Disclosing sexual abuse on a news website: a qualitative study of affective narratives

Abstract

ABSTRACT While previous research has examined self-disclosure of sexual abuse in advice columns of magazines, newspapers, and social media spaces such as Reddit, Twitter and Facebook, this qualitative study navigates new terrain by examining such narratives published on an Indian news website by drawing upon the concept of ‘counterpublics’ and the theory of networked affect. A thematic analysis of the narratives showed that apart from acknowledging lingering trauma and suffering, the survivors questioned mainstream portrayals and assumptions about sexual abuse. Many survivors also highlighted the dilemmas associated with confiding about sexual abuse in Indian parents who often focus on family honor and reputation. Shedding anonymity, an affordance offered by the online medium, a majority of the survivors shared identifying information about themselves thereby taking a strong stand against victim-blaming and silencing. By posting self-disclosures of sexual violence and abuse on a news website, the survivors expanded the boundaries of the ‘parallel public sphere’ in the Indian context where issues about sexuality are often limited to the advice columns of women’s magazines. While written in the nature of deeply personal accounts, the affective narratives shared by the survivors simultaneously performed political work by building collective resistance against dominant sexual and societal norms albeit amidst an English-speaking, digitally savvy audience.