Child sexual abuse material (CSAM): understanding the problem, the offender, & risk concerns

Users of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), Child Exploitive Sexual Materials (CESM), child porn and Child Related Erotica (CRE) pose a risk to communities everywhere. Erotica is anything that an individual finds sexually arousing. This can include child pornography, Child Sexually Exploitive Material (CSEM), Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and any CRE (e.g., pictures of clothed or partially clothed minors, children’s underwear, toys, teaching or sports paraphernalia designed for minors, etc.). The use of any CRE/CSEM/CSAM strengthens deviant sexual arousal towards minors. Those who believe that continued use of CRE/CSEM helps prevent actual touch offenses against children and teenagers fail to understand theories of habituation, learning theory, and behavioral and cognitive theories. To put it simply, practice makes perfect. A small number of articles and research finds that those convicted of use or possession of child porn/CSEM/CSAM are not dangerous and pose little risk of engaging in contact offenses; however, these sources fall short of solid methodological standards, mainly that they rely on offender self-report and a lack of any sex related conviction for a contact sex offense. Most studies fail to utilize objective measures such as polygraph to offer support of the offender’s claim to not have any undetected contact victims.