We need to stamp out stereotypes of child sexual abuse

Following the recent IICSA report into child sexual abuse in schools, Kim Harrison writes that as well as providing more support for victims, society needs to alter how it views abuse of male children, especially by female perpetrators. 

On 1st March the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published its long-awaited report into sexual abuse in schools. One of the schools it investigated was Headlands School, a state secondary in North Yorkshire. Between 2006 and 2009, four staff members were convicted of sexual offences against pupils at the school. These offences were committed between 2001 and 2008. Three of those staff members were male but one, Lindsey Collett, was female.

Lindsey Collett was a cover supervisor at Headlands School. In February 2008 she was arrested following a disclosure made to the headteacher. A male pupil, named in the report as RS-A301 but who we will call Dave for the purpose of this article, had been groomed and abused by Collett. In August 2008 she pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child in abuse of a position of trust. She received a conditional discharge of 12 months.

Dave participated in IICSA because he was keen to shine a light on the largely ignored topic of male children, in particular teenage boys, being abused by adult women. He is convinced that both he and she were treated differently because of their genders. Her behaviour was minimised, as was the suffering caused to him by her abuse.

Society perpetuates stereotypes around what it is to be a normal teenage boy: they are supposed to be interested in girls, women, sex and sexual encounters. This means that for male victims of female abusers it can often be assumed by friends, family, the police, medical and educational professionals that the boy must have in some way "enjoyed" the sexual encounter, even if the law classes it as sexual assault. Males are not supposed to find such things troubling or distressing. It is assumed that, if a woman is sexually interested in a teenage boy, he will think 'this is great' and brag about it to his mates as a 'conquest'. A 'rite of passage' or 'every schoolboy's fantasy'.

This can make it very difficult for boys to recognise when they may be being groomed and abused by adult women and also very difficult for them to disclose it at all. Once disclosures are made then the reaction of those around them can be to minimise the abuse and to focus more on the abuser as a 'victim'. Dave recalls that he was made to feel bad for reporting grooming and abuse as if he was the one who was ruining the teacher's life, rather than the other way round. He felt that Collett was treated by her colleagues as simply naïve, rather than the sexual predator she was. He feels that the reaction to his disclosures would have been markedly different had he been female and the teacher male. It would have been seen for what it was – grooming and abuse by an adult in a position of trust over a vulnerable child.

These stereotypes do then feed into the support that male survivors of abuse receive. This support should never be predicated on the sex or gender of the victim or the perpetrator but focused solely on the individual needs of the child victim of abuse.

As a society we still have much to do to recognise this form of sexual abuse and to see the perpetrators for what they are – sexual predators on children. If disclosures are made by male victims of female abusers, we need to recognise that the internalised feelings of stigma and shame need to be dealt with sensitively and that they are given the same level of tailored support as a female victim would be.

More generally, as a society we still do not provide enough support for victims of childhood sexual abuse. Dave wanted IICSA to make recommendations in the form of a standard protocol for dealing with situations where a teacher abuses a child. This would include how to speak to the child, how to ensure that they don't feel left out of school and to ensure that a proper counselling package is put in place. Disappointingly, IICSA did not make any recommendations on this, but we hope it will do so in its final report, to be published later this year.