The official definitions of child sexual abuse in England, involves “forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet)” . The current official statistics shows that the amount of child sexual abuse occurring is a much bigger problem than what is been previously shown which is due to the fact that most children/victims do not tell anyone that they are been sexually abused and also it is very much a crime that is usually only witnessed by the abuser and the victim which in some cases gives less opportunity for exposure. In 2015, in data collected by the NSPCC, it showed that over 36,000 sexual offences against children were recorded in the UK . These sexual offences included: sexual assault; rape; sexual activity involving a child; abuse of position of trust; abuse of children through prostitution and pornography; sexual grooming. “1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused” , while, “1 in 3 children who had been sexually abused by an adult did not tell anyone” with “over 90% of sexually abused children having been abused by someone they knew” . The statistics also showed that “over 2,800 children were identified as needing protection from sexual abuse last year with the NSPCC’s helpline responding to over 8,800 contacts about sexual abuse last year”. Over a third of sexual offences recorded by the police are against children . Nearly 30,000 registered offenders have been convicted of offences against children . Child sexual abuse costs the UK £3.2bn a year , this is however an estimate cost from 2012. This calculation is made by looking at the cost for health, criminal justice service, services for children and loss of productivity to society . This statistics needs to be viewed with the following understanding; firstly, that it is difficult to calculate the exact cost of child sexual abuse and secondly that the nature of this crime takes so many different types of form and effects victims in very diverse way. “One in four rape cases involving a child victim in the year 2014-2015 led to a prosecution, and one in eight involving an adult victim” . Research has also found that there were “19,316 rapes against adults and 9,949 against children reported to police during the year 2014-15” . Three-quarters of all adult service users contacted “Rape Crisis about sexual violence that occurred at least 12 months earlier; 47% were adult survivors of child sexual abuse” . These staggering statistics show that this issue is something of great relevance. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children . This idea of women and other children been perpetrators brings a new dimension to the idea of men been the only perpetrators of the child sexually abuse and needs to be investigated for a decision to be reached in link to this essay on whether there is really a “male monopoly” in the perpetrations of child sexual abuse or if it is just a generalized view on offenders of this type of crime.
Firstly, the context in which Freel 2003, 482 was refereeing to this issue was under the argument made by Finkelhor (1986) that there was a “male monopoly” in the perpetration of child sexual abuse with men been “responsible for 90-98% of sexually abusive acts towards girls and 80-86% of acts towards boys” (also, Peters et al., 1986, Bendixen et al., 1994) . Finkelhor (1986) further argues that due to this high volume of evidence that exists on male as perpetrators of this crime, gender differences in offending is a very important explanation of child sexual abuse that needs to be considered. Therefore, when considering the argument on why there would seem to be a “male monopoly” in this crime a lot of different factors have to be looked at. For example the role the media has to play in the reporting of this crime, the role of the police/law when victims come to report this crime and their responses to them, the socialization of individuals in society (something feminist believe is a very important reason for this crime and it is reporting levels) are all going to contribute to understand if their truly is a male monopoly in the perpetration of this crime.
The idea that there is a male monopoly indicates that only men commit this type of offence; which is not true. However, why it could be argued that there is a “male monopoly” in the perpetration of child sexual abuse is due to the myth that surrounds this crime and the perception of those who sexually abuse children. Men are often seen as the most likely gender group to commit this type of crime. This is due to the aggressive and destructive nature of the crime. The aggressive nature of the crime fits in with the stereotypical view of a man been violent which makes it easier to cast men in this light as offenders. This is also connected to the way male sexually need is perceived as been “highly sexually aggressive” and once that sexual response has been triggered within a male it is thought that it is something that he would have great difficulty in controlling (Jackson, 1978) . Some researchers argue that “there is a male monopoly in the perpetration of child sexual abuse and that male sexual interest in children is relatively common in society” . The fact that this is the type of ideology assumed by society is not farfetched. This is caused the government and other organisations working with children in the past have done very little in way of research about this types of stereotype been publicised to the public or looking into other groups such as women and children possibly been perpetrators of child sexual abuse. However, just because main stream societal views seems to advocate for there been a “male monopoly” does not mean that it is an accurate reflection of the crime. It should also be noted that the reason for this type of view when it comes to males been the sole perpetrators of child sexual abuse comes from the results of researchers such as Freel(2003:481) who discovered that a significantly higher percentages of males(15%)compared to females(4%) expressed a sexual in children . Another research that supports this is that of (Briere and Runtz, (1989); Templeman and Stinnett, 1991; Haya Shino et al., 1995) which showed that “at least 2-4% of males in the general population have sexually abused a child at some point” . This supports the argument that there is a male monopoly since it produces evidence to show the higher rates at which males commit this offence. However, in most research that as taking place on till recently the role of women as perpetrators of child sexual abuse has been a very much ignored. This is based on what some would argue is the belief that because women are seen to be more nurturing, loving it means they are less likely to commit an offence. This can be due to the fact childcare and roles of protection of children are seen as the responsibility of women and so are less suspected of committing such crimes. This is even if a victim does report a woman as a perpetrator; they are less likely to be believed; especially if it is coming from male victims, who are treated in the case of sexual abuse as secondary victims .
