Michael Salter

UNSW Sydney | UNSW · School of Social Sciences

How is social media changing contemporary understandings of crime and injustice, and what contribution can it make to justice-seeking? Abuse on social media often involves betrayals of trust and invasions of privacy that range from the public circulation of intimate photographs to mass campaigns of public abuse and harassment using platforms such a...

This article draws on interviews with 20 Australian women subjected to technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC), foregrounding their accounts of grief and institutional betrayal. Findings show that while the harms of TFCC were significant, survivors’ experiences were often minimized and dismissed by justice institutions. Women experienced gri...

This article examines how technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation has flourished within the laissez faire regulatory frameworks of neoliberalism, and argues that political economy should play a more central role in theorising about child sexual abuse. Drawing on the case study of Omegle, a livestreaming website that matches strangers via w...

The aim of this review is to summarise the available empirical research on parental production and to explore the discursive positioning of parental perpetrators within scholarship on child sexual abuse material. Academic databases were searched using a combination of relevant terms, and the review was expanded as new terms were identified. The rev...

Purpose This article investigates survivors’ experiences participating in research interviews about technology-facilitated domestic violence. University research ethics committees often assume that participating in research on violence and abuse is distressing for survivors. Scholars have called for research testing this assumption. This article co...

This chapter examines the ways in which online child sexual exploitation and related legal reform have been framed in the news media. After two decades of celebratory accounts of technological progress, a "techlash" is under way as the mass media provides expanded coverage of the failings and hypocrisies of the technology industry. Online child sex...

Many child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenders have non-offending partners and children who are impacted by their CSAM use. However, the specific dynamics of CSAM offending within a relationship or family context have been overlooked in forensic research, while scholarship on domestic violence and coercive control has not focused on CSAM offendi...

This article draws on theories of therapeutic politics to explore the role of institutionalised dignity as a medium for the social and political participation of traumatised people. Using the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as a case study, the article offers a psychosocial account of shame and humilia...

Reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the internet are rapidly increasing and the number of people accessing it is substantial. Many of these men have partners or families who are impacted by their CSAM use. These families experience negative mental health and social outcomes as a result. Despite this, there are limited services that pro...

There is growing commitment to trauma-informed practice and increased recognition of risks associated with this work. However, the benefits of working with trauma-affected clients are under-studied. Drawing on interviews with sixty-three welfare, health and legal professionals in Australia, we consider the salutogenic dynamics of work with women wi...

It might be assumed that victim experiences of sexual violence are characterised by fear and pain, and while this is true for many, the phenomenology of sexual violence is more complex than this. Increasingly, sexuality research is recognising that people can desire and have a positive regard toward sexual encounters that they do not consent or agr...

Organised abuse, in which multiple adults sexually abuse multiple children, has an important role to play in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) but has been relegated to the margins of criminological concern. This paper presents the findings of an international survey of 74 adults who described childhood victimisation in CSAM and...

This is the first article to analyze children’s involvement in technology-facilitated coercive control in Australia. The primary research question was ‘‘How do mothers describe their children’s involvement in technology-facilitated coercive control?”. This article is based on incidental findings from a larger study on Australian women’s experiences...

This report details an evaluation of PartnerSPEAK, a Victorian organisation that supports the non-offending partners, family and friends of CSAM offenders. PartnerSPEAK utilises a peer support model to provide support through the operation of the Peerline phone service, webchat, as well as a moderated online forum. The evaluation was conducted by a...

Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem in Australia. Digital media are increasingly integral to its dynamics. Technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC) is a form of gender-based violence. This article examines domestic violence survivors’ experiences with TFCC, drawing on interviews with 20 Australian women. Study results enhance unde...

Child sexual abuse material is now recognised as a major social problem however, prior to the internet, disclosures of victimisation in abuse material were the subject of sceptical scholarly commentary. The veracity of the sceptical position has been subject to limited empirical scrutiny. The aim of this study is to analyse the content of a sample...

