Exploring the uncomfortable topic of women who engage in child sexual abuse material offenses: How are they represented in the media?

Abstract

The representation of women who engage in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenses in the media is important to understand because the misconstruction of offending may marginalize victims of these offenses and stymie the reporting by victims. The current study aimed to explore how women who perpetrate CSAM offenses are represented in the media. A search of all newspaper articles reporting CSAM offenses perpetrated by women published in English over a 6-month period (1 May 2020 to 31 October 2020) was conducted (N = 68 articles). A qualitative content analysis identified three themes: (1) newspaper headings do not suggest women, including mothers, engage in CSAM offending; (2) women who co-offend are actively involved in the CSAM offending; and (3) CSAM cases perpetrated by women are reported factually as opposed to emotively. Overall, the findings are positive, indicating advancements in the factual, as opposed to stereotypical, reporting of women who engage in CSAM offenses.