Perspectives on Female Sex Offending: A Culture of Denial
| Pages | 47-48 |
| Date | 01 November 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14668203200400020 |
| Published date | 01 November 2004 |
| Author | Tina Smith |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
The Journal of Adult Protection Volume 6 Issue 3 • November 2004 © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Limited 47
We learn from this book that victims of a female sex offender
are unlikely to disclose abuse, but when they do are often in
long-term therapy for other issues. The type and consequence
of professional responses to disclosure, and long-term effects of
abuse on a sample of 15 Canadian female and male survivors
are examined. Both are found rooted in a Western societal,
organisational and professional culture of denial, based upon
stereotypical ‘scripts’ of women and their roles; but also of men
and their assumed dominance and desires. Denov’s research is
the first attempt to give voice to victim realities: suffering in
muted silence; humiliating attempts to gain help from
disbelieving and either uninterested professionals or those who
lack skills in a little recognised area of work.
An interesting literature review across the UK, the US and
Canada deconstructs and questions low prevalence rates,
involving law, psychological and sociological theoretical
underpinnings of professional and victim perceptions, and how
organisations respond or fail to respond to disclosure. In the
UK, until this year, no sexual crime existed for female
perpetrators unless they aided and abetted males. This book
refers to Myra Hindley; more recent examples of Rosemary and
Fred West and at Soham bring home this reality.
Observational and qualitative research with samples of
Canadian police and psychiatrists in chapters four and five are
enlightening, as is chapter seven on policy, practice
implications and further research needed, including feminist
practitioners. Law, organisational administration and values,
and the DSM-IV (international psychiatric categories) are
examined and found wanting – not recognising the potential
for this type of abuse through official forms and gendered
language, for instance.
A timely book for the UK, it has a salutary message about
the potential effect of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 being
Perspectives on Female
Sex Offending: A
Culture of Denial
Myriam S Denov
Aldershot: Ashgate
Publishing Ltd
(2004)
240 pp
£45
ISBN 0 7546 3565 1
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