds
of offender, and the over-concern with elements of the process of controlling the
distribution of child pornography at the expense of more costeffective strategies, we
reveal a confused and at times contradictory approach to the problem. The production
and distribution of child pornography is a major social problem: it is a major child
protection issue; it is undoubtedly a factor that contributes to the sexual exploitation
of children; and its management does require it being placed high on the list of social
priority areas. But in order effectively to control the problem, we need to move away
from strategies grounded in assumptions to more empirically based approaches.
We also need to invest in education. Professionals involved in managing child
sexual abuse (including the judiciary) need to be made aware of the role that the
Internet might play; parents need to be educated in enabling safe Internet access;
policy makers need to be educated in the broader context of child pornography in
order that informed initiatives can be developed; politicians need to be educated in
the causes and consequences of this aspect of the new technologies. Reducing the
availability of child pornography on the Internet will not eliminate this problem, but
a more informed society might begin the process of dealing with child pornography
in a effective and rational way, and in so doing produce a safer environment for our
children to grow and develop in.
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 Index

abandonment 68 APA (American Psychiatric Association)

abbreviations 98 DSM-IV 48, 173
Abel, G. G.: AASI (Abel Assessment for Amsterdam 41,43
Sexual Interest) 51; anal abuse 26, 68
Abel Screen 49 anger 88, 111
abnormalities 48, 175 animals 83, 114, 166
abusive behaviour 56, 62, 63, 79, 105, 108, anonymity 42, 76, 77, 89, 95, 103, 106, 114,
144, 185; 127, 133, 142, 200;
collectors 155; potential loss of 158
emotional and mental 103; apprenticeship 132
female 66; Araji, S. 53, 67
justified 110; Armstrong, A. G. 123
see also sexual abuse arousal 48, 69, 73, 79, 104;
acquiescence 63 emotional 60, 68;
actuarial models 52 see also sexual arousal
addiction 91, 92, 93, 101, 171; artistic settings 31
real sense of 180; Asiatic children 40
technological 173 assault 9, 19, 39, 68, 74;
Adler, A. 195, 199 convictions for 77;
adolescents 67-9, 176 see also sexual assaults
adult pornography 5, 6, 11; assessment measures 50-2
regulation of 15; attachment 68, 109
role in sexual offending 67-72 attention 58
advertisements 31–4, 43 autistic children 61
affect 57 avatars 99
affection 63, 64, 142 Aylwin, A. S. 67
affirmation 63, 64
age 40, 56, 67; Ba, S. 127
exaggerations of 102; babies 117, 139, 165
see also younger children Back, K. 24, 29, 56
aggression 62, 112; BAI (Revised Gudjonsson Blame Attribution
sexual 12, 56, 67-71 passim, 103 Inventory) 54
alcohol 50, 55, 111 Bandura, A. 70
Allen, C. M. 65, 66 Barlow, D. H. 60
American Civil Liberties Union 37 Barron, M. 14, 69, 75

225
226 INDEX

BBSs (bulletin board systems) 120, 123, Carter, D. 24, 74-7

128-6, 135, 187 cartoon characters 166, 184
Bechar-Israeli, H. 98 Castells, M. 211
Beck, S. 60 cataloguing 92, 151, 164, 181
Becker, J. V. 68 Caucasian children 40
'becoming' 115 CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) 172
behaviour 60, 175, 180, 185; censorship 15, 108, 200-8
cataloguing 92, 151, 164,181; censorship relaxation of laws 42
collecting 192; central nervous system 48
criminal 50, 52–4, 207; characteristics 49, 114
dysfunctional 173; chat rooms 13, 105, 106, 120-3, 126, 159,
non-offending 186–8; 174, 184, 186;
problem 173; children seduced into actual meetings
social 179; 206;
see also abusive behaviour; initial contact 107;
offending behaviour; sexually explicit 111-13;
sexual behaviour see also IRC
beliefs 13, 54, 56, 100, 171; 'child-love' 63
chronic 55; child molesters 11, 22, 25, 43, 48–49, 52, 74,
distorted 64; 139;
inappropriate 53 complicity on child's part 54;
Belk, R. W. 145, 147, 150, 151 convicted 24;
betrayal 111 empathy levels 58;
biological theories 48 four-factor theory 53;
black children 40 narratives elicited from 63;
blackmail 24, 42, 73, 156 non-child molesters and 51;
blame 24, 54, 56 potential 194;
blockage 10 progression from non-violent to more
blow jobs 62 serious offences 68;
Blumenthal, S. 54, 55 and 55, 60;
Bogaert, A. F. 48 social skills 61
bondage 83, 165 child pornography 1-6, 47, 104;
bookshops 6 collecting 4, 5, 27, 30-7, 81-6, 104, 145,
boredom 186, 187 154-63;
Boyd, N. 68 concerns over 6-9, 189-212;
Boyle, K. 26 contact offences 72-7;
'boy-love' 64, 110 defining 191-200;
breasts 78, 79 facilitating social relationships 84-9;
bribes 21, 67 functions of 76-91;
Briere, J. 62 Internet and 1, 72-94, 103, 104, 105,
browsers (chat room visitors) 105 132, 157-62;
browsers (search engines) 121 management of products and problems
Bryant, C. D. 12-13, 64, 100 207-12;
Bumby, K. M. 55 nature of viii,19-45;
Burgess, A. W. 24 psychological meaning of 91-6;
Bussière, M. T. 50 real life avoidance and 87-88;
rights to pursue interest in 133;
sadistic 14;
 INDEX 227

