ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the current understanding of the relationship between cognitive aspects of sexual interest and sexual behaviour. During the Victorian era, faith-based sources of written material continued unabated but became entangled with rival ideas of both the 'scientific' and clinical prescription of human sexual behaviour. A hugely important figure in relation to the scientific investigation of sexual interest and sexual deviance was Kurt Freund. Throughout the 1970s and '80s in the United States, and to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, there was a proliferation of the use of phallometry in work with sex offenders. Feminist analyses emphasised sexual offending as an exploitation of a power imbalance, and those working with adults with intellectual disabilities (IDs) tended to emphasise the notion of 'counterfeit deviance' in explaining sex offending against children. The impact of the Relapse Prevention (RP) approach to working with sex offenders was also a considerable factor in the declining focus on sexual interest.
