Adult Victims Of Childhood Sexual Abuse Research Articles

Politics, Responsibility and Risk: Editorial Introduction

Introduction1.1 The papers in this special issue of Sociological Research Online were all presented at the BritishSociological Association Annual Conference, held at the University of York in March 2004. The conferencetheme was ‘Sociological Challenges: Conflict, Anxiety and Discontent’. This is the second special issue ofSociological Research Online to emerge from that conference. The first special issue, ‘Families, Intimacyand Social Change’ ,was published in SRO last June 2006 (See Sociological Research Online, Volume 11,Issue 2, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/11/2/editorial.html for a fuller discussion of the conference focus,selection of papers, themes, etc.).1.2 In this editorial we look briefly at the five papers selected under the theme, ‘Politics, Risk andResponsibility’. The politics of risk is a topic which is impossible to overlook. Indeed, the concept of risk ishighly politicised (Caplan 2000) and a much used (perhaps, overused) category in sociology. While weknow the study of risk reveals an enormous amount about key elements of modernity, the quintessentialrisk culture (Beck 1992; Giddens 1991), the concept of risk assumes human responsibility – thatsomething can be done to prevent misfortune or frightening events (Lupton, 1999: 3). Contemporary work onrisk exposes the unease that awareness of deviations from the norm create.1.3 This special issue begins with the paper, ’I love you to the bones: Constructing the anorexic body in the‘Pro-Ana’ Message Boards’ by Katie Ward. This is a fascinating piece which challenges both medical andsocial models concerning appropriate body shape and size as well as approaches to the ‘treatment’ ofanorexia. Ward presents an alternative approach which is anti-medical, as well as an ethnography of thepro-anorexia community which is ‘risk adverse’. The key question she poses is, ‘How is it possible foranorexics, labelled as pathologically thin, to reject the medical model in favour of a disciplinary regimewhich guarantees stability and control as well as a ‘healthy diet’ of pills and purging, sustaining life? Oneanswer to this question is that pro-ana participants (low body weight individuals) share important informationon various websites on the Internet. This information helps to alter radically the meaning of weight losspharmaceuticals and allows them to become ‘expert patients’ who not only resist medical definitions ofhealth and illness but also employ pharmaceutical technologies in ways never intended by government,physicians and the pharmaceutical industry.1.4 The second paper ‘The body as a weapon: Bobby Sands and the Republican hunger strikes’ by ChrisYuill explores the politics of risk through the lens of prisoners’ bodies in 1970-1980s Northern Ireland. Yuilltheorises how these incarcerated in ‘H-Block’ bodies were used as modalities of resistance and how,through hunger strikes, prisoners’ bodies were mobilised as a resource and weapon to destabilise notionsof civilised embodiment. The bodily suffering the prisoners endured in the form of hunger strikes, privationand psychological misery contributed to notions of self-sacrifice and martyrdom which were embedded inthe tradition of Catholicism and Gaelic heroes. Key to this paper is how the ‘risky ‘body emerges in politicalarenas particularly when hostility and struggle are present.1.5 The need for a clear feminist approach on the experience of women who have been sexually abused inchildhood is addressed in the third paper, ‘Poliitics, responsibility and adult victims of childhood sexualabuse’ by Jo Woodiwiss. This is an empirically based paper, which includes interviews and written accountsfrom sixteen women with continuous, recovered or false memories of sexual abuse in childhood. Reviewing‘the harm story’ versus ‘the healing discourse’ in this therapeutic world, Woodiwiss contends that both arebased on similar models of childhood and development, namely that women who are sexually abused areunable to develop into healthy adults. The implication is that these women see themselves as sick,damaged and responsible for their lack of joy. Ironically, while Woodiwiss’s respondents wanted toexperience themselves as ‘normal’, the experience of normality for some was impeded by their therapeuticor counselling relationships. Furthermore, in their awareness of the supposed need to recognise ‘an innerchild’, they created a variety of ways of dealing with this awareness ranging from acceptable to non- TitleElizabeth Ettorre and Alison Anderson: Politics, Responsibility and Risk Created Date4/20/2010 7:59:39 AM

Familial support as perceived by adult victims of childhood sexual abuse

With the increasing popularity of family therapies in cases of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), many studies have discussed the importance of familial support in the successful recovery of victims. Therefore, a systematic study exploring family support of victims was undertaken to shed light on the level of family support perceived by adult victims of CSA. It was anticipated that victims of intrafamilial CSA would report more family dissatisfaction and perceive less family support than extrafamilial victims. As hypothesized, intrafamilial victims reported significantly more general family dissatisfaction and specifically, perceived significantly less father, parent, and brother support. Additionally, the gender of the victim played a significant role: Male victims reported less father, parent and sister support and less family protectiveness after disclosure when compared to female victims. Based on the results, clinicians should be aware that issues of gender and relatedness may play a significant part in the effectiveness of their CSA clients' family support systems.

Familial support as perceived by adult victims of childhood sexual abuse.

With the increasing popularity of family therapies in cases of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), many studies have discussed the importance of familial support in the successful recovery of victims. Therefore, a systematic study exploring family support of victims was undertaken to shed light on the level of family support perceived by adult victims of CSA. It was anticipated that victims of intrafamilial CSA would report more family dissatisfaction and perceive less family support than extrafamilial victims. As hypothesized, intrafamilial victims reported significantly more general family dissatisfaction and specifically, perceived significantly less father, parent, and brother support. Additionally, the gender of the victim played a significant role: Male victims reported less father, parent and sister support and less family protectiveness after disclosure when compared to female victims. Based on the results, clinicians should be aware that issues of gender and relatedness may play a significant part in the effectiveness of their CSA clients' family support systems.