sexual assaults and 12; virtual 118–47

therapy and 88-viii; compulsive elements 91, 202
trading 183-5; condemnation 64, 65
understanding 16, 76–91, 191–200, 212 Condron, M. K. 70
Child Pornography and Trafficking Act confidentiality 42
(Rep. of Ireland 1988) 28, 37 consent 55, 57, 67
Child Pornography Prevention Act (US conspiracy 24, 205, 206
1996)38 contact 27, 46, 105, 108, 112, 113;
child-on-child abuse 67-69 erotic, superficial 106;
child trafficking 28, 37, 206 non-sexual 49;
childcare 24 physical 114;
chronicity 55 social 180;
cine films 42-4 virtual/real adult 183–5;
circumcised penises 158, 182 women and children 65–8
CMC (computer-mediated communication) contact offences 72–8, 91–4, 172, 188,
103, 121 195-9;
coercion 21, 67, 74 commission of 93, 94, 185–7;
cognition 49, 63, 169, 181, 182; prior 171, 176
distal 176; control 63, 76, 88, 126, 143, 182, 206;
maladaptive 174, 175; freedom and 140;
problematic 179, 188; loss of 91, 92
sexual functioning and 53-8 Cooper, A. 66, 101, 173
cognitive distortions 10,11, 53-5, 55, 59, Copenhagen 42
176, 18 COPINE project 18, 22, 30, 40, 41, 62–4,
coital activities 74 128, 133, 134, 154, 155, 157, 160, 175,
collectibles 81-5, 187 176, 179, 184, 196
collections 4, 5, 9, 21, 30–7, 145–70, 181, Cornwell, B. 102
183, 209; Cowburn, M. 70-2
'good' 104; credibility 95, 106, 108, 130, 179, 183, 184,
importance of 76; 185
large 92; crime 53, 84, 89, 207;
police seizures of 40,41, 42, 44; Internet, sexually related 101;
size and quality of 113; organised 7,45, 206;
underground 41; permanent record of 23;
understanding of processes 27 serious 3, 23
ColorClimax 42, 166 criminal justice system 206: Protection of
commercial material 22, 23, 31 Children Act (UK 1978) 29
commodities 8, 14, 92, 183; criminalisation 33, 37, 194
images seen as 75-8, 84 'cruisers' 105
communities 8-9, 86, 112, 171, 188; cues 80, 110;
communities within 134-47; affective 61;
creating 128; identity 97;
debate about 123-8; interpersonal 61;
gay 103, 113; sexual 61;
managing 126-9; social 106, 126;
online 106; traumatic 69
requisite for membership 85; Curtis, P. 121
sanctions within 97 status within 76, 132; CuSeeMe 120, 121
228 INDEX

Customs seizures 41 sexual interests/preferences viii, 50;