Furthermore, due to the research findings stated above it would be presumed that there is a male monopoly. The majority of child sexual abuse research seems to focus mainly on the role of the male as the only perpetrator and also due to the literature and the attention it brings on this crime, men are therefore seen as the sole perpetrator. For example, “empirical evidence indicates that a majority of abusers are male and that an adult male sexual interest in children is relatively common in society” . With this type of view dominating the literature of this particular crime, it becomes comprehensible to see why the view would be taken that this crime is one where the offenders are men. However, based on “clinical impressions”, many authors do argue that there is an “underreporting of the prevalence of women who sexually abuse children.”(Justice and Justice, 1979; Scavv, 1989; Krug, 1989; Bolton et al, 1989; Allen, 1990; Canavan et al,1992; Lawson, 1991, 1993; Hetherton, 1999) . “Incidence studies show that between 1-4%of child sexual are perpetrated by females” .
The role of the media is also an important factor in examining the argument of there been “male monopoly” perpetration of child sexual abuse. The majority of child sexual abuse case that are reported mostly portray the male as the perpetrator and so I builds up a social construct of masculinity as the only gender to be capable of committing this crime. This creates an issue when it comes to the research that has to be done for this crime. This is due to the fact that if it is only one group in society that is been targeted then, it would be that group only that would be question in relation to that crime. Due to this women are not always believed or investigated to be perpetrators of child sexual abuse or even adult rape abuse. This central reporting of men as perpetrators has meant, that even when women are part of the “ring of abuse”, their role is not always as published/reported compared to that of a male perpetrator. For example in the case of Ian Watkins , the media’s coverage of the role of the women in it was not as intense as that of Watkins. (Maybe this is due to the fact that Watkins was seen as a celebrity). However, this view of men as perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the media can also be seen to have transferred cross culturally. For example, the case of the gang raping of young girl in India , while the victim might have not been a child again it reinforces the higher level in which this criminal activity is been reported with men as the perpetrators and also the language used also builds up more the view of there been a male monopoly. Due to this social construct of what a child sexual abuser is, this means that other suspects like women and other children are not been factored in to the abuse ring and a major aspect of the crime and victims are not been properly recorded or treated.
Another factor which effects the way offenders are viewed and paints the idea that there is a male monopoly occurs sometimes within the form of the abuse. For example, in the form of institutional abuse where a misuse of power and trust is broken, which can be seen to focus heavily on male offenders. This is through reported cases such as that of that of Leat in the UK and most recently retired Bishop Peter Ball who was jailed for sexual assault using religion as a cloak for nearly 20 years. This heavily male perpetrator image publish creates further proof that this crime is been committed solely by men. However, this type of generalisation is wrong to make. This is because what needs to be considered with this form of abusing (institutional abuse) is really which role in these institutions women are going to be occupying with most control without creating any suspicion. This would be the role of a career e.g. a children’s nurseries/day care worker. This role gives women better access than their male counterpart to very young children, and therefore greater opportunity to abuse. For example in the case of Vanessa George who was seen as an “angel” to those in her community but was in actual fact part of a ring of those who sexually child abuse. This shows how the role of the institution in which the perpetrator is in plays in helping that individual abuse easier. If more research and more reporting are done in these different types organisation, it would possibly give a better picture of the levels to which women commit sexual child abuse.
