Pedophilia, child porn, and cyberpredators

Our understanding of pedophilia and its relationship with child pornography has become more critical with the advent of technology-mediated offending. The internet has led to an overall increase in the availability of all pornographic materials, and sexually related online activities have become routine for many adults and young people in the Western world (Döring 2009). This has also led to concerns, from professionals and public alike, about the effect of pornographic materials on society (Diamond 2009) and on young people in particular (Perrin et al. 2008). However, Cassell and Cramer (2008: 70) have argued that throughout history there has been a recurring moral panic about the potential danger of communication technologies (particularly for young women) but that when investigated it is less the technology that appears to be to blame, but rather the potential sexual agency of young women, parental loss of control, and the ‘specter of women who manifest technological prowess’. Much of the debate has been about whether there is a causal relationship between viewing child pornography and the commission of a contact offense against a child (e.g. Endrass et al. 2009) and whether those who view images of children are inevitably pedophiles (Seto et al. 2006; Seto 2009).