This paper reports findings from an exploratory study on sexual abuse by men who work with children. As a first step towards filling a major gap in the relevant research literature, in-depth interviews were carried out with a small sample of men serving prison sentences for sexually abusing children in their trust. The paper focuses on their accounts of their life histories, including their experiences of prison treatment programmes, and provides a detailed picture of their thinking, feelings and motivations. In revealing how the men construct their own sense of masculine identity within...

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study on sexual abuse by men who work with children. As a first step towards filling a major gap in the relevant research literature, in-depth interviews were carried out with a small sample of men serving prison sentences for sexually abusing children in their trust. The paper focuses on their accounts of their life histories, including their experiences of prison treatment programmes, and provides a detailed picture of their thinking, feelings and motivations. In revealing how the men construct their own sense of masculine identity within social and professional contexts that are dominated by a heterosexual, white male hegemony, the paper challenges purely psychological explanations of why men sexually abuse. It concludes that sexual abuse in organizational settings is less likely to be challenged if masculinity is not focused on as an issue of power.