| Unspeakable Acts: Why Men Sexually Abuse Children Revised Edition Contributor(s): Pryor, Doug W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0814766668 ISBN-13: 9780814766668 Publisher: New York University Press OUR PRICE: $30.40 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 1999 Annotation: The sexual abuse of children is one of the most morally unsettling and emotionally inflammatory issues in American society today. It has been estimated that roughly one out of every four girls and one in ten boys experience some form of unwanted sexual attention either inside or outside the family before they reach adulthood. An alarmingly common occurrence, sexual abuse is traumatic and life-altering for children in its impact. How should society deal with the sexual victimization of children? Should known offenders be released back into our communities? If so, where, and with what rights, should they be allowed to live? In Unspeakable Acts, Douglas W. Pryor argues that much of this debate, designed to deal with abusers after they have offended, ignores the important issue of why men cross these forbidden sexual boundaries to molest children in the first place and how the behavior can possibly be prevented before it starts. Based on in-depth interviews with thirty men who molested their own children or the children of people they knew, Pryor provides a unique glimpse of those who become offenders. His analysis explores how the lives of offenders prior to their offending led up to and contributed to what they did, the ways that initial interest in sex with children began, the tactics offenders employed to molest their victims over time, how they felt about and reacted to their behavior between offending episodes, and how and why they stopped abusing. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Family & Relationships | Abuse - General - Social Science | Criminology - Psychology | Psychopathology - General |
| Dewey: 364.153 |
| LCCN: 96009938 |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.81" W x 8.94" (1.06 lbs) 362 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A holistic sociological approach that explores why offenders sexually abuse children The sexual abuse of children is one of the most morally unsettling and emotionally inflammatory issues in American society today. It has been estimated that roughly one out of every four girls and one in ten boys experience some form of unwanted sexual attention either inside or outside the family before they reach adulthood. How should society deal with the sexual victimization of children? Should known offenders be released back into our communities? If so, where, and with what rights, should they be allowed to live? In Unspeakable Acts, Douglas W. Pryor argues that much of this debate, designed to deal with abusers after they have offended, ignores the important issue of why men cross these forbidden sexual boundaries to molest children in the first place and how the behavior can possibly be prevented before it starts. Incorporating in-depth interviews with more than thirty convicted child molesters, Pryor explores how men become involved with breaking sexual boundaries with children. He looks at how their lives prior to offending contributed to and led up to what they did, the ways that initial interest in sex with children began, the tactics offenders employed to molest their victims over time, how they felt about and reacted to their behavior between offending episodes, and how they were ultimately able to stop. The author expands our understanding of this often reviled, little understood group, leaving us with the uneasy conclusion that the moral wall separating us from what is defined as extreme, sick behavior is not as opaque as we would like to believe. |
Contributor Bio(s): Pryor, Doug W.: - Doug Pryor is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and co-author of the recent ground-breaking book Dual Attraction: Understanding Bisexuality. |