We have added another study to the Bibliography:
Martellozzo, E., Nehring, D., & Taylor, H. (2010). Online child sexual abuse by female offenders: An exploratory study. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 4, 592-609.
Abstract
The expansion of the Internet and the proliferation of information technologies have created new opportunities for the sexual abuse of children. Sex offenders use the Internet to access and distribute indecent images of children and to select victims to groom for the purpose of abuse (Davidson & Gottschalk 2010; Martellozzo, 2010; Martellozzo & Taylor, 2009; Quayle, Erooga, Wright, Taylor, & Harbinson, 2006). It is a commonly held assumption, stated implicitly or explicitly in both public debates and scholarly research, that child sexual abuse is a typically male crime, in so far as offenders are generally held to be men and the level of sexual aggression involved in their offences is seen as closely related to masculine behaviour. This article aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the problem of online child sexual abuse by female offenders. As rehearsed in the literature (Martellozzo, 2011; Webster, Davidson, Bifulco, Pham, & Caretti, 2009), online child sexual abuse is predominantly a crime committed by men and only a small percentage of females sexually abuse children through the Internet. This article presents findings from analysis of qualitative data collected at the Paedophile Unit at the London Metropolitan Police.
As you may or may not be aware a Channel 4 television documentary was recently broadcast in the UK entitled, “Breaking A Female Paedophile Ring”. Associated with the broadcast of the documentary is a ‘Help and Support’ section on the Channel 4 website listings organisations “offering help and support to those people affected by the issues in Cutting Edge: Breaking A Female Paedophile Ring”
Below you will find a reproduction of a comment posted on the ‘Help and Support’ section by an alleged professional (psychotherapist with experience of treating survivors)
joseph schwartz on 26 May 2011 at 22:11
“speaking as a psychotherapist with experience of treating survivors this was a very very good programme. I am exercised however by presenting it as a female paedophile ring when it was instigated and led by a man who exploited vulnerable women. This is not to excuse the women of course. Can a desire for increased viewing figures justify the distortion in presenting a paedophile ring set up by and for a man as a female ring? Doesn’t seem right.”
The following replies to joseph schwartz’s comment are mine & Rhiannon’s respectively:-
Non Professional on 27 May 2011 at 18:28
“Can a desire for increased viewing figures justify the distortion in presenting a paedophile ring set up by and for a man as a female ring? Speaking as a non-professional joseph schwartz I understand that there is still a great deal of professional denial regarding female paedophiles. As a psychotherapist with experience of treating survivors you may like to read the following study before denying the existence of female paedophile rings.” Online child sexual abuse by female offenders: An exploratory study (International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 4, 592-609) http://www.cybercrimejournal.com/elenaetaljandec2010.htm
Rhiannon on 28 May 2011 at 19:48
Sorry Joseph but you are making excuses/minimizing the role of the women involved and that is inexcusable. I also highly doubt you have much experience working with survivors of female sex offenders because if you did you would know your comments are wrong and part of the problem. Thank you for purposely lessening the responsibility these women had for their actions and sticking with the stereotypical, and outdated, view of man bad, woman victim even when they are just as responisible.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/breaking-a-female-paedophile-ring/articles/help-and-support
Woman’s sex act disgusts judge
An adult woman who engaged in sex acts with a 4-year-old boy, and photographed them for trading on the Internet, was sentenced to 160 months in prison — more than 13 years — Monday by Judge Ronald Stone.
Stone said the acts were so despicable he couldn’t find words ad equate to express his disgust. He ruled out any Alternative to Incarceration programs or good time credits, saying he wanted to make sure the boy’s abuser, 32-year-old Carisa Wimp of Fairview, served every day of her sentence.
“When you’re in prison, you think about your life,” he told Wimp during her plea and sentencing hearing in Yamhill County Circuit Court. “When you get out, you think about getting control of your actions and your life.”
Stone said it was hard to read the police reports in the case, which indicate the Internet trade included images of bestiality as well as child sex. As part of the sentence, he ordered her to serve three years of post-prison supervision on release, pay $425 in court fees and maintain lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Wimp pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, all Class A felonies falling under Measure 11. In exchange, two counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and one count each of first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree sexual penetration and first-degree sodomy were dismissed.
Deputy District Attorney Ladd Wiles prosecuted the case. McMinnville attorney Michael Finch had been appointed to represent Wimp.
Wimp had nothing to say on her own behalf and offered no apologies when provided the opportunity by Stone. Finch said he didn’t have much to say, either.
The abuse took place last January at a residence on Southeast Blaine Street. McMinnville police took Wimp into custody in August and lodged her in the Yamhill County Jail on $500,000 bail.
Detective Sam Elliott said in a probable cause affidavit that a sister borrowed Wimp’s cell phone and discovered an image of Wimp bathing with the boy. She and the boy’s father contacted the police.
When Elliott confronted Wimp, she said she had accidentally taken a photo of the two of them in the bath together, and had since deleted the image.
However, Elliott enlisted Newberg-Dundee detective Michael Clark in a forensic examination of the cell phone’s memory card. It revealed images of Wimp engaged in a variety of sex acts with the boy, and a subsequent search at her residence in East Multnomah County showed additional images.
At the hearing, Wiles told the court, “It didn’t stop there. She traded images with another party on the internet,” including images depicting acts of bestiality.
Even her sister characterized her as a pedophile, he said.