CVEs (Collaborative Virtual Environments) sexuality 75;
99 tendencies 51
cybercrime 9, 15 DeYoung, M. 64-6
cybersex 91, 100, 102-4, 104, 108, 109, 111, Dhawan, S. 62
113, 184; diathesis-stress model 57, 174, 175
more extreme forms 115; digital cameras 6, 113
partner replaced by 117; disadvantaged children 44
problematic qualities 171 discussion groups 64
'cyborg' theory 103, 117 disinhibitors/disinhibition 10, 67, 76, 106,
'cycle of abuse' 62 107
distancing 91–3, 93
'dabblers' 11-12 distress 21, 60, 68, 111
danger 115, 135; distribution 8, 22, 23, 26, 28, 73, 76, 161,
potential 194 183;
dangerousness 49, 50 commercial 43;
daughters 63, 159, 186 effectively out of control 197;
Davis, G. E. 68, 173–5, 175, 176, 187 ISPs and 202, 204;
daydreams 53 networks of 206;
death 41-3 underground 41
deception 97, 102 dominatrices 116
decision skills 61 Donath, J. S. 97, 127
deficits 60, 61; Döring, N. A. 113
specific theory 62 due process 29
degradation 24, 163 Durkin, K. F. 12-13, 64, 100, 105
dehumanising experiences 33, 56, 75 dysphoric state 174
delinquency 68
De Luca, R. V. 66 Eastern Europe 40, 41, 44, 45, 206
demographic information 52, 77 education 212
denial 64, 101 Edwards, S. S. M. 15, 23, 27, 42
Denmark 42–4 efficacy 60, 76, 100
depersonalisation 83 e-mail 13,101,103,42,120
depression 111 embarrassment 67
depressive symptoms 174 emotion 11, 57-9, 67, 88;
de-sensitisatiom 22, 23, 24-6, 194 heightening of 118
desire 11, 55, 56; emotional congruence 10
sexual 47, 61 empathy 57-60, 62, 171, 172
developmental abnormalities 48 empowerment 76, 210
deviant behaviour 13,47,48, 74, 93, 132, encryption 130, 139
133, 194; enjoyment 21, 63
appetite for 75; enticement 37
degree of 84; erotica 3, 6, 25-7, 29, 73, 109, 154, 155;
fantasies 53, 101; availability of 106;
Internet and 64, 101; Victorian 42
process and conditions that lead to 61; ethnic background 193
sanctioning of 109; etiquette 126
sexual arousal 50; 'Euroland' 99
 INDEX 229

European Union programmes 203 fear 24

Evans, I. M. 68 feedback 58, 70
exchange 16, 73, 76, 81, 85, 107, 114, 117, fellowship 137
118, 123, 156, 163; female perpetrators 65-8
commercial 127; feminism 70
legitimised 182; Fernandez, Y. M. 51
social 86; fetishes 60
value of 87, 92 Finkelhor, D. 9-10, 46, 53, 69
excitement 67, 115, 118 first-impression formation 106
exclusion 152-5 Fisher, D. 51, 52, 57, 59
excuses 64 floppy disks 84
exhibitionism 60 fondling 54, 68;
explicitness 21, 26, 28, 29, 31, 34, 41, 71, mutual 161
131, 191, 193 force 67
exploitation 29, 39, 43, 175, 210, 211; forensic evidence/analysis 77, 208, 209
commercial 41 Fraser, M. 47
extreme material 82, 83, 93, 115, 131, 156, freedom 140, 201, 202
161, 163, 165, 166, 191 Freud, Sigmund 47, 49
friends 22, 135, 140, 141, 142, 177
faking 50, 54, 65 FTPs (File Transmission Protocols) 158
Falk, J. 125
Faller, K. C. 65 Galimberti, C. 99
false claims 102 games/gambling 14, 173
family circle/family life 22, 25, 31, 91; gay men 103, 105, 109, 113, 138
dysfunctional 66, 68 Geer, J. 58, 60, 187
fantasies 1, 4, 10, 49, 72, 87, 141, 154, 182, Gelder, M. 175
191; gender 68, 95
chat room 105,107, 108,110,111; genitalia 6, 26, 36, 40;
deviant 53; fondling and stimulation of 68
enabled through photographs 82; GeoCities 128
exchange of 16; Giese, A. A. 95
fact and 177; gifts 44, 109, 114
fuelling 5; Goldstein, S. L. 72, 73
generating 21; Granic, I. 13, 99, 100, 188
manipulation of 107; Grayston, A. D. 66
masturbatory 22, 38, 48, 79, 103; Green, A. H. 66
not possible to control 29; Gregory, S. S. 37
offending 78-1; Griffiths, M. 93, 100, 102, 173
realism and 76, 97, 194; 'grooming' process 22, 24, 194
reinforcing 184; Groth, A. N. 48
role-playing 118, 192; group dynamics 76, 86, 119-2, 126
sharing 135, 185; group sex 116
see also sexual fantasies Grubin, D. 52
FAQs (frequently asked questions) 126, 164 Gulia, M. 125
fathers 63
Faulkner, N. 104 Hagel, J. 123
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) 4, 23 Hamilton, David 161
230 INDEX

Hamman, R. 91, 102-4, 117 acting on 80;

