Dis/Locating Blame

Survivors' Constructions of Self and Sexual Abuse

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2392621
AutoresPaula Reavey (0000-0002-0903-9097, South Bank University, UK), Brendan Gough (0000-0001-7438-0139, Sheffield Hallam University)
Año2000
Volumen3
Número3
Páginas325-346
Fecha de publicación2000-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSexualities (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1363-4607 • E-ISSN: 1461-7382
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136346000003003003
OpenAlexW2170962935
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas14
Referencias citadas25

This article examines issues of sexuality and identity for women who have been sexually abused as children. It is based on five in-depth semi-structured interviews with women who were `identified' as survivors of childhood sexual abuse, a study which, in turn, forms part of a larger project exploring social constructions of sexual abuse in childhood (in therapeutic and self-help settings). A discourse analytic approach is used to explore how various meanings surrounding women's sexuality in relation to past events of childhood abuse are deployed and `the different ways in which people ascribe meaning to, and make sense of their situation' in the present (Crossley, 1997: 73). Attention is paid to the ways in which survivors construct their own and others' sexuality and identity in relation to their understandings of themselves as survivors of child sexual abuse and as `women'. This emphasis on the social identities of women sexually abused as children, addresses a gap in psychological and clinical theorizing. In particular, a critical reading is offered regarding how `gendered identifications' within discourses (e.g. psychoanalytic) get taken up and used by women to interpret themselves as past (blameworthy) victims and present (pathological) survivors

Blame · Construct (python library · Developmental psychology · Human sexuality · Identity (music · Meaning (existential · Poison control · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Psychotherapist · Sexual abuse · Sexual identity · Social constructionism · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Child Abuse and Trauma · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Gender Studies · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice