While the title says "sexual abuse," this paper is primarily about child sexual abuse. It also says "a sociological perspective." Apparently, this means a perspective completely oblivious to human sexuality. Nowhere in the paper is the concept of pedophilia (sexual attraction to children) mentioned, or even hinted at. Thus, even though the paper makes some interesting points, it does not and cannot explain why child sexual abuse happens, or how it can be prevented. This paper is Finkelhor's clearest statement of this perspective. I've found it very helpful when reading his other papers.
This paper focusses mainly on abuse by fathers and stepfathers. Two factors that facilitate this abuse are family isolation and patriarchal family structure. These are somewhat obvious factors. Unfortunately, Finkelhor doesn't say anything about how much of a problem these factors create.
Sexual abuse has been a problem throughout history. However, it's only in the last couple of decades that it's come to public attention. Finkelhor credits the women's movement for this enlightenment. This makes sense -- almost all sexual abusers are male, so it is reasonable that in a male dominated society, knowledge about this type of abuse would be suppressed.
The paper has a section which attempts to explain why women are much less prone than men to sexually abuse children: women learn better to distinguish sexual and non-sexual affection, men see heterosexual success as more important, men are socialized to consider sexual acts isolated from the context of a relationship, and that men are socialized to seek partners younger and smaller than themselves. I found none of the explanations particularly convincing. In most cases of child sexual abuse, the abuser has a strong sexual attraction towards children which cannot be controlled. In order to understand and prevent child sexual abuse, this basic fact must be taken into account.
Somebody Somewhere