Statistically, females prosecuted for the sexual abuse of children make up a comparatively low percentage of convicted child molesters. However, due to issues relating to the reporting of sexual abuse and societal views of female sex offenders, trying to ascertain an accurate number of female child molesters is challenging.
Contents
Recidivistic female sex offenders make up such a small percentage that little is known about them as a group.
Definition
Sexual abuse is defined by C. D. Kasl (1990) as:
Prevalence
Sexual abuse of children by female offenders is starting to be more closely looked into. It is not uncommon for a male who has been sexually abused by a woman in his youth to receive positive or neutral reactions when he tells people about the abuse. Males and females sexually abused by male offenders, on the other hand, are more readily believed.
According to a study done by Cortoni and Hanson in 2005, 4-5% of all recorded sexual abuse victims were abused by female offenders. However, the Cortoni study numbers don't match the official statistics by The United States Department of Justice which found a rate of 8.3% for “Other sexual offenses” for females and The Australian Bureau of Statistics found a rate of 7.9% for “Sexual assault and related offences” for females.
Other studies have found rates to be much higher. For example:
In a study of 3,586 of the cases of childhood sexual abuse, 9% had a female-only perpetrator and other 9% had both male and female perpetrators.
A separate American study found that the sexual abuse of children by women, primarily mothers, constituted 25% (approximately 36 000 children) of the sexually abused victims from a population of over one million abused children. This statistic is thought to be underestimated due to the tendency of non-disclosure by victims.
According to a major 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education - In studies that ask students about offenders, sex differences are less than in adult reports. The 2000 American Association of University Women (AAUW) data indicate that 57.2 percent of all students report a male offender and 42.4 percent a female offender with the Cameron et al. study reporting nearly identical proportions as the 2000 AAUW data (57 percent male offenders vs. 43 percent female offenders), however this report appears to focus on offenders within the education system, and not necessarily offenders in general. According to a 2011 CDC report there are an estimated 4,403,010 female victims of sexual violence that had a female perpetrator.
Classifications
Female sexual abuse of children is frequently hidden in the daily task of care giving. It can happen during bath time, dressing and undressing, and diaper changing. But the abuse is not restricted to care giving; sexual abuse of children can happen any time of the day or night under any number of circumstances. “Women who sexually abuse children can be of any age, social class, intellectual ability, and marital status, and can be involved in any type of employment. They can perpetrate any form of sexual act and can behave seductively or sadistically towards their victims.” In the book Women Who Sexually Abuse Children: From Research to Clinical Practice, the female offenders were classified into three main groups: women who initially target young children, women who initially target adolescents, and women who are initially coerced by men. There were “atypical” perpetrators, however, who did not fall into any of these categories. “Numerous studies have espoused that female sex offenders are not distinctly different from male sex offenders.”
Motives
The reasons for molesting children are numerous. Some of the women who abused children misinterpreted their behavior as sexual invitations. Sexual abuse can happen because the female wants comfort, she has affiliation needs, she wants power, or sexual gratification.
Effects on victims
Many studies show that the effects of female sexual abuse to children victims are statistically indistinguishable from male sexual abuse to children.
“Traumatic sexualization includes aversive feelings about sex, overvaluing sex, confusion of sex and nurturing, and sexual identity problems.” Sexually abused children have the potential to be sexually active with their peers at an earlier age and be sexually promiscuous.
Another effect is stigmatisation. This “leaves victims feeling different from their peers and damaged, leading to feelings of shame and guilt, especially in relation to disclosure.”
In addition to stigmatisation and confusions about sex, victims may also experience a feeling of powerlessness.
SUMMARY OF THE EFFECTS OF MOTHER–DAUGHTER SEXUAL ABUSE. While survivors of mother-daughter sexual abuse experience many of the same effects as other incest and sexual abuse survivors, they tend to have heightened difficulties with:
NAMING THEIR EXPERIENCE AS ABUSE. This is particularly true in light of the myth that women do not sexually abuse children.
IDENTITY. Many survivors have difficulty knowing that they are separate from and different than their perpetrators.
BOUNDARIES. Many survivors have difficulty maintaining their boundaries, especially with other women. They may be overly flexible or overly rigid.
SELF-BLAME. Many survivors blame themselves. This self-blame is heightened in a cultural context where mothers are mythologized as all loving and caring. It can’t be the mother’s fault, the thinking goes, so it must be theirs. They must be really bad if their own mother abused them.
GENDER IDENTITY. Many survivors have trouble identifying as women, or do not like what they perceive women to be, because the abuser was a woman and because the abuse focused on their female body. They know they are women, but in their minds being a woman is associated with being a victim, and/or being sexualized, “less than”, weak, etc.
GENDER SHAME. Many survivors feel great shame about being a woman because of their identification with the perpetrator and the abuse. They feel that they are guilty of something and that it has to do with being female.
BODY SHAME. Survivors often feel great shame about their bodies, particularly their bodies’ womanliness, both because the perpetrator had a woman’s body and the abuse focused on their female body.
HOMOPHOBIC FEARS ABOUT ONE’S ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED SEXUALITY. Survivors are often very confused about the differences between sexual abuse and lesbian sexuality, and may believe the myth that abuse causes a survivor’s sexuality. This can lead to confusion about their own sexuality and how others perceive their sexuality.
LONGING TO BE LOVED. Survivors frequently have a profound need to be loved in the way that they were not as a child, and they may fear or be unable to accept it, particularly from other women.