Sexual abuse — a process, not an event: A view from practice

Conceptualizing the Harm done by Rape

“…Without recognizing a larger range of rape harm and a wider array of manifestations of that harm, it is easy to ignore society's role in maintaining the victim-blaming attitudes, inadequate treatment from social systems, and social reactions that further the harm done to women by rape. Alternative conceptualizations frame sexual violence as one form of violence against women (Gilfus, 1999), a pervasive aspect of a toxic culture (Buchwald, Fletcher, & Roth, 1993), as point(s) on a continuum of harm to girls and women across the life span (McCloskey, 1997), or as a process engaging both perpetrators and victims (S. Jenkins, 1997). Such broad conceptualizations of rape and the harm it causes may lead to clinical and community interventions that address a wider range of injury to victims.…”

“…In other words, using details of the rape itself, without accounting for broader social context of survivors' lives, may be too narrow a research approach to accurately predict postassault reactions such as posttraumatic stress. Many trauma frameworks and societal responses treat incidents of interpersonal violence as single events (a trauma, a crime) (S. Jenkins, 1997). However, a more phenomenological approach to violence against women suggests that this social problem starts well before, and may continue long after, the assault itself.…”

“…Jenkins' (1997) research on perpetrators of sexual violence suggests that rape, too, may be better conceptualized as a process. She noted that sexual violence starts with perpetrators' advance planning of their sexual assaults in advance of the actual act (S. Jenkins, 1997; see also Cleveland, M. P. Koss, & Lyons (1999) for a description of perpetrators' tactics based on analyses of survivors' narratives). A broad understanding of the "process" of rape would include victims' strategies to survive the assault, their strategies (e.g., coping, disclosure, and helpseeking) to negotiate their postassault experiences (e.g., Konradi, 1996), and society's responses to the assault, which often absolve the perpetrator of blame.…”

(Un)reasonable Doubt? the Invocation of Children's Consent in Sexual Abuse Trial Judgments

“…Clinical research has filled in gaps in cultural knowledge of the dynamics of sexual abuse. Jenkins (1997) argued that sexual abuse should be viewed as a process unfolding over time rather than as an event or series of events as it is treated in the legal system. Most sexual abuse entails the development of a relationship that both precedes and persists after a discrete incident of abuse.…”