Normal Trauma and Abnormal Diagnosis
A Discursive Analysis of Sexual Violence Law and Policy in England and Wales
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12290478 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Yapp (0000-0002-2646-6066, Birkbeck, University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Legal Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-3622 • E-ISSN: 1572-8455 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10691-025-09588-x |
| OpenAlex | W4415960336 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 45 |
This paper interrogates the discursive construction of the relationship between sexual violence and ‘mental health’ in case law and legal policies from England and Wales. It shows that the law invariably enacts a binary discursive construction of those who have experienced sexual violence where mental health evidence is introduced. Individuals are constructed as either experiencing ‘normal trauma’ or an ‘abnormal diagnosis’. These findings are contextualised within recent feminist legal reforms to the treatment of mental health evidence in sexual violence cases, and emphasise the pressing need to centre the experiences of those who identify with psychiatric diagnoses in feminist anti-sexual violence politics
Human rights · Mental health · Mental illness · Occupational safety and health · Poison control · Public international law · Sexual violence · Suicide prevention · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
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Complaints of rape and the criminal justice system
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Remapping the Event
Rape, inequality and the criminal justice response in England
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The Corroboration Warning in Sexual Offence Trials
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The `Ideal' Victim v Successful Rape Complainants
Thinking Sexual Difference Through the Law of Rape
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Rape Trauma Syndrome
Violent and victimized bodies
Rape, Racism and the Capitalist Setting
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Vulnerability after Wounding
Animal instincts
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Cautionary tales and telling anxieties
Intersectionality and Credibility in Child Sexual Assault Trials
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Survivor Discourse
| Highly cited | No |
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