“And Here’s to You, Mrs. Robinson…” Female Sex Offenders: It’s Nothing to Sing About.
The stereotype is out there that in prison, the worst type of criminal is a sex offender, especially those that target children and teenagers. Often people will make comments like, “Wait until they get to prison, then justice will be served.” Referring to the mistreatment that sex offenders are subjected to by other inmates. There is one type of sex offender that does not receive the same treatment. In fact, many don’t even consider the perpetrator to be a sex offender at all. Chapter 10 in Controversies in Victimology brings light to issues of female sex offenders, and the impact left on their victims. The reading challenges the stereo types and provides insight on how victims of a female sex offender can often times have a more intense impact than a victim of a male sex offender. Female sex offenders are not as common by the numbers as males, but they are still sex offenders.
Prior to reading the chapter, I was one who would have fallen victim the stereo type that there is no real victim when it comes to a female sex offender, especially in the case where an older female (typically a teacher) engages in sex with an adolescent male. As suggested in the reading, many think it is a sexual “coming of age” experience for the male victim. What many, including myself fail to realize is the lasting effect that these young teenagers and adolescents are subjected too. Not taking into consideration that even though physically the victim may have went through the motions of what is perceived as arousal, but mentally are subjected to psychiatric damage is where most people over look the impact of this scenario.
Upon reading that many of the victims of female sex offenders often have enhanced, more intense versions of the same psychiatric issues as someone who is victim of a male sex offender, I quickly let the stereotype go. Many of victims suffer more because they...