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DOINGGENDERASANOFFENDER by Laura Frances Ranger a Thesis DOING GENDER AS AN OFFENDER A CRIMINOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF OFFENDER NARRATIVES, AND THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MASCULINITIES AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE by Laura Frances Ranger A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology Institute of Criminology Victoria University of Wellington © 2015 I No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. John Donne, Meditation XVII II ABSTRACT Masculinity is a powerful construct that transcends other aspects of male existence and dictates codes of conduct accordingly. Masculinity describes a plurality of roles, norms and expectations that regulate the behaviour of men. Within criminology, many theorists have established an association between threatened masculinity and sexual violence perpetrated against adults. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the relationship between masculinity and sexual violence perpetrated against children. What research there is, suggests that men who sexually abuse children may offend as a way of overcompensating for perceived masculine inadequacies that have arisen as a result of chronic experiences of powerlessness. This thesis is based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with men who have sexually offended against children. Twenty men were recruited from community-based rehabilitation programmes around New Zealand. Transcripts of these interviews — as well as client records and results of a Q-sort task — were analysed to identify ways in which these men achieve, negotiate or defy normative gender expectations. A mixture of thematic and narrative analysis was used to interpret the data, revealing four prominent themes: powerlessness, entitlement, risk-taking and rigid thinking. Within each broad theme, several other factors were identified. For the theme of powerlessness these were: distorted perception, idealistic or nostalgic views of childhood, previous experience of trauma or abuse, an inability to seek help, experiences of humiliation or rejection, and perceived masculine failings. For the theme of entitlement these were: a propensity for resentment and blame, narratives of nice guys relegated to the friend zone, and valuing of hypermasculinity. For the theme of risk-taking these other factors were: narratives of boredom or addiction, as well as the existence of obsessive or compulsive tendencies. For the theme of rigid thinking these were: inconsistent or illogical cognitive patterns, poor or inappropriate boundary setting, and inflexible or unattainable religious ideals. Overall, the results lend support to current theories of powerlessness and show that men’s sexual offences against children can be interpreted as overcompensatory behaviour occurring within the spectrum of normative masculinities. These findings highlight the need for III rehabilitation to consider offenders’ masculine identities as a point of treatment focus. It is argued that society must challenge the rigid and unattainable nature of hegemonic masculinity because of its potentially harmful consequences for men, women and children. It is hoped that the content of this thesis can contribute to academic knowledge about ‘doing gender as an offender’. IV CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ III CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................ V LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ VIII LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. IX 1. SETTING THE SCENE.......................................................................................... 1 Defining child sexual abuse ................................................................................. 1 Perpetrators of child sexual abuse ........................................................................ 2 Language and terminology .................................................................................. 4 Thesis structure and overview .............................................................................. 7 2. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT .......................................................................... 9 Legal and social history of child sexual abuse ...................................................... 9 Social attitudes towards child sex offenders ....................................................... 11 Nature and extent of child sexual abuse ............................................................. 13 3. EXPLANATIONS FOR OFFENDING ................................................................... 23 Single-factor theories ......................................................................................... 23 Multi-factor theories .......................................................................................... 33 Feminist theories ............................................................................................... 38 4. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS ..................................................................... 45 Religion as a context for deviance ...................................................................... 45 Child pornography and online grooming .......................................................... 49 Treatment modalities ......................................................................................... 57 5. GENDERED OFFENDING .................................................................................. 63 Convergence of ideology and behaviour ............................................................ 64 Gender strain and perceived inadequacy ........................................................... 67 Masculinity as a concept and construct ............................................................. 70 6. MASCULINITIES IN PRACTICE ......................................................................... 80 V Masculinities and child sexual abuse.................................................................. 80 Masculinities in Aotearoa .................................................................................. 92 Theoretical clarification ..................................................................................... 97 7. RESEARCH DESIGN .......................................................................................... 99 Objectives........................................................................................................... 99 Key questions ..................................................................................................... 99 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 99 Design and method.......................................................................................... 102 Sampling and recruitment ............................................................................... 103 Data collection ................................................................................................. 105 8. DATA ANALYSIS .............................................................................................. 110 Thematic analysis ............................................................................................. 110 Narrative analysis ............................................................................................. 111 Data limitations ............................................................................................... 113 Ethical considerations ...................................................................................... 115 Process undertaken .......................................................................................... 117 9. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 122 Presenting the results ....................................................................................... 122 Participant overview ......................................................................................... 122 Family dynamics and role modelling ............................................................... 125 Affirming and articulating gender identity ...................................................... 133 Interpreting the Q-Sort ................................................................................... 139 10. POWERLESSNESS ............................................................................................ 146 Defining power and powerlessness .................................................................. 146 General findings .............................................................................................. 146 Types of powerlessness .................................................................................... 148 Distorted perception ........................................................................................ 153 Idealising childhood ......................................................................................... 156 Men’s own experience of trauma or abuse ....................................................... 158 VI Inability to seek help .......................................................................................
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