Women Who Sexually Abuse Children

Foreword ix

Acknowledgements xii

Introduction 1

Part I: The Nature and Prevalence of Sexual Abuse by Women and Our Understanding of it

1 The Prevalence of Sexual Abuse by Women 7

2 How is Sexual Abuse by Women Conceptualised and Understood? 17

3 The Nature of Child Sexual Abuse Committed by Women 25

Part II: Contextualising Sexual Abuse by Women

4 Potentially Relevant Factors in Sexual Abuse by Women 37

5 Male Coercion of Females into Sexually Abusive Behaviour 47

6 What Might MotivateWomen to Sexually Abuse Children? 57

Part III: The Consequences of Sexual Abuse by Women

7 Is Sexual Abuse by Women Harmful? 69

Part IV: Furthering Our Understanding and Developing Work in this Field

8 Aspects of Female Offending in Need of Further Research 93

9 Intervening with Female Abusers: Treatment Needs, Methods and Outcomes 111

Part V: Widening Our Focus

10 Mothers who are Partners of Male Offenders: are they Collusive and therefore Abusive? 129

11 Female Adolescents and Children who Sexually Abuse 149

Concluding Thoughts 167

References 171

Index 189