Modernizing Typologies on Female Sexual Offending Behaviors: Intrapsychic, Behavioral, and Trauma Related Domains

Overview: Historically, female sexual offending typologies have been rooted in psychodynamic and behaviorist paradigms; lacking trauma-informed perspectives and overemphasizing socially constructed mythology. This analysis qualitatively reorganizes historical typologies while removing outdated concepts and incorporating trauma-informed science. Three new typologies are presented, each with intrapsychic, behavioral, and trauma-related domains.Proposal text: In the criminal justice system, female sexual offenders (FSOs) are drastically unrepresented. Studies have suggested females commit anywhere from 15-20% of sexual offenses (American Humane Association, 1987; Faller & Coulborn, 1996, McLeod 2015). One explanation among the studies of female sexual offenders that have been accepted was that FSOs might have significantly more personal abuse histories than their male counterparts (Strickland, 2008). According to the CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study, it was discovered that approximately 25% of females and 16% of males who reported that they were abused as a child advised that at least one of their sexual offenders was female (Center for Disease Control, 2013). FSOs have a tendency to offend both male and female genders with a varied range of ages (Freeman & Sandler, 2008). While FSOs have victims of a wide range of ages, FSOs tend to have young victims, which causes a very specific set of problems for those victims, such as neurological, behavioral, and other significant outcomes (Center for Disease Control, 2013; Perry, 2000). Extensive trauma histories and a lifetime of victimization patterns are a couple of key characteristics that FSOs share. The purpose of this is to explore the history of FSO and trauma, the different typologies, and how the typologies have evolved since previous research.

Over the past thirty years, many have set out to categorize female sexual offenders and their behavioral types because while the literature suggests we know little about female sexual offenders, we do know that female sexual offenders and male sexual offenders do not share typologies (Pflugradt & Allen, 2010). Despite the best efforts of researchers, many of the most utilized clusters of typologies over time have become outdated and are organized with a heavy influence of theoretical constructs such as a psychodynamic perspective, to the detriment of other paradigms. Additionally, many show an over-emphasis on constructs like sexuality and rely too heavily on socially constructed expectations for women without regard to the lifelong experiences related to all types of maladaptive behaviors.

Using Grounded Theory, the researchers identified centralized themes from the most highly used existing typology clusters, from which emerged three new typologies, Relational, Predatory, and Chaotic. When analyzing and coding the different historical typologies, the researchers observed how various empirically validated principles overlapped in significant ways. Others did not. After reviewing and coding each historic typology, the researchers then reorganized them by the emergent themes. The findings suggest female sex offender typologies can be categorized into the three distinct types noted above, each of which contains intrapsychic, behavioral, and trauma-related traits. This presentation will provide specific details about the typologies and the organization of traits associated with each. Participants will be able to better understand the phenomenon of female sexual offending behaviors in a modern context.