Speaking of Justice

• In Event: Roundtable: Responses to Survivors of Sexual Violence--A Discussion of Current Responses and Potential Avenues to Justice

Abstract

Although early in its investigation, this qualitative research seeks to understand how women who may have been silenced by those claiming to protect them (the justice system, paternalism and patriarchy) have overcome and coped with speaking about their experiences of sexual victimisation. The paper will explore some of the processes that women may utilise to overcome silence and stigma. The language of sex itself is arguably masculine, as is the perspective of women’s participation. When women are called upon to speak about their sexual victimisation (especially in a formal setting) her experience is translated into legal jargon, even though she may not have had the words to describe the event or its impact herself. Until a language emerges that enables women to speak about sex from a female perspective, the process of speaking about rape may be impossible for many women. Once we understand the language of women’s sexual empowerment, then we may be able to construct a language that addresses sexual disempowerment. A criminal justice outcome may become just one part of the process for those who have experienced of sexual victimisation. Our continued obsession with attrition (which, itself is contested), and conviction rates arguably do not recognise the needs of victims, who have been marginalised by the law. Women seek respect and dignity after disclosing their experiences, to be listened-to, believed and kept informed – conceding that if their experience was believed and its effects acknowledged, they could even cope with acquittal of their assailant.

Author

• Colleen Moore, Anglia Ruskin University