Child sex offenders and what we know about them

The media stereotype of the child sex offender probably reflects a popular view – the predatory “pervert”, “paedo” and even “monster”. This is dangerously misleading because men who sexually abuse children are not easy to characterise. They do not fit into any social category. Their histories are different. Their public face may be (and, indeed, often is) as the respectable father and husband; helpful, loving and caring. They are members of all social classes, trades and professions, the surgeon as well as the bus driver. There may be nothing about them to arouse the least suspicion that they are a danger to children, their own or other people’s. In short, they may be indistinguishable from any friend, relative, workmate or neighbour.1