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Abstract
The accusation that leading experts on issues related to child sexual abuse have entered the field in order to pursue personal agendas is one of several personal attacks used to undermine the credibility of the field's experts. Using qualitative data from in-depth interviews, this article examines how 37 well-known authorities on child sexual abuse explain their own motivations for entering the field. In almost all cases, professional rather than personal factors appear to be the primary motivators for the experts' involvement. The article concludes that efforts to discredit child sexual abuse experts may be related to issues of gender and professional status.
Notes
The author would like to thank Kathleen Coulborn Faller for her unfailing support, guidance, patience, and humor.
1. Direct quotations from study participants have not been edited and are reproduced verbatim from the interview transcripts.
2. For the larger study, 40 people were interviewed; however, due to time constraints, only 37 participants provided information relevant to this article.