In reply to Greenbanks:
> Care to point me to any substantive source in support your observation?
Michelle Elliot who works (or worked) for Kidscape, the organisation involved in protecting children from child abuse, has been on record as saying that she thinks that females are just as capable as males of child abuse, and are just as guilty (in a general sense) too. To back this up, she's said that just as one individual, she has been contacted by 800 people who have been sexually abused by females, and mentioned a programme on This Morning, where 150 (it may have been more, I have the figure of 1000 and something in my head, but I don't want to overstate) people contacted the show about being abused.
She's mentioned it being something akin to the last great tabboo, citing a time when she went to a conference or talk on the topic, with people in the audience who were attempting to stand up and related their experiences only to be shouted down by other females who didn't want to accept what people were going to be saying, according to Michelle Elliot, it's generally a certain subset of feminists who don't want to accept that females can sexually abuse children of their own free (not being coerced or 'led astray' by men), because it goes against the narrative of men being uniformly the controller and the oppressor - ' the bad guys' if you like.
Having a sis in law who seemed to be of the impression that it's only men who sexually abuse, and that women only sexually abuse children if led into it by men, I've looked into it to a very small degree recently. I vaguely plan to tactfully put her right after more research.
As a man who sometimes wants to be friendly to random children to try and cheer them up, in the way the females seem to do and only get smiles back in return from their mums (seems like a shame if children are fed up, and I seem to be OK at it), I'm conscious of the difference in reactions which men can get, and the need to be aware of the difference in people's perceptions.
Females can end up using objects, or in one case she mentioned things like the stems of roses which have thorns on them, though I dare say that all abuse is bad enough in the end.
I think Michelle Elliot may have written a book on the topic, too.
Edit: Correct spelling.> Michele Elliott
Edit number 2: She founded Kidscape.
Post edited at 20:06