Women And Men Who Sexually Abuse Children

This exploratory study presents a comparative profile of 65 women and 75 men who have sexually abused children. Findings suggest that important differences may exist between women and men who sexually abuse children. Female offenders had a lower income and occupational status than male offenders. Females were more likely to be unemployed or engaged in part-time work, and they were less residentially stable. Female offenders also tended to experience harsher childhoods, including more physical and emotional abuse and more criticism from their parents. Female offenders differed little from male offenders in marital instability, although females appeared to be less satisfied with their marital partners. Female offenders seemed to have higher needs for emotional and sexual need fulfillment than male offenders. Further, female offenders were more likely to have a history of being sexually victimized as children. Fewer female than male offenders were willing to admit acts of sexual abuse; consequently, it was difficult to determine if female offenders committed fewer and less intrusive forms of sexual violence on children. An interview protocol summary is appended. (NCJRS, modified).

This courageous and powerful book is a first step in addressing the secrecy, distress, anger, and fear surrounding female sexual abuse of children. Refuting the rationales for our lack of attention to the problem and contradicting some commonly held beliefs about sexual abuse, it combines accounts from survivors with input from professionals working with both survivors and abusers. Part I presents contributions from professionals who discuss aspects of female sexual abuse ranging from impact and treatment issues for victims of childhood sexual abuse by female perpetrators to the paradox of women who sexually abuse children. The second part is devoted to survivors--it presents stories from both men and women, then provides self-help guidelines for both. The book concludes with a valuable section on resources which includes a review of the existing literature on female child molestation as well as a listing of pertinent books and help organizations. FEMALE SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN also addresses the controversial issue of current statistics that show that female sexual abuse is very rare and the question of whether it is being underreported due to fear from survivors that they will not be believed or supported. Regardless of the true magnitude of this problem, secrecy or denial about any aspect of child abuse must be avoided. Whatever future studies may show about this problem, it will not diminish this book's importance in taking the step of exploring this issue.

This work is based on in-depth research with more than fifty women who have sexually abused children and therapy that has been carried out with several such women. It describes many aspects of their lives: childhood; own abuse histories; and adult relationships with partners and peers.

In her new book, Behind the Façade: Exposing Female Sex Offenders and Helping Abuse Victims to Heal, Julie Brand, M.S., combines research data, professional insights and survivors’ shared histories to enlighten readers about the reality of female-perpetrated sexual abuse. The book consists of three separate, independent chapters: 1) Female Sex offenders: Unmasking the Perpetrators, 2) What About Our Boys? Understanding the Challenges Facing Male Victims of Sexual Abuse and Assault, and 3) A Path to Recovery and Resiliency. Each chapter includes information from her workshops but also adds riveting new cases and material.

Published in 1999, this book is based on major research projects in Britain, Canada and Australia on the meaning, nature and impact of child sexual abuse. Theoretical perspectives include a consideration of the contextualisation of knowledge about child abuse; how sexual abuse may be embedded within other types of family pathology; and a feminist perspective on patriarchy and adolescent prostitution. The book also contains an important chapter with new data on male sexual offenders, and on men and women who kill children. A chapter on men who kill themselves when faced with accusations of child sexual abuse offers a humanistic perspective on the problem. Further chapters on social work processing of child sexual abuse cases, and of group treatment for victims point to further directions in research, policy and practice.

Until recently, the topic of female sexual offenders remained under-researched, and many incorrect assumptions and beliefs still surround the subject. This book is organised in to five parts around eleven chapters. It provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research in this often overlooked area and discusses both adult female offenders and adolescents/younger children who commit sexual offences against children. After an in-depth evaluation of research literature, the author then considers a range of treatment approaches and directions for future research.

Why is child sexual abuse committed primarily by men and male adolescents, unlike other forms of child abuse? Is child sex offending, rather than being a deviant masculine sexual practice, related to normative masculine practices, that is, practices structured on dynamic and changing relations of power? Using a practice-based sociological approach, the relationship between masculinities, sexualities and child sexual abuse is analysed and the power/powerlessness theory is developed to explain the predominantly male problem of child sex offending. The theory postulates that, because the social construction of masculinities involves the construction of dynamic and changing relations of power between men, men's lives are characterised by a combination of power and powerlessness. The book argues that an offender's experiences of powerlessness as a result of his relationships with other men is the key to understanding child sex offending, since sexuality is a key social practice for the alleviation of experiences of powerlessness and for establishing relations of power with other men. In particular, the theory argues that a man's particular attachment to the link between sexuality and experiences of masculinity and power will be a key factor for determining how he does sex and whom he chooses as a sexual partner. In the final chapter, the theory is tested through a re-analysis of offender interviews.