Women do commit sexual offences against children and these are often very serious offences. Sexual abuse by a female perpetrator must be treated as seriously as that perpetrated by men. Identifying the abuse can be difficult for professionals; they may have to overcome their own reluctance to accept that it may be occurring. Often the abuse itself takes subtle forms and is masked by the day to day caring and nurturing roles of women and mothers.
Female sexual abuse can range from voyeurism or inappropriate sexual touching to penetration with objects and ritualistic or sadistic sexual abuse.
Most sexual abuse by females takes place in the care giving environment, often in the context of their role as nurturer, in the family home, nurseries, schools and community settings.
Reconstruct have provided a useful summary of research and issues in working in this area. http://www.reconstruct.co.uk/news/Female_sex_offenders.pdf
The Lucy Faithful Foundation is a child protection charity which can offer services covering adult male and female sexual abusers and young people with inappropriate sexual behaviours. http://lucyfaithfull.org/home.aspx
