Gender, Free Will, and Woman-to-Woman Sexual Assault in Service Provider Discourses

Abstract

Although still less recognized than man-to-woman sexual assault, awareness of woman-to-woman sexual assault has grown sufficiently over the past three decades that we should no longer speak of its discursive emergence as the breaking of hitherto uninterrupted silence. This article begins the project of exploring and comparing discourses used to frame this phenomenon. Based on a situational analysis of interviews with service providers who had experience supporting survivors of woman-to-woman sexual assault, this text presents three discourses used to think about this form of violence: all violence is men's violence, violence is a choice, and nonviolence is learned. Each discourse is characterized by a specific relationship between sexual violence, free will/determinism, and gender and by attendant rules for what can and cannot be said. As such, each communicates ideological commitments, which reflect and sustain specific approaches to antisexual violence work. Each seeks to negotiate a sociopolitical context of gender-based oppression and sexuality-based oppression that includes the risks and realities of silencing and recuperation of survivor speech. The objective of this article is to enable service provider reflection about the implications of diverse discourses used to frame woman-to-woman sexual assault and to discourage naturalization of any given approach.

Victimhood and Blame Dialectics in Culturally Diverse Male Students’ Discussions About Sexual Assault Policies

“…Tensions arise between the view of SV as fundamentally gendered and the view that gendered frameworks silence significant constituencies of victims/survivors ( Malinen, 2014 ; 2018 ). Some researchers worry that studying male victimization can pander to men’s rights advocates ( Maricourt & Burrell, 2022 ; Gotell & Dutton, 2016 ) while others suggest ignoring male victims reinforces patriarchal gender roles and male-specific rape myths ( Javaid, 2016 ; Smith et al, 1988 ).…”

“…As Weiss (2010) has put it, “when men report sexual victimization, they are publicly admitting that they were not interested in sex, were unable to control situations, and were not able to take care of matters themselves—all statements that run counter to hegemonic constructs of masculinity” (p. 293). Whereas sexual assault against women and girls can be understood as misogynistic enforcement of a socially constructed female place in society ( Malinen, 2014 ; 2018 ), sexual assault against men or boys is often understood as injuring manhood/masculinity ( Ralston, 2020 ; Sorsoli et al, 2008 ; Mgolozeli & Duma, 2020 ). Hegemonic masculine norms ( Connell, 2005 /2005) are enforced by peers and internalized by individuals, gatekeeping what men can express and how ( Carlisle & Schmitz, 2022 ).…”

Evolving a Consent-Based Sexual Encounter

“…As will be argued in this article, that inadequately explored area is highly significant in the sexual abuse of women by men. Admittedly, there are also cases of sexual abuse by women (Malinen, 2017). However, the purpose and focus of this brief piece is rather to look into a deeper root-cause of the prevalent tendency in a lot of men to sexually harass and even abuse women.…”