NCJ Number
212758
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 5-29
Date Published
January 2006
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This analysis focused on the similarities and differences in women’s narrative constructions and linguistic devices for talking about rape survival.
Abstract
As one of the most frequent forms of traumatic victimization, sexual violence has received a great deal of research attention. Much of this research has focused on the impact of this type of trauma on women’s lives and the similarities of women’s survival experiences. This study extends this literature by addressing the differences and commonalities in women’s narrative accounts of rape survival among women of different sociocultural backgrounds. Participants were 62 low income women who provided 58 life stories and 78 incident accounts collected via open-ended interview. Among the sample recruited by self-report survey were 24 Anglo, 13 Mexican American, and 25 Native American women. Results of narrative analysis indicated that, surprisingly, accounts of their rape experiences were left out of the Life Stories told by many of the women interviewed. Anglo women were observed to “forget” or “move on” from the victimization experience while Native American and Mexican American women spoke of “avoiding” the memory. Given the differences in how women talk about their rape and recovery experiences, effective interventions must consider these differences when planning counseling for women of different populations. Table, notes, references