Turning Monsters into People: A Reflexive Study of Sex Offenders and Leisure

This arts-based study serves two interrelated purposes. First, it draws from multiple tales to illustrate reflexivity (and its benefits) between the author, research topic, and participants. Different forms of tales show multiple and diverse human interconnections and the complexity of understanding potential leisure among sex offenders. The importance of prioritizing reflexivity should not be underestimated, particularly when conducting research with populations that commonly are “othered” and sometimes demonized. Within a reflexive context, a poetic transcription from structured interviews with five sexual offender parolees is included to explore the possible essence of leisure as experienced by these men. The inclusion of evocative representations emphasizes commonalities of the human condition, yet also illustrates differences between people. JUPTRR