Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma
The common stereotype of child sexual abuse is a male figure abusing a little helpless girl, and sometimes, but not as much, a man sodomising a little boy.
Women rarely are ever framed as abusers. However, the courts have dealt with some horrifying cases of female paedophilia, with some boys scarred for life after experiencing the worst at the hands of trusted females.
Female paedophilia is not talked about much in the country, but this does not mean that it is not happening.
Society must recognise the reality that women can and do sexually offend against children. Although statistics on female offenders are vague and it is widely believed that women offend at lower rates than men, their increasing numbers cannot be ignored.
During the week, a Twitter thread opened a can of worms about the phenomenon when one man decided to speak out about his former baby sitter who used to sexually abuse him as a child. More men came out, some naming and shaming, while others did not disclose the identities of their abusers, for fear of starting family chaos.
According to the thread, which had a lot of Zimbabwean men also sharing their experiences, most of the abusers were domestic workers who were left to take care of the little boys when their mothers were at work.
Some of the abusers were preschool teachers, some were aunts, neighbours, family friends; the list is endless.
The thread just went to show that it’s not only girls that are vulnerable to abuse, but boys are vulnerable too, and often are not empowered enough or taught to speak out about abuse.
There isn’t much research on female paedophilia in the country. What’s closest is a paper published in the early 2000s on the subject, which remains relevant to this day.
The past decade has led to more recognition of the capacity of women to engage in sexual offences against children as in recent years a number of horrific cases have been reported involving women perpetrators.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said while cases involving female offenders were not as prevalent, parents had to be careful as a number of domestic workers and other care givers had been convicted for abusing boys.
“Society has a tendency of thinking that young boys are safe from abuse. However, it is not only girls who are vulnerable and as police we implore parents to be vigilant and to ensure that they entrust their children with people they trust and constantly have conversations with their children about the people who baby-sit them. A lot can come out from that. Boys are not immune to abuse as they can also be abused by both women and men,” said Insp Ncube.
In October last year, this publication reported that police were called in to investigate a 35-year-old teacher at Guinea Fowl High School for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy she taught at the time.
During police investigations, as detailed by then Midlands Provincial police spokesperson Inspector Joel Goko, it came to light that the female teacher and the pupil shared the same house. At school she taught him and after that they were in the same house. Investigations also revealed that there was another teacher who stayed in the house.
In January this year, a domestic worker from Bulawayo’s Famona suburb was arrested for teaching a four year old boy sexual acts.
Princess Mpofu (21) was not asked to plead to a charge of performing indecent acts with a young person when she appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Lizwe Jamela.
Last year, Chronicle ran a story of a domestic worker who infected her employer’s nine-year-old son with an STI. The matter came to light when the boy got sick. The offender got a custodial sentence.
Over the past five years, this publication has reported a series of cases of female sex offenders, perpetrated by trusted family friends, helpers, relatives, and teachers.
Most of the abuses have taken place in a domestic set-up, which may be thought to be a safe space.
Conviction trends could only be the tip of the iceberg because generally, due to socialisation, boys generally do not open up, and often, parents may not pay much attention to such, in a manner they would pay attention to the welfare of the girl, as risk perception for boys to be sexual abuse victims is quite low.
According to psychology experts, the number of women who sexually abuse children was much higher than conviction rates would suggest. Reasons for low convictions rates are cited as male teenage victims in particular feeling reluctant to come forward because of a fear that their experience will not be viewed as ‘abuse’, feeling pressure to view their sexual encounters with women as a badge of honour.
Some women have been reported to be in the habit of grooming young boys, and then later establishing sexual relations with them. This has been prevalent especially in some all-boys schools, where female teachers have been reported to be overly friendly and later establishing intimate relations with pupils.
Because it’s teenagers, and the ‘boys will be boys’ mantra, an affair with a teacher may be seen as a badge of honour and some boys may not report it. However, it is still abuse as a teacher is a responsible adult and must be acting in loco parentis at the school.
It is probably fair to say that society generally has an utter repugnance of women who sexually abuse younger children – which plays into the hands of such abusers as there is a reluctance to accept or believe that it happens.
Dear parents, if any man is a potential abuser to your precious little girl, it is high time you view every woman as a potential abuser to your boys, and your girls too.
A lot of horrific things happen to children and it takes so long for them to come out in the open because the parents or guardians would be just too trusting.
Communities must come to the realisation that not all women are saints and that they are potential abusers too. The stereotyping of potential abusers must stop too. A potential abuser may not always be a shebeen queen or a drug addict niece.
A potential abuser could be the pastor’s wife, the Sunday school teacher, your own sister or cousin. Victims of abuse by women must also consistently be given the same recognition as victims of male offenders. To maintain the status quo of public perception and practice would be to do an unforgivable injustice to victims. Boys are victims too. Normalise it. – @andile_tshuma
Online Reporter