Learning and Defying the Public Discourses: Examining Sexually Victimized Women's Experiences from the Life Course Perspective

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Sexual violence is a prevalent subject that many women learned since childhood. Throughout their life course development, many women learn about sexual violence from childhood through explicit or implicit messages from family, school, peers, and media. This paper aims to bridge how learning various pre-victimization messages about sexual violence influences sexually victimized women’s post-victimization decisions and actions. To achieve this goal, I examined qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 41 sexually victimized women, including (1) 20 who were born after 1990, (2) 12 who were born from 1975 to 1990, and (3) nine who were born before 1975. I used the life course perspective as the theoretical framework to demonstrate how messages about sexual violence reflect the popular discourses about sexual violence at different socio-historical contexts. These messages shaped victimized women’s perceptions, which become the basis of their reactions after suffering victimization experiences. The analysis reveals three themes of pre-victimization messages victimized women learned: (1) definitions, (2) risk, threat, and preventive measures, and (3) accountability and blame. Based on these messages, victimized women develop pre-victimization schemas to view sexual violence. Eventually, these existing schemas affect victimized women’s perceptions of their experiences and lead to different post-victimization decisions and actions.

Author

• Kevin Weng, Meredith College