
































Transformation and Rehabilitation: Ethnographic Encounters with Sex 

Offenders 

Review by Molly A. Sardella

Cruel Attachments: The Ritual Rehab of Child Molesters in Germany

by John Borneman

University of Chicago Press, 2015

John  Borneman’s  Cruel  Attachments:  The  Ritual  Rehab  of  Child  Molesters  in  Germany is  an

ethnographic  account  of  fieldwork  among  men  who  had  been  accused  and  convicted  of  child

molestation. In much of the West, individuals who have been found guilty of sexual offenses against a

child are viewed as irredeemable predators. They are placed upon a legal registry, often for the rest of

their lives. They are ostracized from certain arenas of life including any public place where children

may be present. At times, they are forbidden to interact with their own children. All of these actions

serve to emphasize their  status as dangerous criminals,  incapable of ever fully rejoining the wider

society.

In Germany, however, sex offenders, regardless of the severity of their crime, are typically provided

with therapy. In fact, the approval of a therapist is often required before an offender can be released

from a prison sentence. These therapeutic treatments represent a belief among Germans, grounded in a

long history of social policy and practice, that people are capable of profound change if they engage in

introspective  practices.  Reflecting  upon  one’s  actions  privately,  in  cooperation  with  therapeutic

professionals, and through interacting with various publics, can lead to radical transformations of one’s

very self. Furthermore, according to Borneman, the treatments are designed in order to enact social

change through the process of reforming individuals.



Borneman’s  text  is  ambitious.  Like  many  works  that  can  be  categorized  as  “psychological

anthropology”,  Cruel Attachments attempts to paint a picture of the self, or selves, in the process of

becoming. Through tracing the multi-step course of individual actors coming to be child molesters,

Borneman wishes to show how a person’s conception of self, or even multiple selves (p.53), and his

lived experience (p.32) is continuously shaped through “interpersonal investments” (p.31). While the

subjects  of  this  text  experience  particular  types  of  interpersonal  investments,  such  as  emotional

transference,  legal  labeling,  and  clinical  analysis,  it  is  clear  that  Borneman  views  these  kinds  of

relations as being generally significant. Building off of Habermas (1989) Borneman describes selves

being developed, defined, and transformed, through negotiating with others within the public sphere.

Attempting to approach this topic from multiple angles, Borneman has written an ethnography that

deviates from the norm stylistically. The text is divided up into three rather distinct sections: a detailed

and  lengthy  prolegomenon,  a  more  classical  ethnographic  study  of  child  molesters  undergoing

therapeutic treatment in modern day Germany (Chapters 1-6), and a concluding chapter (7) entitled

“Loose End” (p.191). Borneman describes this final piece of the text as “a series of odds and ends…”

which should be viewed as “…openings to further research” (p.191). Both the prolegomenon and final

chapter  allow  Borneman  the  freedom  to  link  his  ethnographic  study  to  the  broader  topics  of

anthropological methods and ethics.

This unusual structure can be seen as either valuable or detrimental to the text depending upon the

objectives and positionality of the audience. Someone hoping to follow Borneman’s arguments about

sex offenders in Germany specifically,  particularly those with practical  end goals related to public

policy, may find it difficult to navigate between these vastly different sections. For instance, it is easy to

get  caught  up in  the narrative of  the prolegomenon -  which focuses  on the complex relationships

between one “offender” named Marquardt, his psychiatrist, Lemke, and Borneman himself - and lose

sight of the more traditional research project. On the other hand, anyone with an interest in debating the

processual  nature  of  anthropological  research,  or  the  ethical  implications  of  undertaking  certain

sensitive projects  rather  than others,  would benefit  from closely analyzing how Borneman weaves

together  his  case  studies  and personal  reflections  on  the  role  he  himself  played in  the  process  of

shaping “selves.”

From a research standpoint the main substance of the text can be found in Chapters 1 – 6. Throughout

these  chapters,  Borneman  utilizes  case  studies  from research  he  conducted  within  group  therapy



sessions. He traces the movements of sexual offenders through the process of what he calls “ritual

rehab” (p. 59). Borneman describes how between being arrested, admitting guilt, receiving treatment,

and attempting to reincorporate into society, sexual offenders are categorized and transformed within

the  public  sphere,  through their  interactions  and relationships  with  different  groups.  A compelling

example of this process, the story of “Konrad,” can be found in Chapter 3. Konrad was arrested for

sexually assaulting a 14 year old boy. Subsequently, he was viewed as a molester in the public sphere.