Hanson, R.K. 50 adult 3;
happiness 21 art 91, 93;
hard-core pornography 115, 162, 167 CD 84, 158;
hard disks/drives 84, 139, 158 computer generated 36, 37;
harm 26, 65, 91; erotic 27, 73;
sexual and emotional 70 exchanging 86, 115–17;
Harris, A.J. R. 50 explicit 71;
Hartman, C. 24, 155 justification for accessing 89, 92;
Hauben, M. F. 125 naturist 93;
Hayler, Henry 42 nude 23, 91;
Henry, Joseph Francis 43 objectification of 107, 181;
hierarchies 100, 134, 136, 144, 188 obscene 77;
Holland 41, 43 perpetuating 23;
Hollway, W. 77 private 161;
Holmes, R. 13, 76, 100 seen as commodities 75-8, 84;
homosexuality 47, 74, 113; sexual 27, 28, 182;
see also gay men; shocking 33;
lesbian pornography smiling 21, 80;
Horley, J. 47, . social function 81;
Horn, S. 95 sounds and 121;
horror films 162 traded 84, 85, 135, 136, 157-60, 159,
hotel rooms 44 186;
Howells, K. 57, 59 value of 86;
Howitt, D. 10, 11, 31, 70, 91 see also pseudo-images
humiliation 48, 162, 163 implicit theories 56, 57
Hunter, J. A. 68 impression management 54, 64
inappropriateness 23,39,48, 53, 65, 194
identity 95-8, 98, 99, 100, 114, 116, 131, incest 51–3, 63
147; indecency 2, 3, 26, 28, 29, 34, 42
assigned through photograph 108; Independent on Sunday 33
cataloguing types of 105; India 44-6
changing notions of 171; infiltrators 129, 131
concealing 133; inhibitions 67, 73, 76, 95, 103, 156;
constructed during social interaction 106; breaking down 22
control over 117; injury 64
deception and 102; innocence 46, 193, 211
hiding an aspect of 103; 'insider' perspective 63, 93
multiplerepresentations of 106, 128; intellectual disability 62
virtual 104 Internet 1, 13-15,41, 157–63, 198-199;
illegal acts/materials 23, 25, 28, 30, 76-9, 93, accessibility, affordability and anonymity
133, 143-6, 154, 155, 157, 158, 169-2, 106;
175; child pornography, sexual interests and
according to country 91; 72-94, 103, 104, 105, 113, 118, 128,
no offence committed 91 133, 169, 173, 176, 188, 203;
images 29, 36, 72, 74, 79, 84, 88; child seduction on 105-15, 188;
abuse 6; collector of pornography before and after
accessing 161-9;
 INDEX 231

communication on 44, 118; Kaplan, M. S. 66

control of 15-16; Kendall, L. 100
distribution over 8, 27; Kennedy-Souza, B. L. 92-5
identity on 95, 97, 98, 99, 100; killfiles 127
large grouping widely available on 34-6; Kimmel, M. 14, 69, 75
legality of images on 26; Kincaid, J. R. 2, 25, 33, 46, 211
making material evident through 23; King, S. 172, 188,189
origins 75; Knight, R. 49
paedophilic misuse of 12, 104; Kollock, P. 119,120
pornographic images downloaded from Krauss, D. A, 52
36; Kraut, R. 188
problematic use 169-90; Kron, J. 147
proliferation of 'voice' 65;
regulating 16, 76, 200-8; labels 47, 61, 108, 173
security advantage to paedophiles 93; Lamb, M. 105, 106, 113
sex and 101–4; Lamey, A.V. 13, 99, 100, 188
see also chat rooms; Landslide Productions 4
e-mail; Lane, F. S. 202
newsgroups; language skills 39, 134
PICS; Lanning, K. 11–13, 25-7, 72, 73, 76, 152,
RSAC; 154, 155, 156
web sites Lanyon, R. 47
Interpol (International Criminal Police latency periods 51
Organization) 15-16, 29, 45 law enforcement 73, 93, 136, 154, 202, 206;
intimacy 61, 101, 141; efforts to apprehend offenders 203;
pseudo- 106 entrapment activities 206;
intimidation 67 evading 86, 158
investigative strategies 203-8 Lea, S.E.G. 150
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) 78, 84, 92, 98, legal perspective 5, 27-29, 195;
102, 103, 109, 114, 120, 136, 138, 139, harmonisation 15
140, 143, 165, 179, 184, 200 legitimising activity 92, 176, 182, 183, 185
Ireland, Republic of 16, 28, 37 lesbian pornography 116, 166
isolation 49, 61, 76 Lévy, P. 118, 119
ISPs (Internet Service Providers) 16, 133, liar-denial model 51
204; Lietenberg, H. 68
role of 200, 201-3 Lightfoot, S. 68
Itzin, C. 72 Ligorio, B. 99, 105-7, 114
Ivey, G. 63-5 Linehan, C. 92, 129, 132, 134
Lips, H. 56
Jefferson, T. 77 Lolita films/magazines 42–4, 44, 138, 163
Jenkins, P. 133, 134, 136, 143-6 London 42
Johnson, T. C. 66, 68 loners 133
Jones, S. 105, 124 love 11,47, 58, 64, 110;
joy 67 equating sex with 63;
justifications 64, 76, 80, 89, 91, 92, 110 expression of 177;
'teaching' children about 182
Kalichman, S. 49 Lundgren, D. C. 102
232 INDEX

