Encountering Paedophiles on the Internet

Abstract

In Chapter 1 we saw how society attempts to make sense of situations where adults are (or seem to be) sexually involved with or attracted to children, and examples were given to show how popular culture has made us all aware, as a society, of what a ‘paedophile’ is, even though this cultural representation of a ‘paedophile’ may differ from reality. In this chapter we dive into the farther reaches of the internet, to explore what’s out there and how it has affected all our lives. The aim is to understand the role of the internet in enabling paedophiles to contact one another and to influence wider society through online postings.