Invisible sexual predators & their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders

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dc.contributor.advisorTame, Bianca
dc.contributor.authorParfitt, Kerewin
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-19T08:51:04Z
dc.date.available2026-01-19T08:51:04Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2026-01-19T08:47:28Z
dc.description.abstractThe invisibility of female sex offenders (FSOs), and the trend of denialism surrounding the phenomenon, is the social issue that foregrounds this research. Sex offending continues to be regarded as male dominated and, as a result, research has focused almost exclusively on male sex offenders (MSOs). Recent literature has, however, observed that cases of FSOs are rising, globally, and being increasingly publicised in the media. Given media influences on public perceptions, policy action, and crime and penal policies, their construction of FSOs is a good starting point to understanding the ways in which a largely invisible phenomenon is made visible. This study, approached from a social constructionist framework, uses a qualitative desktop research design and conducts a thematic analysis of forty media articles, focusing on ten FSO cases, from seven countries. The findings position the media as complicit in the continued invisibility of FSOs. This complicity is evident through their conceptualisation of the offence; their denial of female agency; their focus on constructing FSOs in terms of social normality; their conception of victimisation; their contribution to the infamy of FSOs; and their acknowledgement of the dichotomy between MSOs and FSOs. The trends of trivialisation, leniency, and denial surrounding FSOs, both in the media and academic literature, need to be addressed. Thus, the overarching aim of this research is to make the ‘invisible' FSO visible. The term used for these women across existing literature is FSO. To challenge this veiling of harmful female sexual aggressors, I comment on the ways in which media constructions of FSOs align with understandings of male rapists and male paedophiles. The related observation that the labels of rapist and paedophile are seldom used for FSOs lays the groundwork for my argument towards the degendering of sex offender typologies. As it stands, FSOs are best conceptualised as invisible sexual predators committing silent crimes.
dc.identifier.apacitationParfitt, K. (2025). <i>Invisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42604en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationParfitt, Kerewin. <i>"Invisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42604en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationParfitt, K. 2025. Invisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42604en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Parfitt, Kerewin AB - The invisibility of female sex offenders (FSOs), and the trend of denialism surrounding the phenomenon, is the social issue that foregrounds this research. Sex offending continues to be regarded as male dominated and, as a result, research has focused almost exclusively on male sex offenders (MSOs). Recent literature has, however, observed that cases of FSOs are rising, globally, and being increasingly publicised in the media. Given media influences on public perceptions, policy action, and crime and penal policies, their construction of FSOs is a good starting point to understanding the ways in which a largely invisible phenomenon is made visible. This study, approached from a social constructionist framework, uses a qualitative desktop research design and conducts a thematic analysis of forty media articles, focusing on ten FSO cases, from seven countries. The findings position the media as complicit in the continued invisibility of FSOs. This complicity is evident through their conceptualisation of the offence; their denial of female agency; their focus on constructing FSOs in terms of social normality; their conception of victimisation; their contribution to the infamy of FSOs; and their acknowledgement of the dichotomy between MSOs and FSOs. The trends of trivialisation, leniency, and denial surrounding FSOs, both in the media and academic literature, need to be addressed. Thus, the overarching aim of this research is to make the ‘invisible' FSO visible. The term used for these women across existing literature is FSO. To challenge this veiling of harmful female sexual aggressors, I comment on the ways in which media constructions of FSOs align with understandings of male rapists and male paedophiles. The related observation that the labels of rapist and paedophile are seldom used for FSOs lays the groundwork for my argument towards the degendering of sex offender typologies. As it stands, FSOs are best conceptualised as invisible sexual predators committing silent crimes. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - female sex offenders KW - Crime KW - Sex LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - Invisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders TI - Invisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42604 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/42604
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationParfitt K. Invisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42604en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Sociology
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectfemale sex offenders
dc.subjectCrime
dc.subjectSex
dc.titleInvisible sexual predators &amp; their silent crimes: exploring media constructions of female teacher sex offenders
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
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