NCJ Number
211384
Journal
Gender & Society Volume: 19 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2005 Pages: 621-643
Date Published
October 2005
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study interviewed 60 parents of boys who were sexually abused outside their families, in order to determine how parental conceptions of gender, race, and class were used to interpret, excuse, and justify family coping with the trauma.
Abstract
Multiple in-depth interviews were conducted with the parents, who had voluntarily enrolled their sons in a group therapy specifically for sexually abused boys. Ten of the parents were single mothers, and the rest were married couples. The boys in treatment were between the ages of 8 and 11. Neighbors, babysitters, family friends, and others who came in contact with the family had molested the boys. None of the offenders were members of the household. The parents were not part of the therapy for the boys. Parents were interviewed jointly and individually. Themes of the interviews were clustered in accordance with the data rather than predetermined organizational categories. The interviews were open-ended and encouraged participants to respond in a conversational manner. Probing questions were used to elicit gender differences in behavior and the parents' perceived rationale for those differences. Blaming of the mother dominated the interviews. This took the form of statements that mothers should not have jobs outside the home, and mothers should be primarily responsible for the care of their children. Such conceptions of a mother's responsibility to protect her children came from immediate family members, the extended family, and social services. Given the culturally embedded view of a mother's parental responsibilities, it was not surprising that the mothers blamed themselves. Such mother blaming tended to be more intense for lower class mothers and racial-minority mothers. Responses to child sexual abuse thus tend to reaffirm gender traditionalism in relation to parental roles regarding work outside the home and responsibility for child care. 36 references