. Confronting the Incest Offender

Males often are not taught how to express affection without sexuality, which leads to needing sex to confirm their masculinity, being more focused on the sexual aspect of re­lationships, and being socialized to be attracted to mates that are smaller (Finkelhor, 1984). Keep in mind that the incidence of female offenders may be lower because of lower reporting rates for boys and/or because society accepts intimate female interaction with children as normal (Groth, 1978). Although we used to think that about 4% of of­fenders were female (D. E. H. Russell, 1984), newer studies have found that these num­bers may be significantly higher. In one study, a review of 120,000 cases of child sexual abuse, 25% of cases were found to involve a female offender (Boroughs, 2004).

Proponents of biological theories suggest that physiology contributes to the devel­opment of sexual abusers (see Chapter 16). One study found that male offenders had normal levels of the male sex hormone testosterone but elevated levels of other hor­mones (Lang et al., 1990). There have also been reports of neurological differences be­tween incest offenders and non-sex-criminal offenders that are thought to contribute to violence (Langevin et al., 1988).