Victims and Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse: Abusive Contact and Penetration Experiences

Child sexual abuse (CSA) includes abusive contact experiences, which habitually impact the victim’s whole life. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of six CSA experiences with physical contact, including penetration, in a representative sample of the Spanish population. Participants were 1071 Spanish adults (53% males; Mage: 45.37) who completed the Child Sexual Abuse Experiences Questionnaire. The victim’s age at the first episode, the perpetrator’s characteristics, and the number of times that each experience occurred were analyzed, taking into account gender differences. Results were reported for every experience independently. The most prevalent age at the first experience was from 6 years old onwards, but with differences in some experiences. The abuses usually happened more than once, committed by the same person. The most prevalent perpetrator is a male, although a female perpetrator is more prevalent in male victims. Most of the abuses were committed by an adult acquaintance, a strange adult, and other minors, with some gender differences. The implications of the results concerning every CSA experience are discussed, highlighting their value for future research and practice, the design of preventive programs, and early detection of CSA.

Beyond Literal Understanding: “Womb Theft” as Metonym – An Interpretation of the Language Used to Describe Caesarean Kidnappings

The author’s attention has, in recent years, been drawn to an article with the headline, “Womb theft accused testifies”, and to another titled “Sentence reduced for attempted womb theft”. Both articles referred to “womb theft” as the appropriation of a fetus from an expectant woman by a female perpetrator who fakes a pregnancy, and then brutally kills the pregnant woman in order to appropriate the unborn child to keep as her own. Such criminals literally slash open an expectant woman’s womb to reach for the fetus in what can be described as a bizarre replication of a Caesarean section procedure. The author was not entirely clear on what writers meant by “womb theft”, which, defined literally, indicates that the object of theft is the womb/uterus and not a fetus/newborn. If a womb in its literal sense qualifies to be an object of theft, a writer could surely foresee the confusion that would follow headlines such as “Sentence reduced for attempted womb theft” or “Womb theft accused testifies.” The failure to do so exposes a conceptual skew in the discursive construction of the nature of the crime. There has been little research into problems in the language used to describe Caesarean kidnappings from the standpoint of those interested in improving legal language construction. Perhaps a special category of figurative language is required to explain how “womb theft” is used and understood here. The author pursues this task through metonymic analysis, a method that has found little application in legal theory in the South African context. The author argues that figurative expressions are repeatedly used without critical reflection, thereby confusing the recipient and obscuring communication rather than enlightening it. The author does not argue that the use of metonym in legal contexts should be eradicated since, in some instances, they enhance the understanding of legal concepts; instead, legal scholars must see through figurative language, and develop critical dialogue on the stylistic use of metonym and in so doing, master the art of legal communication.

Attributions of victim responsibility in revenge pornography

Purpose Revenge pornography is a growing risk among adolescents and young adults. Often stemming from sexting, some victims of revenge pornography report experiencing victim-blame similar to that accompanying the reporting of rape. The purpose of this paper is to explore the assumptions that underlie attributions of victim-blame, with a focus on perpetrator and victim responsibility, as well as gendered assumptions surrounding sexting. Design/methodology/approach A total of 222 UK university students (111 male, 111 females) read one of two versions of a hypothetical revenge pornography scenario, one involving a male victim of a female perpetrator, the other a female victim of a male perpetrator. They then responded to an open-ended question regarding responsibility. Findings Qualitative content analysis of these responses identified three inter-related themes: the victim’s behaviour, mitigating victim responsibility and minimising the behaviour. Social implications The majority of participants in this study attributed at least some responsibility to the victims of revenge pornography depicted in the scenarios. Sex of the victim played a less important role than assumptions around sexting. Originality/value The study suggests that victim-blame is linked to the consent implied by sharing intimate images with a partner, but is also mitigated by the normative nature of this relationship practice. There was some evidence that the experience of male victims of revenge pornography is trivialised. These findings have implications for e-safety and victim support.

‘A Shocking State of Domestic Unhappiness’: Male Victims of Female Violence and the Courts in Late Nineteenth Century Stafford

Instances where men were the victims of female violence in the past are very difficult to explore, especially when the violence took place in a domestic setting. There is now a notable body of work on violence in the nineteenth century but none that looks specifically at male victims of violence where there was a female perpetrator, and their treatment by the courts. This article goes some way in filling that gap by using data collected in researching female offenders at the end of the nineteenth century in Stafford. It argues that, as with violence where there was a female victim and female perpetrator, the courts and the press were similarly unconcerned and somewhat dismissive of female violence towards men in a domestic setting, thus being unsympathetic towards male victims of female violence.

Females perpetrating honour-based abuse: controllers, collaborators or coerced?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address an emerging international debate about the involvement of females in perpetrating honour-based abuse (HBA). Presenting new empirical data, this study profiles the different roles played by women, discussing them in relation to gender and their relationships to victims, and argues that acknowledgement of female perpetrators does not fundamentally challenge a gendered interpretation of HBA. Design/methodology/approach Some 1,474 case files flagged as HBA were gathered from one police force in Southern England and 50 domestic abuse agencies across England and Wales. Descriptive statistics explored which victim, perpetrator and abuse characteristics were associated with female perpetration. Case narratives were thematically analysed to profile the different roles females played. Findings were explored in eight key informant interviews with caseworkers from the services data came from. Findings This paper finds that: females are more involved in perpetrating HBA than other forms of domestic abuse, but primary perpetrators are still mostly male; victims are overwhelmingly female; the context for abuse is the maintenance of patriarchal values on gender roles; female perpetrator roles vary, meriting further exploration; and female perpetrators can be conceptualised within a gendered framework. Originality/value This paper presents important new empirical data to advance the debate on the role of women in perpetrating HBA. It will be of interest to academics, researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners alike.