In the case of the Oxford gang rape ring who were all found guilty of sadistically sexually abusing six girls aged 11-15 while they were heavily drugged and piled with high amounts of alcohol. It could be argued that although women do abuse the overwhelming majority of the research result does show how that this crime is commit seriously mostly by men. As McLeod and Saraga, 1987,.24 “state that to ignore this male monopoly, would be to lose an important touch in understanding the aetiology of child sexual abuse” . For example the quantity of cases with the males as the perpetrator supports the argument that this crime does have a male monopoly. However, could it be argued that maybe the reason why it seems that there are more males perpetrator might be due to the fact that they are able to discard the 4 stages that Finkelhor (1986) believes creates a “child molester” which are “motivation, internal inhibitors, external inhibitors and resistance of victims could be the reason why they abuse more than women who have been statistically recorded to have been abused more in childhood. This is one commonality that occurs between both male and female perpetrators thought out the literature(Mathews et al, 1989; Young, 1984; Fehrenbach, 1988; Grayson, 1989; Larson & Maison, 1987) .
Research shows that almost “one in ten children aged 11-17 (9.4%) have experienced sexual abuse, teenage girls aged between 15 and 17 years reported the highest past year rates of sexual abuse” . A Unicef Report of 2014 by the UN Children’s Agency report found that “120 million girls and female adolescents under 20 had endured rape or other forced sexual acts” . The fact that girls are more likely than boys to report sexual abuse crimes is a great contributor for the argument there is a male monopoly. This is because most of the time girls do report males as the perpetrator of this child sexual abuse crime which Finkelhor and Russell (1984) found in their review of eight prevalence studies, which as that “90% of girl victims and 80% of boys victims were abused by men” . However, due to the fact that boys do not always report abuse means that we do not get a full picture on the extent of the crime. Some of the reasons why boys might not report about been sexually abuse is due to the myth behind sexually abuse for male that they cannot be sexually abuse, “fear of being labelled a homosexual and the tendency for male children to either externalise or internalise the incident” .
However, just because an overwhelming amount of information has been focused on men does not mean that they are the only group who abuse children sexually. Society, in general, has been reluctant to acknowledge females as perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Female sexual offending has typically been reported as been relatively rare compared to that of male perpetrated abuse, even in recent research it is suggested that the ratio of male to female sexual offender is in the region of 20:1 which shows that female account for around 5% of all sexual abuse (Cortoni et al., 2009)( (Gannon and Cortoni, 2010) The most common view constructed about what a child sexual offender looks like shows inevitable the picture of a male and the victim as a female. Perhaps this is due to the traditional cultural stereotypes which represent females as mothers, nurturers, caretakers … not as people who harm or abuse others. This view about women not been able to abuse has been further instilled into society with arguments such has: “What harm can be done without a penis? (Walters, 1975)” . In reality, this attitude has proven to be a myth. These stereotypical beliefs appear to have hindered acknowledgement of females as perpetrators, resulting in underreporting . Or it could have to do with what some feminist writers believe, which is that sexual assault to be in the context of power and masculinities is been used by men as a form of demonstrating their power through social control which thereby denies women freedom and autonomy (Kelly, 1988; Radford and Stanko 1966) . The words “sexual assault”, “sexual aggression” and “sexual coercion” tend to give the image of a male perpetrator and a female victim . It seems like most of the scholarly work which have aim to demonstrate the true image of what/who does sexually offend, have forgotten to ask the question surrounding the concept of the gender of the perpetrator. This might be due to the fact that as O’Hagan (1989) declares that concerning “sexual abuse by females can be considered an “aberration” which has little or no significance for professionals working with child sexual abuse” . This type of ideology causes there to be limited research done to this sect and keeps this group further unrecognised for this crime in society. Again the feminist analyse would argue that this is because sexually abuse is a form in which males use to implanting their power on a women; “a form of social control that then denies the woman of any form of freedom” ( Kelly, 1998, Radford and Stanko, 1996). It should not be questioned that “yes males do commit the vast majority of sexual offences and their victims are predominantly female” (Home Office, 2001: Snyder, 2000; Canadian centre for Justice Statistics, 2001) .
