This unprecedented look at female sexual predators explains why and how they prey on our children and youths and what adults—and children and youths themselves—should understand to prevent victimization. In Female Sexual Predators: Understanding and Identifying Them to Protect Our Children and Youths, social worker and therapist Karen A. Duncan helps adults be proactive so children will not fall prey to this violation. Vignettes pulled from news headlines and interviews with female sexual predators Duncan has encountered in her own practice are used to help readers understand these crimes and the women who commit them, as well as the impact these crimes can have on victims. The women profiled were in positions of authority at churches, schools, sports institutions, and the home. Victims explain how these women exploited their positions of trust, planned their crimes, groomed their victims, deceived adults into not detecting their behavior, and how they did not stop even when they recognized the danger and the harm to themselves and their victims. Duncan addresses the issue of maternal sexual abuse answering questions about mothers who willingly sexual abuse their own children and at times commit child sexual abuse with other adults, as well as women who sexually abuse girls. Four types of female sex offenders are presented within the emerging research on this topic, along with questions regarding assessment, treatment, and management of female sex offenders in the community. It also addresses the controversial issues of female pedophilia and female sexual deviance within the context of what we know about human sexuality.

The traumatic affects of childhood sexual abuse can remain and recur throughout life for women who have not healed emotionally. This book by a family therapist shares stories from 18 women abused as children, explaining that healing can occur at any stage of life, and that healing, itself, occurs in stages. The author offers guidance to recognize the long-lingering potential affects of childhood sexual abuse including depression, anxiety, dissociation, and chronic shock, and she explains steps to take for recovery. Also presented are letters from women who have healed or are in recovery. Sexual abuse by men, juveniles, and female perpetrators is discussed, as is how children may act out the abusive behavior taught by perpetrators. The incidence of abuse by family members is also addressed. Duncan explains the dual dilemma--moral and legal--that women face in exposing a sexual perpetrator within the family when not protected by the legal system due to statutes of limitations. She also discusses controversial topics including false memory and disclosure of memory to the perpetrator.

The traumatic affects of childhood sexual abuse can remain and recur throughout life for women who have not healed emotionally. This book by a family therapist shares stories from 18 women abused as children, explaining that healing can occur at any stage of life, and that healing, itself, occurs in stages. The author offers guidance to recognize the long-lingering potential affects of childhood sexual abuse including depression, anxiety, dissociation, and chronic shock, and she explains steps to take for recovery. Also presented are letters from women who have healed or are in recovery.

Sexual abuse by men, juveniles, and female perpetrators is discussed, as is how children may act out the abusive behavior taught by perpetrators. The incidence of abuse by family members is also addressed. Duncan explains the dual dilemma--moral and legal--that women face in exposing a sexual perpetrator within the family when not protected by the legal system due to statutes of limitations. She also discusses controversial topics including false memory and disclosure of memory to the perpetrator.