'lurkers' 125, 131, 132, 134 MTC:CM3 (Massachusetts Treatment

Lyman, S. 64 Center: Child Molester Typology, version
3) 49
McCabe, K. A. 26, 37, 91 MUDs (Multi-User Domains) 100, 121
McFall, R. M. 60-2 Muenstenberger, W. 147-50, 151
McLaughlin, M. L. 123, 124, 126 multiplicity 100, 103
magazines 6, 14, 42, 69, 75, 89, 177; murder 143
hiding 157; Murphy, W. D. 56
sending off for 162;
see also Lolita nakedness see naturism;
Maheu, M. M. 174 nudity
Mahoney, D. 104 NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love
maladjustment 50 Association) 64-6
Maltz, T. 127 narrative qualities 37, 38
Mann, Sally 2 National Task Force on Juvenile Sexual
Margison, F. R. 10 Offending 67
Marshall, W. L. 24, 51, 57, 58, 60, 62, 74, naturism 2-3, 93
75, 173 neglect 68
Marx, B. 59 Nelson, C. 10
mass communication 46 'netizens' 125, 135
masturbation 5, 78, 91, 101, 107, 154, 181, Netsex 14
182; New Zealand 68
fantasies involving 22, 38, 48, 79, 103; 'newbies' 126, 129, 132, 134
girl 165; newsgroups 8,40, 97, 98, 99, 108, 141, 144,
interactive, computer-mediated 102; 202;
mutual 105, 108, 161; specialist language a feature of 134;
pleasure and escape through 87 unrestricted and uncensored access to
media viii, 3, 4, 14, 25, 40; 201;
focus on extreme and tragic cases 207; see also BBSs;
release of information to 205 Usenet
mental states 61-3; newspaper advertisements 31-4
difficulties 66 nicknames 98, 99, 114, 116, 129, 133, 144,
metamorphosis 76, 95-118 184, 200
metaphor 85, 86, 92, 117, 144 non-righthandedness 48
'Miller Standard' 28 normalisation 23-5, 65, 81, 92, 156, 183,
misogyny 14 194, 199
misperceptions 63 nudity 23, 26, 31, 33, 36, 80-3
misrepresentation 65, 73 Nutter, D. E. 70
MOLEST scale 54
mood states 55, 93, 175 objectification 46, 71, 107, 181
Morahan-Martin, J. 13–14, 92, 95 obscenity 2, 3, 15, 26, 28, 29, 33, 34, 77;
morality 2, 131, 139 gross acts of 30;
motels 43 liberalisation of laws 42
mothers 64 obsession 91
motivation 10, 31, 159; Oedipal strivings 47
psychosexual 48 offences 94;
movie clips 24, 38, 112, 166 committed by women 47;
 INDEX 233

criminal, serious 23; specialist police units 205;

hands-onl3; transfer of material across Internet 158;
management of 187; virtual communities 128-6
prior 50;
see also contact offences 'panty shots' 161
offenders 47, 55-7, 57, 73, 193, 208; paraphilias 48, 51
computer 11-12; parents 58
convicted 77, 196; passwords 135, 138, 139
fixated 9, 49; penetration 54, 182;
high-/low-contact 49; anal 68;
law enforcement agencies' efforts to animal 83;
apprehend 203; forcible 67
management of 171; penile erection 50, 181
opportunistic 74; perpetrator issues 207-10
regressed 9, 49; personality 106, 111, 114, 115;
relentless pursuit of 206; dark side of 88;
see also sex offenders legitimised 182
offending behaviour 11, 13,48, 59, 189; personas 95, 104, 106, 111;
contact 185-7; assumed 105, 107-9, 113, 184;
diathesis-stress model 57, 174, 175; multiple 114-19, 144
downloading 181–4; perspectivism 100
explanation for 58; perversion 47, 131
maintaining 172; phallometric testing 50-2, 52
pornography and 107; Phelen, P. 63
potential 196; Philippines 44
precipitating 10, 171-3; photographs 2–3, 6-7, 8, 19-2, 26, 44, 112;
progression in 113; access to 89;
reasons for 49; available 141;
seduction 184-6, 188; completing a series of 82, 159;
trading 183-5 digitised 23, 113, 193;
older children 62 distancing from 93;
Operation Cathedral 203 huge collections 84;
oral sex 21, 26, 38, 67, 78 increasing the currency of 160;
Ostrom, E. 126 indecent 29, 42;
Overholser, J. C. 60 indexing 92;
paedophiles 11-13, 22, 48, 49, 50, 132, 171; legality of 28;
collecting and fantasising 72-5, 82, molested child 25;
154-7, 156; nudist and 'art' 91;
communication between 105, 136, 137, offensive 34;
138; old and new 210;
exchange of material 73; relatively innocent 8;
incest and 52; seemingly innocent 152;
justifications of 64, 76; sexual abuse 107;
misuse of Internet 12, 104; see also pseudo-images
philosophy of 177; physical abuse 62, 66, 68
rights of 133; physiological measures/response 60, 69
selective in choice of material 75;
'sine qua non' of 10;
234 INDEX

