The Politics of ‘Speaking Out’: NESB Women and the Discourse of Sexual Assault in Australia

Abstract

In Australia, public policy discourse on rape and sexual assault emerged in the early 1970s. Until recently, however, sexual assault in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, such as the Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) groups, was largely an invisible issue both in government and non-government sectors. Now interest in the sexual assault of NESB women has in creased even though NESB women themselves have mostly kept silent about it. This paper explores the category NESB, which is not homogeneous, and asks why interest in sexual assault against its women is increasing in public discourse in Australia, while the women themselves have kept silent or do not want to speak out. Furthermore, this paper investigates discourse about the sexual assault of NESB women, focusing on the reasons and meanings that underlie the women's silence. This paper also examines how the current discourse on sexual assault against NESB women has affected them and, in conclusion, advocates a political strategy for ending their silence.