This paper outlines some issues facing men who work with children who have been sexually abused. It is argued that there is an intrinsic connection between child sexual abuse and masculine sexuality. Working with abused children faces men with our own potentially abusive tendencies. To some extent commitment to child sexual abuse work can be understood as a response to this situation expressing, for example, reaction formations or reparative urges. Two case examples are given to demonstrate the importance of recognition of these factors and the way such recognition may contribute to therapeutic utilisation of transference and counter-transference emotions.