Deductive thematic analysis of a female paedophilia website

Abstract

The role of the Internet and other technologies in sexual offending has recently received much attention. The literature, however, has focused largely on male sexual abusers and much has to be learned about deviant female arousal patterns. The purpose of this article was to investigate how women with a sexual interest in children engage with the Internet. Data taken from one female paedophilia website have been subjected to a deductive thematic analysis. The analysis generated five main categories: cognitive distortions, recognition barriers, sexual motivation, the role of the Internet, and personal factors. The findings indicate that women are using the Internet to express a sexual interest in children and that they display similar characteristics to male individuals engaged in the same processes.

Key words:

• cognitive distortions
• female offenders
• online paedophilia
• sex offenders

Notes

This paper has been presented at a number of conferences and workshops: Child Exploitation and Online Protection of Children (CEOP), Metropolitan Police, London, United Kingdom, January 2007; Paedophile Investigation Unit, An Garda Siochana (Irish Police), Harcourt Square, Dublin, Ireland, May 2007; Forensic Symposium, Psychological Society of Ireland's Annual Conference 2006 and 2007.