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Language, discourse and empowerment: changing approaches to children and young people who have sexually abused others
Author(s) -
Myers Steve
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.721
Subject(s) - empowerment , sociology , value (mathematics) , sexual abuse , work (physics) , position (finance) , psychology , criminology , gender studies , developmental psychology , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , medicine , political science , law , engineering , mechanical engineering , environmental health , machine learning , computer science , finance , economics
The sexual abuse of children by other children and young people has gained an increasing profile during the previous decade. It has been increasingly recognised that there has been a significant change in the way that this issue has been responded to, both in philosophy and practice, as research has developed and also as the value base of initial constructions of this behaviour has been questioned. This article describes the development of a project to work with children and young people who have sexually abused from its inception in 1995 to the present, outlining the original assumptions and working practices and the reasoning behind changes. The growth of the project illustrates the changing nature of constructions of this behaviour, along with the introduction of new theoretical approaches to respond to this change. In particular, the changes can be seen to reflect a move away from a ‘modernist’ position and this is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.