What Is Sexual Abuse?

Find a therapist to heal from sexual abuse

Survivors of female-on-female child sexual abuse experienced an average of 17 sexual grooming behaviors.

Fewer than 5% of survivors of female-on-female child sexual abuse reported the abuse to law enforcement.

Stereotypes about females as caregivers may make this form of abuse harder to recognize, report, and treat.

When we think about child sexual abuse (CSA), we tend to picture a male perpetrator. This is understandable given that most CSA is in fact perpetrated by a male and only about 2% of all those incarcerated for sex crimes are women. However, as a consequence, these stereotypes then create blind spots, as victim-based research shows that between 12% to 14% of perpetrators of CSA are in fact female.

While there is considerably less known about females who perpetrate sex crimes than males, what we do know primarily from women who have been convicted of sexual abuse is that:

The typical female sex offender is a white woman in her early 30s whose victims are children around age 12.

Many have histories of physical and sexual abuse themselves and grew up in unstable home environments.

They are more likely than the general population to struggle with personality disorders, mental health challenges, or substance use.

Compared to male sex offenders, female sex offenders are less likely to have a prior criminal record and are at lower risk of reoffending after being caught.

Yet even within this understudied population, one group that remains almost entirely invisible are women who........

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