Injustice Disrupted: Experiences of Just Spaces by Victim-Survivors of Sexual Violence

Abstract

Given the limitations of the criminal justice system to address cases of sexual violence, feminist scholars are increasingly exploring alternative approaches to justice. Here I ask: What is the role of space in the way victim-survivors of sexual violence can experience justice outside the criminal justice system? Can an understanding of space help us develop justice responses to sexual violence? Interviews were conducted with 35 victim-survivors of sexual violence in Iceland. In cases where offenders remained or re-entered their life space in some way, many participants described feelings of profound fear and anxiety. Participants used a variety of different socio-spatial strategies to ensure that they would not find themselves in the same space as the offenders. Based on the context as well as the networks and mechanisms available to them, these included surrendering, avoiding, negotiating, fighting for, protecting and (re)claiming spaces. Drawing on the concept of the continuum of sexual violence, I suggest that participants’ experiences can be conceptualized on a continuum of injustice. To the degree that participants were able to create what I call just spaces, they gained a sense of belonging, empowerment and freedom, which I suggest can be understood as disrupting this continuum of injustice.

Decentring Criminal Justice:

“…In Antonsdóttir (2019b), I show how informal justice practices and administrative justice procedures can facilitate victim-survivors experiences of justice when they are able to (re)claim their space, or when it is possible to create, what I call, »just spaces«.…”

“…The research material gathered mainly consists of two sets of data. One paper is based on a critical policy analysis (Bacchi, 2009) of Danish and Norwegian legal policy documents (Antonsdóttir, 2019a); and three papers are largely based on a thematic analysis (Brown and Clarke, 2013) of interviews with 35 people in Iceland, 32 women and three men, who had been subjected to different forms of sexual violence (Antonsdóttir, 2018;2019b;2020b).…”

The Governance of Complaints in UK Higher Education: Critically Examining ‘Remedies’ for Staff Sexual Misconduct

“…Recent discussions in this journal (Antonsdóttir, 2019;McGlynn and Westmarland, 2019) and elsewhere (Daly, 2011(Daly, , 2014Fileborn, 2017;Fileborn and Vera-Gray, 2017;Herman, 2005;McGlynn, 2011;Zinsstag and Keenan, 2017) have explored models of justice that sexual violence survivors want and need, finding evidence that existing models of justice do not serve these needs. An influential article framing this discussion is Judith Herman's study of 22 men and women in the US who had been subject to or witnessed sexual or domestic violence as adults and/or children (2005).…”

“…Exceptions include Antonsdóttir's study documenting victim-survivors' need to reclaim physical and social spaces from perpetrators, across a range of sites ( 2019) and Fileborn and Vera-Gray's work on the desired justice responses of Australian women who had been subjected to street harassment (2017), including the possibilities for justice from online disclosures (Fileborn, 2017). However, victim-survivors' justice needs have been less considered in administrative justice settings such as workplaces and higher education institutions (although see for example Antonsdóttir, 2019). In higher education, recent discussions of justice have primarily focused on naming of perpetrators as a means of getting justice that is inaccessible by other means (eg Anitha et al, 2020) or on studentstudent sexual violence (see for example Harper et al, 2017), rather than staff-student sexual misconduct.…”

Seeking campus justice: challenging the ‘criminal justice drift’ in United Kingdom university responses to student sexual violence and misconduct

“…For example, one student disclosed that she reported sexual violence to her university with the aim of protecting herself from constantly 'bumping into' the alleged perpetrator, 82 while another sought a similar outcome after she found herself confined to her room after a sexual assault since 'the last time I saw him, I threw up'. 83 The ability to control one's space and, as a result, be able to continue with one's education, is -unsurprisingly -a significant justice interest for student survivors, 84 and one that is uniquely within the gift of universities as gatekeepers of campus access and institutional affiliation. 85 Universities are also particularly well positioned, in theory at least, to redress another justice interest that survivors have frequently identified: that of 'recognition' or 'acknowledgement'.…”