DECISIONS AND ATTITUDES CONCERNING CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE - DOES THE GENDER OF THE PERPETRATOR MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO CHILD PROTECTION PROFESSIONALS

Objective: An investigation was conducted into whether child protectio n investigators, specifically social workers and the police, are as li kely to take seriously a case of child sexual abuse if it had been per petrated by a female rather than a male. Also, to examine whether the decisions relating to female-perpetrated abuse were predicted by parti cipants' sex role perceptions of women and their attitudes concerning women's sexualized behavior towards children. Method: Participants adv ocated decisions in response to four hypothetical case of child sexual abuse in which the perpetrator was either male or female. The female perpetrators were then rated on femininity and masculinity characteris tics and attitudes concerning women's sexualized behavior toward child ren were assessed. Results: Following male-rather than female-perpetra ted sexual abuse, case registration and imprisonment of the perpetrato r was considered more appropriate by all participant groups; male soci al workers also considered social services involvement and investigati on as more appropriate. A substantial number of decisions concerning f emale perpetrated abuse were predicted by participants' attitudes. Con clusion: While child protection professionals considered child sexual abuse perpetrated by females to be a serious issue warranting interven tion, a number of advocated decisions suggested that they did not cons ider female-perpetrated abuse to be as serious as male-perpetrated abu se. The implication is that victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by a w oman may be less likely to receive the protection afforded victims of male-perpetrated abuse. Furthermore, professionals' practices may be i nadvertently perpetuating the view that female child sexual abuse is r are or less harmful than abuse carried out by males. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.