Another reason why the crime of child sexual abuse is seemed to be perpetrated mostly by males and not females is due to the hidden nature of the crime compared to other criminal acts in some aspects. What this means is that compared to other crimes like stealing, robbery or even male child sexually abuse perpetrations, these types of crimes are more looked out for. This is compared to the hunt for female perpetration of child sexually abuse (which is a crime more than likely to happen in a domestic arena and so harder to spot out for the abuse it is). This also makes it harder for victims to know it is an abusive situation due to the fact that they have been groomed to see this abuse as something normal. Furthermore, in society there seems to be a great effort been made to “redefine female actions as not “sexually assault” but as behaviour that it is more congruous with the sexual script that women do not commit sexual offences” . Furthermore the data involving female sexual abuse would be something which would contributes to the idea that men are the only perpetrator of this abuse and really downplay the impact and true level of the crime that women participate in. In 2005, research led by the NSPCC found females could be responsible for up to 5% of sexual offences against children, yet incredulity has hindered research . This has meant due to very small research and data available concerning the issue of female perpetration is still not been taken as seriously compared to research focused on male perpetrators.
When it comes to data concerning female perpetrators, the reason why a more accurate number is not been registered for this gender group is due to the way in which questions are been asked about the abuse, the definition the researcher gives for a female perpetrators. And final also the way in which the victims see the abuse (if the victim does not see it has abuse then they will not put it down as child sexual abuse). This was the case with Loren Morris where her victim a boy had been heard “bragging over the sexual intercourse at school” . This shows how a victim cannot see the nature of their abuse and so the crime gets further left undeveloped from a research perspective. A point that could made about this can be that the “traditional sexual scripts, particularly the societal perception of females as sexually passive and innocent may play an important role in the under-recognition and under reporting of female sex offending” and so this means that the researching of this particular area in child sexual abuse will be very challenging in getting the figures on the amount of women who do abuse. Furthermore, this also mean that seeing this crime as anything other than a crime which is mainly perpetrated by male and therefore having a male monopoly will “seem” like the accurate state of things. Also the situation is not helped by the fact that when victims of sexual abuse by women report the abuse they are not always believed and when a survey was taken on this it was found that in a study of “127 survivors of female sexual abuse in which 78% reported "they could find no one willing to help or believe them (the victims; both boys and girls)"(researched by Michelle Elliott (1994)) . This makes it harder for the victims to come out and report to the official about their abuse and example which the case of Ryan Coleman-Farrow who was jailed for faking rape case records shows. This type of issue causes great issues for victims in them wanting to expose their assault.
However, an assumption should not be made is that only men and women commit this crime. Even though it is not an idea society wants to believe this type of crime is also possible to be committed by other children against children as well. In fact, over a third of all sexual abuse of children is committed by someone under the age of 18 . While children do go through natural stages of exploring their sexuality however, some children due to many reasons like some of them having been emotionally, sexually, or physical abuse mean that engage in harmful sexually abusive behaviour. “Children as young as 4 or 5 may unknowingly engage in sexually harmful behaviour, although more often those who sexually harm children are adolescents” . “Also often the children being harmed are uncomfortable or confused about what is happening, but may feel that he or she are willingly involved or to blame for being in the situation. Many times, one or both children do not understand that the behaviour is harmful” . In this case the child who abuses another child is both a victim as well as a perpetrator . This important new group who are also capable of commit sexually abusive crime towards children are also been left out in this crimes literature, the official statics and also social awareness. This further develops the idea why this crime is seen to be only committed by men due to the fact that “Four out of five children aged 11-17 (82.7%) who experienced contact sexual abuse from a peer did not tell anyone else about it” . On till this group of perpetrators are taken more seriously then, the assessment will always conclude with the fact that men are the sole perpetrators of child sexual abuse. And the fact that the legal system is struggling very hard to develop effective measures to this problem does not help either which can be seen in the case of the killing of Wesley Neailey, who was sexually assaulted and killed by Dominic Mckilligan . Where upon review of his case it was found out that many different agencies knew about he’s string of convictions for serious sexual assault against young boys dating back to when he was just 11 years old. The fact that no measure was taken against him years prior shows a great lack in the legal system concerning this group of perpetrators.
In conclusion, while the role of males in the sexually perpetration of child sexual abuse is something that is really prominent and of great issue as they are statistics the biggest group who commit this crime, it however should not be forgotten about the hidden part of this crime and those hidden perpetrators like women and other children who commit this crime. “Police-recorded crime statistics suffer from under-reporting and therefore do not reflect the actual number of offences committed. Trends in the data may reflect increased public awareness and changes in policing rather than an increase in incidence” . On till the full extent in research and a change in literature about these groups come about for us to gain a better and a more well-rounded understanding about these group of perpetrators, the argument that this crime is only done by men does not prove a certified or verified conclusion .