The Politics of Sexual Violence: Rape, Identity and Feminism

Debating credibility

“…Her identity as a refugee is unlikely to contribute in a positive way to her credibility, given the fact that the trustworthiness or genuineness of people seeking asylum is a key concern in mainstream Western public and media discourse (see for example findings in Every & Augoustinos, 2008;Pickering, 2001) and that assessing their credibility is often a prerequisite to accepting the refugee narrative they rely on to obtain a refugee visa (as discussed, for example, in Smith-Khan, 2017b, 2017dSweeney, 2009). Similarly, as explained above, when a woman claims to have been raped, this triggers a process of assessing her credibility, as a prerequisite to determining the veracity of the claim (Healicon, 2016). Therefore the three elements of Abyan's identity to which the public is privy only reinforce the questionable nature of her credibility, rather than act to support it.…”

Communicative resources and credibility in public discourse on refugees

“…Her identity as a refugee is unlikely to contribute in a positive way to her credibility, given the fact that the trustworthiness or genuineness of people seeking asylum is a key concern in mainstream Western public and media discourse (see, for example, findings in Pickering 2001; Every & Augoustinos 2008) and that testing their credibility is often a prerequisite to accepting the refugee narrative they rely on to obtain a refugee visa (as discussed, for example, in Sweeney 2009; Smith-Khan 2017a,c). Similarly, as explained above, when a woman claims to have been raped, this triggers a process of assessing her credibility, as a prerequisite to determining the veracity of the claim (Healicon 2016). Therefore the three elements of Abyan's identity to which the public is privy only reinforce the questionable nature of her credibility, rather than act to support it.…”

“…Further, the nature of the events which brought her into the public eye may mean that Abyan does not wish to publicise her identity or discuss details of her experiences -indeed, her response to the journalist, Chris Kenny, when, as discussed below, he sought to interview her, suggests this may be the case. Healicon (2016) describes the traumatic process sexual violence survivors undergo after making a complaint:…”

“…Either way, the implications for her sense of self are significant. (Healicon 2016:41)Aside from potentially wishing to remain anonymous to avoid the social stigma and psychologically damaging scrutiny that victims of rape may attract, revealing her identity could put her in physical danger. She has been the victim of rape by a local person in a very small community (Nauru has a population of just over 11,000 people; Central Intelligence Agency 2018) in which she has a limited ability to defend herself or remain safe.…”

From victims to survivors: The discourse of trauma in self-narratives of sexual violence in Cosmopolitan UK online

“…(Dray, 2013) Deploying the linguistic choices informed by trauma discourse, the women indicate emotions such as self-guilt and shame (as if she deserved it, Excerpt 1) as a reason for their voluntary silence. This suggests awareness of the discourses around sexual violence circulating in contemporary society including the widespread victim-blaming (see, e.g., Healicon, 2016).…”