He was stigmatized and labeled as a sexual offender. This changed Konrad’s perception of himself as a

member  of  society  and  he  became  withdrawn  and  depressed,  initially  unwilling  to  participate  in

mandated group therapy. Konrad did not recognize his imposed identity as an offender, claiming he

believed the boy to have been in love with him. For months he would technically accept that he was

“guilty” for having committed sexual acts but tended to feel sorry for himself and little empathy for

others.  However,  once  his  therapists  and  group  mates  began  to  express  compassion  for  Konrad’s

personal history of abuse and past losses, his depression lessoned. He felt less stigmatized and was able

to obtain an apartment and employment. He opened up more and began to verbally express formerly

repressed desires and explain his own past actions without self-pity. His sense of who he was, his “self”

transformed from a man in love, to a societal outcast/abuser, to a former victim of abuse on the path to

self-understanding and rehabilitation.

This form of rehabilitation Borneman classifies as a modern “secular” ritual.  Drawing on classical

anthropological  theories  on  liminality  and  rites  of  passage  (Turner,  1967),  Borneman  argues  that

modern ritualistic practices, like rehabilitation, are different than traditional rituals associated with life

stages. This is because, rehabilitation is not merely designed to guide a person from one phase of life to

another. Rather it is intended to fundamentally reconstruct the “self” or interiority of the individual in

question (p.62). The larger goal, according to Borneman, is to enact social change through transforming

particular people in accordance with moral imperatives (p.63).

This section of the text is convincing. Borneman supports his arguments with a substantial amount of

ethnographic  data  derived  from  direct  observations,  participatory  observations,  and  a  number  of

interviews conducted over a five year period. His conclusions are well grounded in theoretical work

from anthropology,  sociology,  and  psychoanalytic  research.  Furthermore,  he  utilizes  historical  and

policy documents, as well as life histories and detailed case studies, such as that of Konrad, throughout

the remainder of this section of the text.

It is more difficult to state whether or not Borneman is “convincing” in the other two sections of Cruel



Attachments as neither the prolegomenon nor “Loose End” revolve around research questions, goals, or

arguments per se. However, Borneman does make a couple of interesting and debatable claims that are

worth investigating. In the prolegomenon, Borneman compares the role of a therapist to that of an

anthropologist  in the field.  Both are participating in “intimate events” (p.25) with their  patients or

subjects. Both attempt to remain professional and (ideally) objective, yet by necessity they become an

“audience” for the people they work with. By acting as audience, anthropologists become a part of the

story their subjects tell about their selves and their lives. According to Borneman, this will always have

some sort of impact, typically an unpredictable one. As such, Borneman does not feel anthropologists

can  accurately  imagine  and  plan  how  they  will  engage  with  subjects  prior  to  entering  the  field.

Claiming we can do so is, in his view, less ethical and more dishonest than an anthropologist forming

close emotional ties with fieldwork subjects would be – because the latter anthropologist is at least

refusing to reduce her subject to a “use-object” (p.30).

In “Loose End,” Borneman further develops this idea and uses it to critique the processes of designing

research projects for funding agencies and review boards. These ideas are interesting and potentially

significant  for  anyone  hoping  to  carry  out  fieldwork,  particular  on  sensitive  topics  such  as  child

molestation. However, these are questions that require sustained investigation and debate, and whether

or  not  Borneman  is  convincing  will  likely  depend  upon  one’s  own perspectives  on  the  ethics  of

fieldwork. Personally,  I  found this  section of the text  compelling but  not  sufficiently  developed.  I

would look forward to reading more from Borneman on this topic were he to pick up these questions in

future projects, as he hinted he would.

Cruel Attachments is a compelling yet at times difficult text to reflect upon. It is both a classical work

of psychological and sociological anthropology and a reflexive piece, meditating upon the ethics of

fieldwork, and relationships between anthropologists and subjects of study. Borneman’s non-traditional

style prevents me from critiquing Cruel Attachments in a conventional manner. While this ethnography

may be frustrating for readers who prefer a more straightforward account, I feel that it is an important

contemporary work and essential reading for anthropologists grappling with the question of how to

carry out fieldwork in western locales. I would also highly recommend this book to both graduate

students  of  anthropology  and  working  professionals.  Borneman’s  honesty  and  clarity  of  thought

regarding the tangled relationships that occur between anthropologists and their subjects forces us to

consider our own choices when conducting research, and is certain to spark debate.



References Cited

Habermas, Jurgen.

1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: Polity.

Turner, Victor.

1967. The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Molly Sardella is currently a graduate student within the Anthropology and Education program at

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University.  She  earned  her  MA in  Anthropology  and  MAT in  Social

Studies Education from Binghamton University in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Her research interests

include identity formation, interpersonal relationships and communities, material culture, and social

dynamics among youth groups.

© 2016 Molly A. Sardella