Currently, Aboriginal children are significantly over-represented in the out-of-home-care system. Drawing on Aboriginal trauma scholarship and decolonizing methodologies, this paper situates the contemporary state removal of Aboriginal children against the backdrop of historical policies that actively sought to disrupt Aboriginal kinship and commun...

Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is widely available online. Existing research indicates that the parents and parental figures of victims are notably represented in offender populations. However, there is limited research in this area. Drawing on Australian media and legal databases, this study created a database of 82 cases of CSAM production an...

Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is widely available online. Existing research indicates that the parents and parental figures of victims are notably represented in offender populations. However, there is limited research in this area. Drawing on Australian media and legal databases, this study created a database of 82 cases of CSAM production an...

Modern slavery is a complex and clandestine social phenomenon that is poorly understood in the Australian context. The settlement sector is integral to Australia’s counter-slavery efforts, and yet, no Australian study has explicitly sought to explore how this group identifies and navigates modern slavery. This paper draws on surveys and interviews...

This chapter examines the phenomenon of internet users attempting to report and prevent online child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in the absence of adequate intervention by internet service providers, social media platforms, and government. The chapter discusses the history of online CSE, focusing on regulatory s...

Amidst renewed concern about the prevalence of online child sexual abuse material, the global technology sector is refocusing on models of multistakeholder governance and the development of new technological solutions. This paper argues that the language of multistakeholderism and technological solutionism obscures the administrative and commercial...

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) refers to the complex psychological and psychosocial sequelae caused by prolonged interpersonal abuse. Contemporary approaches to CPTSD are dominated by individualised psychological interventions that are long-term and costly. However, accumulating evidence indicates that CPTSD is a high prevalence men...

There is an urgent need in Australia for more effective responses aimed at stemming high rates of domestic and family violence (DFV) and halting the trauma and preventable deaths of women and children at the hands of their male partners, former partners or fathers. The aim of this research was to develop a detailed understanding of Australian perpe...

This project comprised ten research studies that examined Australian perpetrator intervention systems. The studies focused on the most common pathways of identification, assessment and intervention with perpetrators and examined how the engagement and retention of perpetrators within systems can be enhanced. Together, the studies provide a compre...

Responses to women who have experienced complex trauma need to be sensitive, coordinated and consistent between services and agencies to ensure women’s wellbeing and safety from violence. However, the development of shared frameworks of practice for addressing complex trauma has been forestalled by a lack of professional consensus and understanding...

This report presents the findings of a study that aimed to document shifts in OCSE offender behaviour and the responses of tiplines and specialist law enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was guided by three research questions: • What are the experiences of frontline professionals in responding to changes in online offender behavio...

This paper presents the findings of a 2018 survey of 895 GBQ men currently residing in Australia, focused on their views and experiences of healthy and unhealthy relationships. The survey measures these men’s attitudes and understandings of what constitutes abusive or unethical behaviour in relationships, their awareness of abuse and violence in th...

This article examines how particular understandings of trauma as a systemic form of psychosocial harm framed the establishment of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, informed its successful investigatory process, and shaped its recommendations and outcomes. In so doing, the Royal Commission makes an i...

This paper argues that the uncertain public status of victim narratives of sexual abuse has inhibited the information sharing and dialogue necessary for policy reform and transformative change. Through an integration of public sphere theory and relational psychoanalysis, the paper identifies the need for a transitional space for the explication of...

Social media has emerged as a powerful mechanism for the circulation of counter-hegemonic and feminist discourses of sexual violence (Michael Salter, 2013). There is now a burgeoning scholarship on the utility of social media for survivors and social movements against gendered violence (Fileborn, 2016; Keller, Mendes, & Ringrose, 2018; Loney-Howes,...

This study extends the emerging research on technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC) to gather deeply contextualised qualitative evidence from survivors. We conducted interviews with domestic violence survivors in Queensland and New South Wales who had experienced technology facilitated abuse, supplementing the interviews via focus groups wit...

This article draws on psychoanalytic theories of malignant trauma to explain the invisibility of ritual abuse. Ritual abuse refers to the misuse of rituals in the organised sexual abuse of children. Despite expanded recognition of the varieties of child maltreatment, ritual abuse remains largely invisible outside the trauma and dissociation field a...

