Feminism and Sexual Abuse

An anonymous vigilante attack by six women on an Auckland University lecturer in 1984 took place in the context of ongoing feminist reframing of rape and sexual abuse. Most feminists' responses to this incident assumed the man's guilt and uncritically accepted the allegations made against him. This was not surprising in view of the prescriptive radical feminist hegemony that prevailed in New Zealand throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Recent feminist writings on sexual harassment have been more ready to grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of issues of sexuality and pedagogy - a shift that enables women to have a wider range of responses to unwanted sexual attention. Some of the earlier and problematic radical feminist notions about rape and sexual abuse have been absorbed into the treatment discourse, with some distressing consequences. In 1988 an over-zealous Christchurch doctor believed she had detected signs of sexual abuse in fifty-six children at a health camp. Her intervention resulted in some girls being removed from their families, even though they denied they had ever been abused. One New Zealand doctor, a pioneer in sexual abuse work in this country, has published a book documenting developments in this area, and expressing grave misgivings about over-intervention and false allegations of abuse. There are persistent attempts to discredit her concerns. However, there is a groundswell of public disquiet over some aspects of sexual abuse work, which cannot be dismissed as backlash

Cognitive reframing · Context (archaeology) · Criminology · Feminism · Harassment · Human sexuality · Intervention (counseling) · Poison control · Psychiatry · Sexual abuse · Sexual violence · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Anthropology · Canadian Identity and History · Child Abuse and Trauma · Cultural Studies · Gender Studies · History · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Medicine · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

• VII. Commentary

  Open Access•Chris Atmore•Feminism & Psychology•1997

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• New Versions of Victims

  Open Access•Chris Atmore, N Gavey et al.•New Versions of Victims•1999

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• Media templates

  Open Access•Jenny Kitzinger•Media Culture & Society•2000

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• Sexual Abuse and Troubled Feminism

  Open Access•Chris Atmore•Feminist Review•1999

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• Contemporary feminist thought

  Hester Eisenstein•Contemporary feminist thought•1983

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• Desire, sexual harassment, and pedagogy in the university classroom

  Alison Jones•Theory Into Practice•1996

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