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The Child Molesters: Clinical Observations - Part I
By A. Nicholas Groth, PhD, William F. Hobson, MS, Thomas S. Gary, MEd.
This monograph was developed after a l985 training institute, "The Incest Offender, The
Victim, The Family: New Treatment Approaches" sponsored by MHA. As noted in the
introduction to the monograph, the articles by Dr. Abel and Dr. Groth "provide the reader
with syntheses of two different perspectives about the nature of the disorder and suggest
solutions for treating the offender." These articles present their thinking and practice as
of l985. Times and practice change and these articles do not necessarily reflect best
practice in 2002. We will post a discussion of these articles written from the perspective
of current practice. This monograph is presented now for its historical value, to raise
awareness of these important issues and hopefully to stimulate discussion among
interested individuals.
This is the second of two articles in the monograph, The Incest Offender, the Victim, the Family - New
Treatment Approaches.
Introduction
An increasing amount of attention is being focused on the sexual victimization of children; yet no exact statistics exist in regard to this problem for
a number of reasons: Many such victimizations may go unreported or undetected, or the suspect may not be apprehended; or there may be
insufficient evidence to go to court; or the offender is not convicted; or even if he is convicted his offense may fall under a number of different
statutes which are not age-specific-in Massachusetts, for example, the sexual victimization of a child can be encompassed under 25 different
statutes-and therefore it is impossible to retrieve the number of identified sexual offenses committed specifically against children. Nevertheless
human service and criminal justice professionals are encountering more and more reported incidents of inter-generation sexual activity. The
authors of this chapter are clinicians who have worked with identified sexual offenders against children in a variety of institutional and
community-based settings. Our professional experience to date has spanned 16 years and encompassed over 500 such offenders, and our aim in
this chapter is to share our clinical observations, ideas, and impressions derived from our work in the hope that this will offer others a useful
overview and approach to understanding and working with the child molester. Our sample of identified offenders may be biased-there may be
better-integrated individuals who commit similar offenses with more discretion and circumspection and thus remain undetected-but our offenders
have in fact encompassed a sufficiently broad spectrum in regard to age, education. and occupation to persuade us that the fact of identification
and conviction is not a distorting variable with regard to the psychology of the child offender. With increasing opportunity to work with and study
such offenders our knowledge of the offender, his offense, and his victim continues to develop, and we find that many of the commonly held
assumptions in regard to the child molester (pedophile) are not being substantiated.
Myths About Child Molestation
Generally in order to safeguard children against sexual victimization, they are admonished to watch out for advances from strangers. For the most
part, however, the child molester is not a stranger, the large majority being in fact known and often related to their victims. The child molester is
commonly stereotyped as a "dirty old man" or a "monster". The fact is that in more than half the cases we have worked with we found that the
offender had attempted or committed his first sexual assault by the age of 16. Although most identified offenders are adults this only reflects the
point at which their behavior is recognized as an offense, not the onset of their sexual pathology. Because the sexual victimization of children is
so reprehensible, the offender is perceived to be some sort of depraved monster. Again in our experience we have by and large not found this to be
the case. His offense has been more the product of immaturity than malicious intent, and in many respects the offender may otherwise be living a
competent, law-abiding, and productive life. Unfortunately, when people expect the offender to be a monster and the accused is a respectable
person, then doubt is shed on the veracity of the victim's allegations-the child is thought to be mistaken or even lying. Generally speaking we
have not found any social or demographic characteristics that differentiate the child molester from the general population, not his race, religion,
intelligence, education, vocation, socioeconomic class, or the like.
Used with permission of the Haworth Press, Inc. from the Journal of Social Work and Human Sexuality,
Vol. 1, Nos. 1/2, Fall/Winter 1982, Copyright (c) all rights reserved.
What we have found is that pedophilia cuts across the whole spectrum of diagnostic categories, but for the most part we are not dealing with
persons who are mentally ill but who are emotionally troubled. The defects in their functioning are not cognitive, or perceptual, or emotional, but
interpersonal. What we are dealing with, in most cases, is the aftermath of physical and/or psychological abuse, neglect exploitation, and/or
abandonment during the offender's formative years, which has precluded the development of a sense of relatedness to others.
We have also observed that alcohol and drug abuse play a relatively minor role in the commission of such offenses, that females as well as males
sexually molest children although such offenses are less socially visible and under-reported, that preadolescent boys and girls are at equal risk of
being, sexually victimized, any that men who sexually molest boys are misidentified as homosexuals when they are in fact pedophiles. Finally the
child molester is the recipient of the strongest societal anger and disapproval, which ironically only confirms his perception of adults as hostile and
punitive and reinforces his attraction to children. If we are genuinely concerned about combating the sexual victimization of children we must be
humanistic in our attitudes towards the offender so that we don't inadvertently perpetuate the problem. If part of the reason the offender turns to
children is because he is intimidated by adults and he is then placed in a prison setting which exposes him to threats of harm, humiliation,
exploitation, and physical abuse at the hands of other inmates, this may serve only to reinforce his fear, distrust, and avoidance of adults and to
encourage his seeking out children whom he perceives will not hate or hurt him. Where incarceration is required, then, a security treatment center
specifically for sex offenders is preferable to a conventional correctional institution or prison.
The Offense
What is a child sexual victimization? It is any behavior on the part of an individual that exposes a child to the risk of psychological interference in
his or her sexual development. The spectrum of such victimization may range from situations at one extreme in which there is no direct physical
contact with the victim (for example, the offender may expose himself or he may encourage children to permit him to photograph them in the
nude) to those at the other extreme in which the child may be physically attacked and injured or even killed. Sexual offenses against children can
be classified into two basic categories in regard to the mode of aggression exhibited in the offense: child molesters and child rapists. Some offend-
ers pin sexual access to the child through a combination of enticement and deception. They lure or trick the child into the sexual activity: reward
the child for his or her participation: and caution the child against disclosure. These non-violent offenders, whom we refer to as child molesters,
essentially coax or pressure the child into the sexual activity. Their offenses constitute sexual extortion in which the child is taught to provide sex
in exchange for attention, acceptance, Recognition, and material gain. Other offenders resort to threat, intimidation, and physical force to achieve
submission on the part of the victim. They are child rapists who overpower and/ or threaten to harm their victims. Their offenses constitute sexual
attacks in which the child victim relinquishes sex in return for survival and release. Obviously the child rapist poses a more serious risk to the
physical safety of the victim than does the child molester, but fortunately child rapists constitute a small minority of the sexual offenders against
children. For this reason the remainder of this chapter will focus on the major type of perpetrator of sexual offenses against children: the child
molester.
Definition
What is a child molester? As it is used in this chapter, the term "child molester" refers to a significantly older person whose conscious sexual
interests and overt sexual behaviors are directed either partially or exclusively towards prepubertal children. In contrast to the child rapists for
whom sexual aggression is a hostile act, the child-molester exhibits a positive emotional investment in the child whom he eroticizes. He seeks to
establish an on-going relationship with the child that includes but extends beyond sexual activity. Having first established a non-sexual
relationship and position of familiarity with the child he gradually indoctrinates the child into sexual activities that become more advanced over
time. He behaves in counter-aggressive ways, however, and should the child refuse or resist his sexual advances, the child molester may increase
his efforts at enticement and manipulation but will not resort to physical force. If the child actively and persistently resists the child molester will
ultimately turn to another, more accommodating victim. The risk to the victim of the child- molester, then, is not one of physical injury, but one of
psychological harm.
Continuing the Second Article,
The Child Molester: Clinical Observations
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