An Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander male postgraduate student is sought to undertake an exploratory sub-study of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander CSA perpetrators using the same theoretical lens as the main project (see below). (A male is required as research suggests Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander perpetrators may be reluctant to be interviewed by a female). The student will be supported to recruit a small sample of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander CSA perpetrators for interview.
The postgraduate sub-study will build toward a comparative phenomenology, giving rise to explanations that account for both commonalities and differences in CSA perpetration. This will underpin the development of both specific and general explanations of CSA perpetration (and prevention measures based on these). While exploratory, the sub-study will make a valuable contribution to the literature which has mostly used samples of Anglo-Celtic perpetrators, even though CSA manifests in different ways in specific cultural contexts (Whittier, 2016).
A postgraduate scholarship will be funded by QUT. The student will also benefit from the mentorship of two funded Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Cultural Mentors with expertise on CSA.
This project aims to transform how we understand child sexual abuse (CSA) by discovering new knowledge about perpetrator motivations. Prior research has focused overwhelmingly on how to address CSA after it has occurred. The critical ‘pre question’ of why adults perpetrate CSA has long been overlooked and perpetrators’ vital insights about CSA perpetration have largely been excluded from research. However, perpetrators possess ‘epistemic advantage’ (Wylie, 2003) – they know different things, and know things differently, than others. The approach adopted in this project will build a critical evidence base about CSA perpetrator motivations. Using a novel theoretical lens and innovative methods to investigate an overlooked yet critical element of CSA perpetration, it will produce new theoretical and empirical knowledge on this urgent topic.
We need to understand what motivates adults to perpetrate CSA to prevent it, but research has not yet identified why adults perpetrate CSA (instead focusing on how they perpetrate CSA; eg Finkelhor et al, 2017). It is often assumed that CSA perpetrators are innately sexually attracted to children, have been victims of CSA themselves, or are mentally ill, but there are no definitive links between these factors and CSA perpetration (Clayton et al, 2018). By discovering new knowledge about perpetrator motivations, the project will significantly advance our ability to explain CSA perpetration, and thus to better inform prevention measures.
