Gender matters more for perpetrators than victims in child sex abuse

Molly Shattuck was sentenced to 48 weekends at a work detention facility --
spread out over the next two years -- for statutory rape against a 15-year-old boy

There has been a great deal of outrage over the past couple of weeks regarding the alleged discrimination between male victims of child sexual abuse and female victims.

The main argument seems to be that recent abuse against young boys only resulted in the abuser receiving weekend work detention. Abusers of young girls, in contrast, have received hundreds of years behind bars. This implies that the judicial system must not care about young boys.

But what if the gender discrimination is placed on the wrong side of the equation?

It was former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Molly Shattuck's case that seemed to spark interest in this phenomenon. Shattuck was sentenced to 48 weekends at a work detention facility — spread out over the next two years — for statutory rape against a 15-year-old boy. Shattuck had performed oral sex on the boy, who was a friend of her own son.  (more...)

Gender matters more for perpetrators than victims in child sex abuse