Constructions of `Culture' in Accounts of South Asian Women Survivors of Sexual Violence

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore some of the ways in which British South Asian women survivors of sexual violence (in particular, those who are either British born or have lived in the UK for most of their lives and are fluent English speakers) construct the effects of `culture' within their accounts of sexually violent experiences. We present a discursive analysis based on semi-structured interviews with eight English-speaking women of South Asian origin living in the UK, who had either escaped from or were currently seeking help for sexual violence. Our analysis discusses how a discourse of `culture as problematic and unchangeable' is both accepted and challenged simultaneously. Culture is presented as the reason why family and community members hold problematic views about sexually violent experiences. However, these women simultaneously resist this discourse through demonstrating their disappointment and ambivalence with their family and community-held views. Furthermore, we discuss how such constructions intersect (or not) with service provider constructions as reported in previous research. We also discuss the implications that our analysis may have for service provision and propose a set of theories and models that might inform them. This study forms part of a larger project on South Asian women's experiences of sexual violence.

Speaking about sexual abuse in British South Asian communities: offenders, victims and the challenges of shame and reintegration

“…Although theoretical studies have made a significant contribution to advancing current knowledge about sexual violence within South Asian communities, the experiences of individual victim-survivors remain largely undocumented (Ahmed, Reavey, & Majumdar, 2009). The impact of cultural context on sex crimes, and particularly how people talk about sex crimes, needs to be better understood.…”

Barriers and Supports to Divorce for Victimised British-Indian Mothers and Consequences of Divorce: Narratives of British-Indian Adult Children of Divorce

“…Women's different positionalities Á for example, their level of integration, acculturation, and legal status in the country of migration, their age, familial context, dependency, class, and so on Á influence women's experiences of violence and help-seeking (Ahmad et al, 2004(Ahmad et al, , 2009Anitha et al, 2008;Izzidien, 2008;Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). These subjective positionalities need to be considered in the larger socio-cultural contexts which women's lives are embedded and wherein violence occurs, as explored earlier (Ahmed et al, 2009).…”

“…For South Asian women, socio-cultural context, immigration, race and culture have a significant impact on the experience of domestic violence as well as available support systems and services (Ahmed et al, 2009).…”

“…Throughout the paper, the intersectionality of different systems of power (class, race, discrimination, age) that influence the meaning and nature of domestic violence within particular cultural, historical and structural frameworks (see Ahmed, Reavey, & Majumdar, 2009;Yick & Oomen-Early, 2008) and women's agencies have been explicitly considered.…”

Hearing the silences: Adult Nigerian women’s accounts of ‘early marriages’

“…This enables the reproduction of a more general representation of the Muslim girl (and particularly the African Muslim girl) as racialised, classed and gendered Other, the abjected feminine -an essential victim, silent, passive, always-already requiring rescue (Ahmed, Reavey, & Majumdar, 2009;Majumdar, 2007).…”