Female perpetrators of sexual abuse of minors: What are the consequences for the victims?

Tsopelas, C.; Tsetsou, Spyridoula; Ntounas, P.; Douzenis, Athanassios

doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2012.04.003

Cited by 42 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Society seems to have a “blind spot” on female child sexual offenders. In a paper presented at the National Symposium on Child Victimization, it was reported that among 83 cases of children reporting to be sexually abused by women, only one case had a trial despite sexual abuse having been suspected following a medical examination . Blackwell et al., studied the prison population after Pennsylvania implemented guidelines for sentencing and concluded that the FSOs still had a lower probability of serving their sentences in prison than their male counterparts .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women: Case Series and Review of the Literature

Curti

Lupariello

Coppo

et al. 2019

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The literature on child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrated by female sexual offenders (FSOs) is exiguous, and many studies have focused on judicial databases. The present retrospective study, instead, analyzed clinical and judicial data of a group of both victims and alleged FSOs, to additionally include women who have not been convicted by the criminal justice system, but who hold strong clinical suspicions of being perpetrators of CSA. The medical records and the Court files of 11 children and their eight suspected FSOs have been collected and critically reviewed in light of the literature to date. This approach allowed for a deeper understanding of the relationship between child and FSO. The authors hypothesize that the victims’ severe psychopathological outcomes were a result of a failure to develop appropriate attachments with their prospective caregivers, which could have been damaged by the pathological relationship with FSOs, who were the victims’ caregivers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women: Case Series and Review of the Literature

Curti

Lupariello

Coppo

et al. 2019

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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“…Next to physical intrusiveness, force by someone well known to the victim makes child sexual abuse “a frightening, shameful and isolating experience” (p. 384). Tsopelas, Tsetsou, Ntounas, and Douzenis () note that children are overwhelmed with conflicting feelings of hate and love, especially when they hold a close (familial) relation to the abusers. When a child is sexually abused by a mother figure, the child is denied the feeling that their mother, one of the most important primary attachment figures, is safe (Etherington, ; Peter, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing between caregiving and professionalism—Women's narratives on fostering a victim of maternal sexual abuse

Wubs

Batstra

Grietens

2018

Child & Family Social Work

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The impact of sexual abuse on children is enormous, particularly when a child is abused sexually by a mother figure. In order to gain insight into the experiences of this rarely studied group, the life stories of four foster mothers of victims of maternal sexual abuse were collected. The narratives were coded inductively, and several topics concerning foster motherhood were studied more in-depth. Four key themes emerged in the women's narratives: their attitude towards the abusing female, the foster child's sexual behaviour towards the foster mother, the emotional and physical distance of the foster mothers towards their foster child, and lastly, their sense of responsibility. The four foster mothers continuously balance between fostering their foster child as a parent and responding as a professional caregiver. The consequences of being a foster mother of a victim of maternal sexual abuse should be more socially acknowledged. KEYWORDSchild sexual abuse, foster care, maternal sexual abuse, narrative research, parental identity, professional identity 1 | INTRODUCTION "Because she reacted to me like that, I always felt that she learned that behavior from her mother," a foster mother told us, reflecting on her foster child's behaviour. As this girl, 10 years of age, showed sexualized behaviour to her as a female, this foster mother believed the girl had been abused by her biological mother. Her comment illustrates the complicated position women may have in fostering a victim of maternal sexual abuse.According to McLeod (2015), female offenders are far more likely to abuse their own children than men, as almost 80% of the offending women in his study were listed as the victim's parent. Also, women seem more inclined to offend against young children than male offenders. Although the consequences for all child victims of sexual abuse are grave, the abuse is experienced as severe particularly when victims are strongly familiar with the perpetrator, for example, when the offender is a child's mother (Young, Riggs, & Robinson, 2011).Next to physical intrusiveness, force by someone well known to the victim makes child sexual abuse "a frightening, shameful and isolating experience" (p. 384). Tsopelas, Tsetsou, Ntounas, and Douzenis (2012) note that children are overwhelmed with conflicting feelings of hate and love, especially when they hold a close (familial) relation to the abusers. When a child is sexually abused by a mother figure, the child is denied the feeling that their mother, one of the most important primary attachment figures, is safe (Etherington, 1997;Peter, 2006). Consequently, as a child's abuse experience colours the perception of people in their world being trustworthy (McFadden, 1989), a foster child with a history of maternal sexual abuse may perceive a foster mother as potentially threatening.In general, foster mothers hold a traditionally gendered role in the fostering process, meaning they are considered to be the homemakers or main carers (Heslop, 2014). This seems especially true when a fam...

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“…Interpersonal relationship disturbances, multiple concurrent sexual partners, addictive disorders, sexual orientation problems (40 %), depression were often observed in adult males who were sexually abused by their mothers (Warren and Hislop 2001;Tsopelas et al 2012). In addition, the victimization history of sex offenders is high: respectively, 31 % of cases, 41 % of their perpetrators were females (348 cases, mostly rapists) and 37 % of cases, 22 % of their perpetrators were females (176 cases) (Groth and Burgess 1979, Lamy et al, personal communication).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A case of female hypersexuality and child abuse and a review

Lamy

Delavenne

Thibaut

2015

Arch Womens Ment Health

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Mother-son incest as well as female pedophilic disorder remain underrecognized and misdiagnosed. This is the case of a female child abuser who suffered from hypersexual disorder and mental retardation and whose son was viewed as a substitute transitional sexual partner. Our clinical case shared some common features with female sex offenders previously described in the literature but the association of sexual gratification and hypersexuality without pedophilic fantasies is quite uncommon in female child abusers.

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Female perpetrators of sexual abuse of minors: What are the consequences for the victims?

Cited by 42 publications

References 34 publications

Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women: Case Series and Review of the Literature

Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women: Case Series and Review of the Literature

Balancing between caregiving and professionalism—Women's narratives on fostering a victim of maternal sexual abuse

A case of female hypersexuality and child abuse and a review

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