The elephant in the room: child sexual abuse and men’s practices in Sweden

1. The elephant in the room: child sexual abuse and men’s practices in Sweden Keith Pringle Professor in Sociology with a specialism in Social Work, Uppsala University and Senior Professor in Social Work and Social Policy at London Metropolitan University keith.pringle @soc.uu.se

2. KEY POINTS ABOUT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE FROM INTERNATIONAL AND SWEDISH PREVALENCE SURVEYS • Strong evidence suggests child sexual abuse is predominantly (though not exclusively) an activity – and in almost all countries, a serious crime – carried out by men or boys. • Similarly, long-standing and current evidence is that child sexual abuse is a rather common phenomenon in almost all societies where its prevalence has been studied seriously – including Sweden

3. WHY THIS ABSENCE OF FOCUS ON GENDER AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN SWEDEN? • Explanation 1: Intersectional • The dynamics of child sexual abuse centre on an intersection of virulent sexism, ageism and and NOT on inequalities associated with class or ethnicity. In contrast to physical violence to children and to women, this means that child sexual abuse is massively threatening to some of the most dominant discourses in Swedish society: • Having men as carers is a good thing in itself (regardless of what that “care” might consist of). • Sweden is a gender-equal society. • Men’s violence in Sweden is primarily a problem within minority ethnic groups. • Sweden is a “barnvänligt”(child-friendly) society. • Child sexual abuse challenges all these statements to a degree that physical violence to women and physical violence to children does not.

4. WHY THIS ABSENCE OF FOCUS ON GENDER AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN SWEDEN? Explanation 2: Societal/Cultural Child sexual abuse can be categorised as a social problem which centrally concerns a person’s bodily integrity. The Swedish welfare system is relatively poor at dealing with social issues associated with bodily integrity. Such as: violence to women, racism and xenophobia, disablism, ageism, heteronormativity – and child sexual abuse. This “weakness” in the Swedish welfare system can be explained in terms of the dominant discourses of collectivism and consensus which characterise most social institutions in Sweden.

5. WHY THIS ABSENCE OF FOCUS ON GENDER AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN SWEDEN? In reality explanations 1 and 2 are closely linked because in both cases the social dynamics underpinning child sexual abuse seriously threaten central – and very positive - self beliefs about Swedish society and indeed “Swedish-ness”