PICS (Platform for Internet Content underground 27,41

Selection) 30 professionals 65
picture collections 21, 29, 37-39, 73, 78–7, profiles 49
134, 157, 164–8, 182; profit making 206
grading system 30-7; propriety 73
respondent distanced from content of prosecution 27, 134, 199
181; prosthesis 103, 117
underground 41 prostitution 33, 206
Pierce, R. 33, 75 protection 7, 208, 209, 211
PIU (Pathological Internet Use) 173-5, 175, Proulx, J. 74
187 proximal setting events 176-9
play 67 pseudo-images/photographs 26, 29, 36-8
pleasure 67, 81, 82, 87 psychiatric problems 66
plethysmographic measures 49 psychodynamic theory 9, 63, 147, 148
polarisation 126-9 psychological perspectives 2, 5,9, 24, 29-1,
police 15, 23, 88, 112, 132, 137, 143-6, 208, 37, 192;
210; child molesting 25;
common strategies 28; meaning of child pornography 91-6
investigation 206; psychopathology 174, 175
raid and arrest 167; psychopathy 52
seizures of collections 40, 41, 42, 44; psychosexuality 48, 49
specialist paedophile units 205; puberty 40
see also Interpol pubic hair 78
'pornographers' 105 public exposure 42
poses 44, 82, 165; public opinion 41
stereotyped 38 Pumbroek, Thea 41-3
possession 22, 23, 25, 26; punishment 209
legal proceedings related to 28 Putman, D. E. 174
Postman, N. 123, 124
power 3,39, 63, 67, 70, 126; Quayle, E. 114
abusive 71 Quinsey, V. 52
powerlessness 3
Precondition Model (Finkelhor) 9-10 rape 34, 50, 60, 80, 143, 194;
predators 11, 108, 112, 113 items endorsing 54
Preferential Offender (Lanning) 12, 155 'rape myths' 71
Prentky, R. 49 rapists 24, 48, 52, 55, 70;
prepubescent children 12 social skills 60, 61
Pringle, K. 70-2 Rational Choice Perspective 207
prisons 154, 155; rationalisations 63, 65, 171;
maximum-security 52 post-offence 11, 54, 59
privacy 91, 154, 162, 193, 202 recidivism 50, 52, 172
privateers 125 recruitment 33
problematic collections 151-6 Register of Sex Offenders 209
production 19-3, 23, 26, 33, 36, 38, 39; Reid, E. 144, 145
cheap and anonymous means of 42; reinforcement 174, 184
commercial 42, 43, 44; relapse 172
'commissioning' 196;
'domestic' 40, 205, 206;
 INDEX 235

