| Abstract: | Summary This paper reviews the social constructions of the paedophileas these are embodied in clinical and journalistic discourses.It considers how these discourses have influenced communityperceptions of risk and professional responses to the concernsthey portray. It then locates these professional constructionswithin a context of hegemonic masculinity and unsafe families.It concludes that community safety is not adequately addressedby professional assessments of risk that focus primarily onthe problems posed by known paedophiles. It is important toconsider the problem of sexual violence in a much wider contextthat problematises the context in which sexual abuse occurs. |
