How Did Child Sexual Offending by Women Come to Be an Unthinkable Crime? A Critical Genealogy Andrea Josipovic MCouns (University of Queensland), Magister Artium (German Philology, Art History and European History, Universität zu Köln) 0000-0002-8819-1029 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2020 School of History and Philosophical Inquiry Abstract My thesis seeks to investigate the historical dimension of modern concerns about child sexual abuse, with a particular focus on women as offenders. It attempts to redress conceptual oversights which are directly related to the single-minded view that child sexual abuse constitutes a gendered crime whereby women as agents of such abuse have been rendered almost completely absent. The assumption is that the very great majority of sexual offending is committed by men, not women, and not, for that matter, other children. Everyday encounters with this dominant narrative have prompted me to engage in a more detailed inquiry. Despite its ubiquity, time and again cases emerge where women have criminally engaged in sex with children. Since women and children often find themselves alone together within spheres of “privacy,” I will primarily be studying the domestic space of the family home as the site of its occurrence. I am interested to learn how women as possible offenders of child sexual abuse have vanished from sight, and along with them, their victims. Accounts of contemporary child protection practice do not often centralise history as their primary object of inquiry in order to deepen an understanding of present concerns. In contrast, I plan to demonstrate that there is indeed merit in investigating the genealogy of child sexual abuse as a gendered crime, not least because it can help to inform and adjust contemporary child protection assessments. My thesis focuses mostly on medical writings which emerged during the second half of the nineteenth and first decade of the twentieth centuries in France, which I aim to show was the site of greatest scientific activity on the subject at the time. During this period so crucial to the emergence and gradual formation of many disciplines which today hold a place within the human sciences, such as psychiatry, psychology, criminology and sociology, French medical professionals were lead investigators in relation to moral and social decline, and in fact produced a substantial collection of texts on matters of child abuse, most of which are little known today within the Anglosphere. This included cruelty to children and moral crimes, in particular rape, attempted rape and indecent assault on children. In addition, ideas about childhood as distinct from adulthood which proliferated at the end of the eighteenth century continued to undergo significant nuancing. I aim to pay close attention to some of the discourses in circulation describing child abuse, and more specifically child sexual abuse, sometimes in close connection with violence and cruelty, and historicise them by placing them in a dialogue with articulations of ideas about childhood, parenting, and the family. Close reading of some of the key texts will reflect that the work of French professionals left lasting impressions on key contributors to the development of the fields of sexology and psychoanalysis in the German speaking countries. This transitional enterprise from French to German leadership on research on child abuse has not been the focus of many historical analyses so far. While French researchers founded their studies mostly on material signs and symptoms on the i body, their German-speaking colleagues increasingly added considerations of the mind to their physiological and biological considerations. The substantial body of work both the French and German researchers accumulated during this highly productive time period has left a legacy that has shaped contemporary framings of child abuse and remained present, if unacknowledged, in the interventions which aim to help those who have been affected by it. The genealogical method, with its strong focus on historical struggles, tensions and accidents, will enable me to trace how contemporary framings of child sexual abuse emerged over time. Since this way of working encompasses a rejection of both a point of origin and a millennial ending, my project strongly distances itself from any claim to universality or completeness. Instead, it aims to illustrate the conceptual antecedents which can help to emphasise how present-day assumptions, in particular those regarding gender, have formed and solidified over time. ii Declaration by Author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, financial support and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my higher degree by research candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis and have sought permission from co-authors for any jointly authored works included in the thesis. iii Publications Included in this Thesis No publications included. Submitted Manuscripts Included in this Thesis No manuscripts submitted for publication. Other Publications during Candidature Journal Article Josipovic, Andrea, "Secret Things and the Confinement of Walls: 'The Private Sphere' in Crimes of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women." Australian Feminist Studies 30, no. 85 (2015): 252-72. Conference Abstracts 1. Josipovic, Andrea, "The Doctor Prescribes, the Mother Executes: The Double Bind of a 'Profitable Alliance' in Nineteenth Century French Medical Narratives of Child Sexual Abuse Cases," presented on September 21, 2018 at the Symposium Women in Medicine, Women of Medicine, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, Single Paper Presentation. 2. Josipovic, Andrea, "Dys/appearing Women? Sexual Relations with Children in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Discourses," presented on December 2, 2016 at Technicity. Temporality. Embodiment: The 10th International Somatechnics Conference, Byron Bay, NSW, Australia, December 1-3, 2016, Single Paper Presentation and Session Host. 3. Josipovic, Andrea, "Conceptualising Child Sexual Abuse: Discussions in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," presented on July 1st, 2016 at the joint conference by the European Society for the History of Human Sciences (ESHHS) & the International Society for the History of Behavioural and Social Sciences (CHEIRON), Barcelona, Spain, June 27t - July 1st, 2016, Single Paper Presentation. 4. Josipovic, Andrea, "Researching Sexual Abuse: How Gender-biased Observations Have Shaped Perceptions of Male and Female Child Sexual Offenders," presented on November 25, 2015 at the Postgraduate Conference Perspectives on Identity, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, iv November 24-7, 2015, Single Paper Presentation. 5. Josipovic, Andrea, "Ante Conceptum: How Did Nineteenth Century Physicians Describe Adults who Engage in Sexual Acts with Children?," presented on July 3, Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine 14th Biennial Conference, Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, June 30 – July 4, 2015, Single Paper Presentation. 6. Josipovic, Andrea, "Secret Things and the Confinement of Walls: 'The Private Sphere' in Crimes of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women," presented on September, 29 at the Postgraduate Work in Preogress Conference The Evolution of Things, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, September 28-30, 2014, Single Paper Presentation. 7. Josipovic, Andrea, "The Problematic Notion of Progress in the Identification of Women as Victims of Sexual Abuse," presented on November 27, 2013 at the Postgraduate Conference Perspectives on Progress, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, November 26-9 2013, Single Paper Presentation. Book Review 1. Josipovic, Andrea, Review of The Hirschfeld Archives: Violence, Death, and Modern Queer Culture, by Heike Bauer, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press (2017), 230 pp., ISBN 978-1-4399-1433-5. Australian Feminist Studies, 32 (94), (2017): 461-463. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2017.1466653 v Contributions by others to the thesis No contributions by others. Statement of parts of the thesis submitted