relationships 26, 62, 78, 84-9, 92, 135, 184, schizophrenics 61

188; Schumacher, P. 13-14, 92, 95
abuse of 23; Scott, M. B. 64
adult 49; security 86, 91, 93, 107, 130, 132, 134, 136,
cementing 22; 157
close 61; seduction 105-15, 184-6, 188;
loving 114; material used to facilitate/aid 22, 73
maintaining, over long distances 123; Segal, Z. V. 53, 54, 60
marital 66; self-deception 54
online 85, 109, 110, 111, 142; self-efficacy 60
peer 66; self-esteem 66
pseudo-romantic 59; self-exploration 88
reciprocal, self-organising 99-1; self-fulfilment 64, 201
specialised 125; self-perception 68, 100
stable, lack of 68; self-rating scales 54
symbiotic 103; self-reports 58, 60
see also sexual relationships self-representation 76, 95, 97, 98, 100, 105,
Renfrewshire 36 144, 184;
reoffending 50, 52; continuity and coherence 144;
increased likelihood 68 specifically sexual 106
resistance 54; Sentencing Advisory Panel (UK) 29
overcoming 10 Seto, M. C. 10, 12, 71, 75, 91–4
responsibility 48, 49, 54, 56, 79, 156; sex drive 91
admission of 64 sex industry/trade 15,43, 69
Rheingold, H. 118 sex offenders 53, 55, 62, 74, 91;
rights 37, 133, 205 empathy 58;
risk 14, 42, 76, 95, 97, 198,205; female 66;
common factors 10; global accounts 47-9;
evaluating 49-4; implicit theories about victims 56, 57;
reduced 6 perspectives 63-6;
Riva, G. 100 social skills 60-2;
romance 102, 110 treating 173, 175, 208;
Rosenberg, R. 49 see also SONAR
Ross, M. W. 103 sex rings 210
Rothaermel, F. T. 123 sex shops 8
RSAC (Recreational Software Advisory sexual abuse 3,9-11, 23, 28, 29, 42, 176, 193,
Council) 31 210;
Runtz, M. 62 awareness and recognition viii;
Russia 179 babies 117;
behaviour up to the point of 59;
Sacco, U. P. 61 capacity to generate and sustain 201;
sado-masochism 139, 162, 163 child-on-child 43, 67-69;
sale of material 33, 41, 42 child pornography and 7;
San Francisco 23 current, risk of 205;
sanctions 95, 109, 126, 127 defined 67;
satiation 75, 83, 186 extreme 36;
'scat' movies 163 female perpetrators 43,65-8;
homosexuality and 47;
236 INDEX

introduction to 177; pictures used as vehicle for 192;

oral 26; promoting 31;
organisation of 72; pseudo-photographs and 36;
photographs 107; sustaining 31, 38
professionals in the field of 65; sexual gratification 12, 67, 71, 156
serious 36-7; sexual interests 3-4, 10, 13, 21, 27, 46-72,
understanding of 4 195;
sexual arousal 4, 5, 10, 24-6, 91, 92, 93; continued 199;
child pornography and 78-3, 152, 156; deviant viii;
continued 199; Internet, child pornography, and 72-94,
deviant, 'proof of 50; 103, 104, 105, 113, 118, 128, 133, 169,
female 67, 71; 173, 176, 188, 200, 203;
heightening of 107; material suggesting/pictures related to
increased 55; 26, 29, 31, 31, 33, 39, 152, 156;
induced 75; primary 9;
intensified levels of 113; support groups 11
pleasure and escape through 87; sexual orientation 82, 105, 111
potential for 83, 187; sexual preferences 10,40,45, 52;
stimulated/stimulus for 73, 183 deviant 50
sexual assaults 3, 21, 29, 34, 36, 185; sexual qualities 33
child pornography and 12, 192, 194, 196; sexual relationships 62, 67, 101, 102, 106,
continued exposure to 205; 108, 111, 115;
normalised 23-5; controlling 116
serious 41 sexual satisfaction 88, 113
sexual behaviour 4, 21, 22, 102, 152; sexual urges 48
acceptability of 55; sexual victimisation 29, 30, 34, 36, 37, 75,
aggressive 67, 68; 156, 192;
chat room 103, 109; extent and severity of 39;
exciting 188; women 69, 70
explicit 191, 193; sexualisation 19, 25, 28, 31, 33, 105, 180,
highly disinhibited 106; 210;
intensified levels of 113; clothing 211;
invasive 68; early 176;
maladaptive 62; graphic 108;
'medicalisation' of 48; physical and emotional harm 70
online, compulsive 174; sexuality 2, 23, 54, 63, 172, 173;
organisation advocating 64-6; ability to fragment 106;
stimulus for 83; denying 46;
teenage 56; deviant 75;
'unrestrained' 105; different ways of enjoying 103;
see also cybersex; normal exploration of the nature of 67;
deviant behaviour; online 103;
non-offending behaviour; overt expression of 114;
offending behaviour using the margins of 33
sexual fantasies 72-5, 155, 193; Shaw, D. F. 68, 103
deviant 101; Shirky, C. 142
enabled 85; 'short-cuts' 55, 56
inappropriate 23; signatures 98
 INDEX 237

