ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, I examined current theorizing on sexual offending against children. I argue that theories of sexual offending that work back from the offence to the perpetrator through assumptions of neuropsychological abnormality and deficit are deeply problematic as they fail to provide the conceptual tools to enable the social dimension to be properly accounted for, interrogated and theorized. Thus, I have been critical of perspectives that focus on the perpetrator, as a malfunctioning individual, while noting the intent of sex offending theorists to develop broad, inclusive theories that recognize the sociocultural dimension. I also outlined the feminist and sociological critique, as well some shortcomings of these approaches which either fail to theorize social action or else fall back on notions of malfunction and deficit. Without a clear ontological and epistemological standpoint to underpin research investigations and theory-making in this field, it seems we are left to gather ‘surface facts’ and ‘knit’ them together in a rather directionless, hopeful fashion. This is the clear advantage of feminist perspectives on sexual violence. The importance such writers place on a ‘warts’n’all’, reflexive approach (see Brackenridge, 2001) provides a coherence and a transparency that is mostly absent from other perspectives in the sex offending literature. In this chapter, I outline a specific alternative epistemology and theoretical framework which forms the foundation for my empirical investigation and subsequent theorization. My intention is to make clear the ontological and epistemological origins of my approach and to introduce the reader to the key concepts I later apply. Chapter 6 puts this approach into practice by applying it to the accounts offered by those subjected to sex within sport settings.