This report presents data from an IPV and SA survey with 895 GBTIQ men who currently live in Australia. The primary focus of the survey was on IPV in same-sex relationships. The survey included questions about SA, and some men included additional information on SA via openended questions. The survey did not seek to measure the prevalence of crimina...

This paper draws on critical theories of organisations to question why child sexual abuse is a frequent correlate of male authority in institutional settings. While acknowledging the role of other risk factors, the paper suggests that the contemporary bureaucratic form is itself conducive to child sexual abuse. This argument is developed through an...

This article describes domestic violence as a key context of online misogyny, foregrounding the role of digital media in mediating, coordinating, and regulating it; and proposing an agenda for future research. Scholars and anti-violence advocates have documented the ways digital media exacerbate existing patterns of gendered violence and introduce...

This chapter applies a dialectical approach to intimacy on social media, and situates online abuse and harassment within the evident tensions between publicity and privacy. The chapter emphasises the contradictions between the encouragement of online intimacy by social media platforms and the commodification and exploitation of user data that under...

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a qualitative study of Australian women disclosing organised abuse in adulthood and the mental health professionals who treat them. Drawing on interviews with survivors and mental health professionals, the paper analyses the fraught relationship between mental health and physical safety for adults s...

In 2014, an orchestrated campaign of online abuse known as Gamergate overtook the global video game industry, calling unprecedented attention to the scope of gendered harassment on social media. Using Gamergate as an example, this paper argues that explanations of online abuse that focus on its cultural or technological dimensions fail to capture t...

Child sexual abuse (CSA) engages the core themes of critical criminology, namely power and harm. It is therefore surprising that child sexual abuse has drawn relatively little attention from critical criminologists, other than as an illustration of “moral panic”. This is, to my knowledge, the first dedicated chapter on child sexual abuse in a criti...

This discussion paper highlights two key areas for prevention of violence against women: education and workplace interventions. The key findings from the discussion paper are: 1. Education about respectful relationships needs to commence in early childhood, 2. Underlying socioeconomic and other forms of structural disadvantage require more attentio...

Drawing on Kitzinger’s (2000) notion of media templates, the essay demonstrates how patterns of media reporting on organised abuse in the US came to inform reporting in the UK and Australia. The subsequent “echo chamber” reinforced a homogenised stereotype of organised abuse allegations that was highly conducive to the claims that the problem of se...

In a significant shift over the last ten years, Australian men's rights activists have partnered with academics and health groups to rearticulate notions of injured masculinity via the vocabulary and practice of health promotion. This shift has given rise to a hybrid form of men's rights/health activism (MRHA) in which health statistics and theorie...

Drawing on focus group research, this article examines the impact of norms of publicity and privacy on young people as they negotiate technologically mediated intimate and peer relations. This article argues that digital images of bodies circulate online in manner that reinforces gender inequalities, as the public feminine body is conflated with po...

Revelations of organised abuse by men of Asian heritage in the United Kingdom have become a recurrent feature of international media coverage of sexual abuse in recent years. This paper reflects on the similarities between the highly publicised 'sex grooming' prosecutions in Rochdale in 2012 and the allegations of organised abuse in Rochdale that e...

One of the most unnerving aspects of child sexual abuse is that it is constantly manifesting in unexpected ways. The current Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has collected testimony of abuse in churches, schools, out-of-home care, hospitals and religious communities, demonstrating the breadth of institutional arra...

The primary prevention of violence against women has become a national and international priority for researchers and policy makers. While optimistic about the potential of the prevention agenda, this paper advances two related critiques of the construction of masculinities within violence against women primary prevention in high-income countries....

This article investigates the experience and construction of women’s use of violence in relationships by domestic violence workers in Sydney, Australia. Most workers contextualized women’s violence within a critique of the structural powerlessness faced by women in violent relationships. However, the issue of violent women’s agency remains an unres...

