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Polling Pedophilic Preferences: Analyzing Responses to User-Generated Member Polls on a Darknet Child Sexual Abuse Forum

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines a “boy-lover” darknet forum, home to nearly 100,000 members with sexual interests in children, analyzing user-generated polls to understand the psychosexual dynamics of this hidden community. Being neither scientifically structured nor motivated, these polls provide a rare, non-reactive insight into sexual preferences, behaviors, and social interactions in an ecosystem shielded from societal scrutiny. Exploring age preferences, consumption of child sexual abuse material, and child sex cues, we elucidate how these behaviors are communicated, reinforced, and normalized. The findings contextualize these behaviors within existing research and underscore the critical role of digital ecosystems in perpetuating sexual exploitation.
DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2025.2453813
Authors: Robert J. B. Lehmann, Arjan Blokland, Alexander F. Schmidt, Frederic Maximilian Gnielka, Salla Huikuri, Colm Gannon, Anton Daser, Katarzyna Staciwa, Meike de Boer, Rebecca Reichel
Institutions: MSB Medical School Berlin, Leiden University, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Ministry of the Interior, La Trobe University, Polish Platform for Homeland Security
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4406771009
FWCI: 3.321
Cites: 43
Cited by: 3
Related to: 10