Preventing female-perpetrated sexual abuse

Abstract

Sexual abuse and sexual assault are serious public health concerns. Although almost all of the research shows that the majority of sexual perpetrators are males, there is growing evidence that female-perpetrated sexual abuse is not rare and that the consequences of female-perpetrated sexual abuse can be just as traumatic as male-perpetrated sexual abuse. Despite this, there has been very little research published that has focused on female sex offending. Furthermore, although there have been some efforts in the past decade to stop sexual offenses by targeting potential perpetrators, few efforts have specifically focused on preventing females from becoming sex offenders. In an attempt to fill this gap, this article describes common characteristics of female sex offenders; and, based on these characteristics, suggestions are given of possible ways to intervene in the lives of at-risk females before they offend.