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Inaccurate sexist stereotypes encourage the public to be skeptical of claims of females abusing children. Further, they cause suspicion of men committing child abuse even when they have done nothing abusive. This enables more easy acceptance of female cover stories for child abuse. Yet despite popular misconception, child abuse is not primarily a crime committed by males.

Statistics are very clear that women are actually more abusive against children than men. US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) statistics show that of children abused by parents, about 70% of child abuse and child murders are committed by mothers and 30% by fathers.

In particular, females committing sexual abuse against children seems to be very difficult for the general population to accept. This is a tragedy as it frequently enables female sex offenders to continue their abuse for years against children in their care. The children frequently end up with life-long psychological damage. They seldom talk of the abuse at the hands of their mothers or other female caregivers because they know nobody will believe them. Even those who report being raped or sexually assaulted by a female are often laughed at by police. There is a double-standard at work in which sexual assault and abuse committed by adult females on boys is “seduction” and somehow desirable by boys:

(from Are there women paedophiles?)

Female offences against teenagers (hebophiles rather than paedophiles) are more of a mystery, he says, because victims don’t come forward, partly because in a patriarchal society boys are even expected to enjoy that kind of abuse, and not admit how scared they are by it.

Some believe that society’s different attitude to women offenders is reflected in the language of the media reporting it. They point out that teachers “seduce” pupils if they are female but “sexually assault” if male.

In 2005, the NSPCC raised concerns about how disbelief of female paedophiles was hindering detection. Its report said child protection professionals too often met allegations of abuse by females with incredulity, dismissing them as fabrication and allowing women to continue to offend.

Our recent article Canadian Mother Webcasts Self and Toddler Bestiality with Dog discusses one maternal child sex abuse case about which Canadian authorities are expressing amazement. They should not be so amazed. Beyond the DHHS statistics showing females commit most child abuse, some research indicates about 1/3 of male rapists and child sex offenders were sexually abused by females. In support groups for male sexual abuse survivors, it is not unusual to find that 1/4 to 1/3 of victims were sexually abused by females. Such victims find it hard to even discuss what was done to them because others find it so hard to believe a female could be a sex offender:

(from Are there women paedophiles?)

Yet Colin is not alone in experiencing this particular kind of trauma, says Steve Bevan, who for nearly two decades has run a support group for male victims of all forms of sexual abuse. Out of 18 men currently getting individual and group support, five say they were abused by women, three of them exclusively so.

“Over the years we’ve had lots of men abused by mothers, sisters, aunties and baby sitters,” says Mr. Bevan.

“It’s hard enough for adult men to admit abuse but to admit to abuse by a woman is even harder because it challenges their masculinity, it challenges their sexuality.”

Women can commit a wide range of sexual offences, he says, including rape. And their victims commonly experience sexual confusion and a fear of intimacy. Anger can manifest itself as violence towards a wife or girlfriend in later life.

Often these sexually abusive females cover up after themselves very effectively because they occupy child care provider roles, from mothers to nannies to babysitters to housekeepers. They have extensive unrestricted and unsupervised access to minor children and can confuse the children into participating in sexually abusive acts by gradually winning their trust or love. Gaining the emotional closeness of trust of children before starting to abuse them is the common modus operandi of female sex offenders. In part, this may be because they delude themselves into believing they are performing loving acts towards the children they abuse. They may believe being sexual with children is a maternal and loving behavior, perhaps due to being sexually abused themselves as children.

(from Are there women paedophiles?)

Eight-hundred victims of female sexual abuse have contacted Michele Elliott, founder of children’s charity Kidscape, since she wrote her controversial book, Female Sexual Abuse of Children, in 1992. Three-quarters of the cases feature women acting alone.

“One of the issues of controversy is the thinking that if women do this, it’s because men made them do it,” says Ms. Elliot.

“I disagree with that. I think there’s no difference in the motivation between men and women, which is sexual gratification and power over a child. It’s very selfish.”

Ending child abuse requires acknowledging that women are responsible for a large portion of it and holding them accountable for their crimes. Without this change in attitude and action, even if all child abuse by males were to end, the majority of child abuse would continue.

Further Reading

Canadian Mother Webcasts Self and Toddler Bestiality with Dog

False Feminists and Abusive and Murderous Women

False Sexual Abuse Allegations in Child Custody Disputes

Are there women paedophiles?

BBC Takes on Female Pedophilia

71% of Children Killed by One Parent are Killed by Their Mothers; 60% of Victims are Boys

Female Sex Offenders: What Therapists, Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services Need to Know

For everyone responsible for the well being of children, this book explains one of the hardest to detect threats to their safety.

Female sex offenders have victimized an estimated two to three million people in the United States. As a society we find it nearly impossible to believe that females, usually seen as nurturing, are capable of sexual abuse.

The result is that, each year, hundreds of thousands of youth are not protected, not believed, and not treated for the trauma associated with the abuse. Through her detailed analysis of the currently available literature and her own research, Dr. Hislop describes what is known about female sex offenders: identification of abusers, estimates of the number of abusers and victims, the methods of abuse, the types of trauma seen among their victims, and what is known about the developmental histories of female sex offenders.

She also provides therapists with directions for treatment and prioritized treatment goals, including exploring the victimization and patterns of offending, the relationship between the offender’s own victimization and her offending, precursors to offending, and methods to stop offending.