The boy is now living with his father, the court was told.
http://www.newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=woman%27s+sex+act+disgusts+judge–1328731329–2636–home-news#.TzL23tsV9mV.twitter
Restitution sought to care for kids whose moms used them to make porn
He was labeled a child predator of the worst kind.
Steven Demink convinced women to do the unthinkable: molest their children and videotape the sex acts for him to watch — sometimes live via webcam.
Demink, 41, is in prison for life for his crimes. So are the mothers, seven at last count.
But now, the courts are grappling with, perhaps, a more complicated and emotional issue: Who is left to raise the children and who will pay for their care?
Continued…..
http://www.freep.com/article/20120402/NEWS01/204020348
Mother jailed for sexually abusing her own children
Australia — A New South Wales District Court Judge has described as ‘incomprehensible’, the actions of a Central Coast woman, who sexually abused her own children and encouraged other parents to do the same.
The 31-year-old was today sentenced to a maximum 18 years in jail, with non-parole period of 13 years.
She, along with her 51 year old husband and another man were arrested in November 2010, and admitted to a series of charges relating to the systematic sexual abuse of the couple’s son and daughter, aged 12 and 11.
The trio dominated an international network of parents who carried out depraved sex acts on their children, often streaming them live on the internet.
Gosford District Court heard how the woman encouraged other parents within the paedophile ring to abuse their own children.
Judge Ellis said this showed a casual attitude towards her children’s abuse.
He said ‘defiling her son and daughter demonstrated an unfathomable level of depravity’ which was ‘impossible to grasp’.
The court was told she was ‘oblivious to her role as a mother, and oblivious to the needs of her children’.
Judge Ellis told the court the 31 year old was sexually abused as a child by her own family members, and has since expressed a wish to be punished for the sake of her children.
He said she was groomed by her husband but was an active and willing participant to the abuse.
Karen Lindley, spokeswoman for the child advocacy group, Bravehearts, says there are many lessons to be learned from the case.
“She herself was a victim of sustained prolonged child sexual assault and it is history repeating itself,” she said.
“We must break the cycle.”
Last week, the woman’s husband was sentenced to a maximum 21 years behind bars for his role in the crimes.
The couple’s 43-year-old co-accused from Umina Beach, near Gosford is expected to be sentenced tomorrow.
The children remain under the care of the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-12/porn-mother/3946536
Upon completion of reading the study, titled, “The idealization of women: its role in the minimization of child sexual abuse by females” by Jacquie Hetherton I feel it is appropriate to return to and further address the comment made by joseph schwartz, who claimed, in his own words, to be speaking as a “psychotherapist with experience of treating survivors”.
joseph schwartz on 26 May 2011 at 22:11
“speaking as a psychotherapist with experience of treating survivors this was a very very good programme. I am exercised however by presenting it as a female paedophile ring when it was instigated and led by a man who exploited vulnerable women. This is not to excuse the women of course. Can a desire for increased viewing figures justify the distortion in presenting a paedophile ring set up by and for a man as a female ring?
Extract from: The idealization of women: its role in the minimization of child sexual abuse by females
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213498001197
The necessity of professionals in the child abuse system being vigilant to subjective gender biases in their work is evident. To improve professional practices in response to female perpetration of child sexual abuse, however, the following recommendations are proposed:
3. In cases where a co-perpetrator is female, investigators should not assume that her role is only that of allowing the abuse to occur. Females abuse independently or may victimize children as equal partners with men. The involvement of females in cases of child abuse should therefore be investigated just as thoroughly as their male counterparts. This should involve questioning which is just as detailed as that which occurs when males are suspected of abuse
5. Researchers should endeavor to investigate empirically whether professionals in the child abuse system demonstrate gender biases in their work as has been suggested. If so, this tendency must be brought to the attention of the professional agencies involved in order that they can then be addressed. In fact, gender biases in the decisions advocated by child protection professionals have recently been found In fact, gender biases in the decisions advocated by child protection professionals have recently been found (Hetherton & Beardsall, in press).
U.S. Attorney’s Office
May 09, 2012
Manalapan Woman Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing Girl, Streaming Assault Live Over the Internet
WASHINGTON— A Manalapan, New Jersey woman pleaded guilty today to producing child pornography by sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl on more than one occasion and streaming footage of a sexual assault over the Internet, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Jennifer Mahoney, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. She entered her guilty plea in Trenton, New Jersey federal court before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper.
“Ms. Mahoney sexually abused a 5-year-old girl and streamed footage of this abuse to others over the Internet,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “Now that she has pleaded guilty to these reprehensible crimes, she faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. No prison sentence can repair the damage she has caused, or restore the innocence of the child she abused. But, she and other child predators should know this: we in law enforcement will use every measure available to us to prevent and deter child exploitation and to punish men or women who still succeed in committing the kind of horrific crimes to which Ms. Mahoney has now confessed.”
“Today, Jennifer Mahoney admitted that she sexually abused a 5-year old girl entrusted to her care and then shared recordings of that abuse over the Internet,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “This horrible crime is a stark example of how harmful ‘child pornography’ is and how its young victims bear not just the physical and emotional scars of violent sexual assault, but lifelong trauma as others repeatedly watch. Those like Mahoney, who create and feed the market, perpetuate unimaginable suffering for the children they abuse.”
Continued….
http://www.fbi.gov/newark/press-releases/2012/manalapan-woman-pleads-guilty-to-sexually-abusing-girl-streaming-assault-live-over-the-internet