There is a global crisis concerning the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Despite boys making up a significant number of the victims-survivors of CSAE, emphasis in policy, strategy and social narratives tends to focus on the experiences of girls, leaving boys largely hidden from view. While there has been a growing focus on the CSAE of boys in research in recent years, the perspectives of boys and younger men and their experiences of moving forward after experiencing CSAE are under-explored. This study begins to address this by undertaking in-depth qualitative research with eight men who have experienced sexual abuse as children. Six participants were young men aged 25 and under. The study explores how men make sense of their experiences and what their experiences are of seeking support and moving forward. Participants’ accounts were analysed under a social constructionist theoretical framework using reflexive thematic analysis. A reflexive approach was adopted to critically reflect on practitioner-researcher positionality in the creation of knowledge. Findings in this research highlight how men experienced a profound sense of trauma in response to being sexually abused as children. The impact of CSAE, was, at times, uniquely gendered. For some, the psychological impact of CSAE was amplified by widespread gendered narratives of female sexual abuse victimhood alongside traditional social scripts of masculinities. Gendered narratives affected how men made sense of, disclosed, and moved forward from their experiences and also led them to feel invisible as victims-survivors. The study found that boys and men felt invisible in response to a range of intersecting internal, external and wider socio-cultural factors. Connections with others served as relational anchors to help support boys and men move forward from CSAE. Connections provided all the men with anchors of stability and safety which were critical to help counteract the psychological trauma of experiencing CSAE. Importantly, connections helped them to feel visible and validated as victims-survivors. Thus, when supporting victims-survivors, the power of consistent and safe connections cannot be underestimated. CSAE thrives in silence. Societal invisibility of the CSAE of boys silences their experiences and, therefore, creates a culture in which boys continue to be abused. This must be challenged. A key recommendation is that vital attention is needed to create social visibility of the CSAE of boys. Participants hope that increasing visibility will help reduce social stigma, improve responses and begin to create a society in which boys and men feel validated, more able to access support and better supported. The findings raised have wider implications, which can be used to inform policy and practice concerning the sexual abuse of children more broadly.
| Date of Award | 17 Jul 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Jamie Halsall (Main Supervisor) & Andrea Gaynor (Co-Supervisor) |
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