Graduation Date
2000
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Sociology
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Paul Crosbie
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Elizabeth Watson
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Lee H. Bowker
Keywords
Sociology
Abstract
This thesis is an examination of pedophile use of the World Wide Web as a source of social support. I conduct a content analysis of pedophile Web sites that advocate sexual contact between men and boys. The themes on these sites are examined and compared to the themes found in stage one of my research program, which analyzed four of the eleven sites in the pedophile Web site sampling frame. This monograph draws on Mirkin’s (1999) theoretical framework that states that pedophiles are in stage one of a battle to legitimize their sexual orientation This study finds that pedophile sites which advocate sexual contact between men and boys have an intended audience of other pedophiles primarily and secondarily the general public. Pedophile sites in this study condemn violence against boys 73% of the time and never support violence or coercion of boys. The sites contain themes of sharing and caring (73%) and under-utilize the resources of the Internet such as chat rooms and bulletin boards. I hypothesize that the themes on the boylove sites differ from the themes found on the sites that advocate sexual contact between men and girls. A third stage of the research program is proposed in which themes from the man/boy love and man/girl love sites are compared.
Recommended Citation
Mauney, Teelynn T., "The Internet as a Source of Informal Social Control: Social Support in Pedophile Online Culture" (2000). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2477.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2477