This paper argues that the various and contradictory rationales offered for law enforcement drones are symptomatic of a ‘weapons fetish’ evident in popular culture. This fetishisation imbues military technology such as the drone with masculine fantasies of control and domination that obscure the practical limitations and ethical implications of dro...

Despite the available evidence suggesting gender should be considered in the provision of alcohol and/or drug ( AOD ) treatment, programmes are frequently offered in an apparent ‘gender vacuum’. This article argues that the generalist ‘one size fits all’ approach of many AOD services is not gender neutral but should be understood as implicitly gend...

This paper is concerned with the impact of online technologies on public representations of sexual violence. Drawing on Habermas's theories of the public sphere and Fraser's associated critiques, it argues that the Internet has become host to 'counter-publics' in which allegations of sexual violence are being received, discussed and acted upon in w...

A significant proportion of reports of domestic violence against women involve multiple perpetrators. Although the number of perpetrators has been consistently identified as a measure of abuse severity, only a minority of studies of domestic violence examine the role of multiple offenders. Data on multi-perpetrator domestic violence (MDV) is freque...

This paper draws on the author's experience undertaking life history research with adults with histories of organized child sexual abuse. Organized abuse has been a particular fashpoint for controversy in debates over child abuse and memory, but it is also a very harmful and traumatic form of sexual violence. Research participants described how, in...

This article explores the criminalisation and governance of sexting among young people. While the focus is on Australian jurisdictions, the article places debates and anxieties about sexting and young people in a broader analysis around concerns about new technologies, child sexual abuse, and the risks associated with childhood sexuality. The artic...

In recent years, the prosecution of teenagers who use digital and online technology to produce and circulate erotic imagery (‘sexts’) under child pornography statutes has been the subject of sustained controversy. Debates over sexting have foregrounded the harms of criminalisation as well as the role of sexts in cyber-bullying and online child soli...

Some sexually abused women in mental health settings are reporting prolonged incest and yet little is known about the circumstances that enable fathers to sexually abuse their daughters over a period of decades. This article draws from the life history of Grace, a woman who survived prolonged incest, in order to document and analyze the interplay o...

This article proposes that invalidation is a pervasive manifestation of gender relations as expressed through strategies of minimisation, disbelief and denial. Invalidation is embedded within interpersonal and institutionalised arrangements and interactions. It is a constitute element of gender-based violence as well as a socio-political condition...

Over the last 30 years, allegations of ritual child sexual abuse have emerged from child protection cases and legal proceedings and from adults and children in psychotherapy. These allegations have been met with disbelief from many practitioners and academics. Children and adults disclosing ritual abuse continue to present in a range of circumstanc...

It is well recognized that there is a relationship between child abuse, mental illness, and alcohol and drug abuse. This article reports on the findings of a qualitative research project exploring the experiences of adult survivors of child abuse in alcohol and other drugs (AOD) services, as well as the experiences of AOD workers with this client g...

Background: Organised abuse (where multiple adults conspire to sexually abuse multiple children) has been one of the most controversial issues in debates over mental health practice with survivors of child sexual abuse. Aims: The aim of this paper is to summarise and analyse the available prevalence data pertinent to organised abuse and to ident...

Contemporary culture is replete with carnivalesque representations of violence and this has accelerated with the development of online technology. Felony Fights is a website and set of DVDs depicting real combat between male former convicts and other men. Viewer responses to these clips reflect a complexity of meaning and symbolic associations betw...

Conducted by the Crime and Justice Research Network and the Australian and New Zealand Critical Criminology Network

The translation of research findings into evidence-based health promotion remains an important challenge in HIV prevention. Despite an increasing emphasis on establishing ‘community engagement’ and ‘knowledge transfer’ frameworks within health research, there has been little discussion of either the long-term nature of this work or the maintenance...

This paper will discuss the relationship between sexual abuse, invalidation and testimonial legitimacy with a particular focus on organised abuse. Using qualitative data drawn from a study of adult survivors of organised abuse, the paper emphasises how strategies of invalidation, disbelief and minimisation are embedded in children's experiences of...