Silbert, M. H. 24 Talamo, A. 99, 105-7, 114

Simpson, P. 63-5 Tate, T. 22, 26, 27, 42 43, 73, 92, 93
Situational Offender (Lanning) 11-12, 155 Taylor, M. 26, 30, 39, 77
smiling 21, 55, 80 teenagers 11-12, 31, 56, 82-5, 158
Smith, A. D. 127 telephone numbers 112, 114
Smith, M. A. 119, 120 telephone sex 69, 184
Smith, M. J. 98, 121, 123, 125, 128 temporality 55, 58, 119
snuff 137, 165 Thailand 44, 45
social anxiety 60 thematic links 38
social cohesion 76 theory of mind 61-4
social competence 49, 60 therapeutic intervention 55, 172, 187, 208,
social context 195, 211-13 209
social factors 23 therapy 55, 196;
social function 81, 85 child pornography as 88–l ;
social interaction 59, 106, 192 see also CBT
social skills 49, 53, 60–2 third world children 44
social welfare 9,209,210 Thornton, D. 51, 52
socialisation 176, 182 thoughts 47, 63, 131;
SONAR (Sexual Offender Need Assessment misrepresentation of 65;
Rating) 50 private 37;
South America 41, 44 sex-related 55
Sportolari, L. 101 threats 21, 67
Sri Lanka 45 Tikkanen, R. 103
Stahl, S. S. 61 Times of India, The 44-6
status 73, 76, 104, 129, 183; titillation 6
'deviant' 132; toddlers 33
judicial 77 Tönnies, F. 123
stereotypes 38, 55 torture 83, 131, 143, 187
Stermac, L. E. 53, 54 touching 11;
stigmatisation 64 digital 36
stimulation 33, 68, 75, 101, 115, 186; toys 44
mental 152 traits 55, 58, 59, 61-3
stimuli 24, 47, 61, 92, 183, 194; trauma 23, 69, 177, 210
discriminative 83, 93; Travin, S. 66
early arousal to 48; treatment 59, 77, 172, 208;
sexual 50, 51, 69 disposition 49, 50;
stimulus-response condition 174 focused and specific 175
sting operations 93 trials 207
Stone, L. E. 22 trophies 83, 92, 156, 196
Strauss, Willy 43 trust 127, 137, 138, 141, 143
stress 69, 174 Turkle, S. 14, 95, 99, 100
Studer, L. H. 51-3 Tyler, R. P. 22
Sturges, J. 23
suffering 48 Undernet 138, 143
Sugiyama, S. 123 underwear 31, 33-5, 38
surfers 125 unhappiness 92
Svedin, C. G. 24, 29
Swiss nationals 44-6
238 INDEX

United Nations: Children's Fund (UNICEF) vulnerability 24, 58, 74, 172;
202; predisposed 174
Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1989)2 Wallace, P. 126
United States 69, 123-6, 192 Wallendorf, M. 147, 150
United States legislation 16, 28, 37, 43 Ward, T. 55, 56, 57, 59, 61, 63, 172
'untreatability' 47 Wasserman, H. J. 37
Usenet 64, 69, 86, 120, 126, 127, 165 Watson, N. 118,123
web sites 6, 8, 13, 121-4, 124, 135;
vaginal abuse 26, 79 commercial 41, 206;
vaginal intercourse 67 hosting practices 202;
verbal exchange 106 teenage 82-5;
very young children 36, 37, 39, 75; see also BBSs;
see also babies; newsgroups
toddlers Webley, P. 150
victims 11, 24, 46, 52, 74, 209-12; Webmasters 126
aroused 71; Wellman, B. 125
child-on-child 68; Wingate, S. 52
denial of 64; Withe, J. T. 42
dependency in 59; women 14, 26, 43, 114, 116;
false theory/assumptions about 57, 62; affective cues 61;
gender of 68; disguised as little girls 211;
identification of 203, 209, 211; married 45;
implicit theories about 56, 57; pornographic pictures of 134;
long-term consequences for 210; rape of 54;
minimising effect on 56; sexual victimisation of 69, 70;
paedophiles positioned as being 132; underreporting of offences committed by
photographs of 157, 196; 47
potential 10, 89, 104; wØnderland 136, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143-6,
rights of 205; 145, 206
targeting 58; Wood, A. F. 98, 121, 123, 125, 128
women as 14;
see also sexual victimisation younger children 93;
video-conferencing 120, 196 see also very young children
'video nasties' 162
videos 5, 6, 14, 21, 27, 38, 41, 42, 43–5, 75;
categorisation of sequences 39;
collecting 162, 163, 164;
good quality 142;
increase in sales of 69;
number of captures 40;
pornographic, of daughter 186
viewing 3, 22-6, 37, 177, 194
violence 48, 66, 68, 70, 75;
sexual 69
virtualisation 118-47
visual representation 28, 37