Complicating ‘Victim’ Narratives: Childhood Agency within Violent Circumstances

Abstract

Modernist assumptions have created universal notions of childhood that have given more power to adults and have made what has been defined as ‘children’ as one of the most subjugated and marginalized groups in societies globally. As such, many younger human beings have been forced to live with the everyday realities of abuse for which they are often situated as victims. In order to problematize victim discourses, using Black feminist thought as a theoretical lens, this article juxtapositions lived experiences of childhood sexual abuse with moments of resistance and empowerment, experiences that that the author argues cannot be separated. The article concludes with critical questions we might consider to resist reifying dominant views of children as those without agency and ways that we might rethink social and institutional structures that uphold power for adults and allow for the continued exploitation of younger human beings.