Not Monsters

Book excerpt: In the wake of recent violence our nation has experienced, and the paranoia that has ensued, we've directed our attention to potential terrorists in our midst. Yet our children face more risk from people they know than from terrorists they have never met. An estimated one in five girls and one in ten boys in the United States experience some form of sexual abuse by age eighteen. What could possibly motivate a person to molest a child? Not Monsters documents the stories of nine convicted child molesters through one-on-one interviews, listening to what offenders have to say about their crimes and exploring the roots of these behaviors from a social constructionist perspective. Their words paint a compelling and frightening portrait of how sexual abuse works in Western culture to perpetuate a political and social system of dominance and control.