Participation and empowerment in child protection

Abstract

In this study, the testimony of survivors and of professionals who have worked with them and with abusers, bears witness to sexual abuse of children by women. The book argues that abuse by women has remained a taboo subject because it undermines perceptions about how women should relate to children, and does not fit the received wisdom that sexual abuse is a product of male power and aggression, and has even been seen as an anti-feminist concept. Furthermore adult survivors who report abuse by women have often been rejected and ridiculed as fantasizing. This text is intended for those who plan or deliver services for people who have been sexually abused.