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I
didn’t realize that what had happened to
me was rape until four years later. To
many, I’d imagine this sounds simply ridiculous. “How could you have not known you were
raped?” Well, I had to ask myself the
same question. Through months of
exploration in therapy, I learned about the various protective defenses I had
employed in order to get me through the traumatic event and the few following
years, which were filled with transitions and uncertainty. While the therapeutic process was extremely
liberating, empowering, and healing, I still felt as though the question may
not have been answered in its entirety.
Feeling as though I had exhausted my internal resources, I began to look
to the research. “Have other women experienced this?” “If so, why?” “Why was I
exhibiting blatant signs of trauma, yet unable to acknowledge having been
traumatized?”
In
my search for the answer, I stumbled upon a surprisingly simple suggestion as
to why so many women do not label their traumatic experience as sexual
assault. Several recent studies
regarding sexual violence have found that survivors of sexual violence may not
report their experience due to a lack of understanding that what had happened
to them was a crime or because they did not believe the sexually violent act
was serious enough to report (Cantalupo, 2012). It is important to highlight the difference
between self-acknowledging a sexual assault and reporting a sexual assault to
others; however, this data influenced me to question what the role of simply
knowing the definition of sexual assault, may have on ones ability to
acknowledge the event as sexual assault.
Hull, Sheplavy & Hull (2015) conducted a study which
looked at undergraduate participants responses to personal experiences of
sexual violence before and after reading legal definitions of the state they
were residing in, West Virginia. In privacy, participants were asked to
indicate their experiences with different types of sexual violence using a
five-point scale. While females were
asked about their experiences as a victim, male participants were asked to
indicate their experiences as a perpetrator.
While it is crucial that we acknowledge women can perpetrate and males
can be victimized, researchers used this approach to align with the more
frequent scenario. Next, all
participants read the legal definitions of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and
sexual harassment, according to West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information
and Services (as cited in Hull et al., 2015).
Immediately after reading the definitions, participants once again rated
their experiences with sexual violence.
Results showed that reading the definitions certainly impacted both female
and male participants responses.
More specifically, 27% of females either agreed or strongly
agreed that they had been sexually assaulted before reading the definitions
opposed to 29% after reading the definitions.
While 34% of females either agreed or strongly agreed that they had been
sexually abused before reading the definitions, 40% reported sexual abuse
after. Following this trend, 57% of
females either agreed or strongly agreed that they had been sexually harassed
before reading the definitions opposed to 77% after reading the
definitions. Likewise, the male
participants reported having perpetrated either sexual assault, sexual abuse,
or sexual harassment more so after reading the definition as opposed to before
reading the definition (Hull, Sheplavy, & Hull, 2015).
Due to several limitations, this study alone is certainly
not indicative of how the role of knowledge of the law impacts perceptions of
sexual violence in the general public. With that being said, I can relate to
the women in this particular study because, in addition to finally feeling safe
enough to let my protective defenses relax, I had to complete a formal rape
crisis counselor training to truly understand my experience. I’d imagine this
is especially true for women whose experiences are not portrayed in media or
aligned with the narrative known as “stranger danger.” What had happened to me would never be made
into a Law & Order: SVU episode; my experience did not match my perception
of what constitutes as rape at the time.
As a clinician who aims to specialize in trauma caused by
sexual violence, I, of course, wonder about how this information could be
utilized in a therapeutic setting. There
are a plethora of reasons which may explain the phenomenon of this delayed
acknowledgment, and as a therapist, I believe it is so important to meet
survivors where they are and allow survivors to use terminology that feels
right to them. With that being said, I
do believe this information may help guide clinicians working with trauma survivors
who are minimizing their experience or having difficultly understanding their
emotions around a particular potentially traumatizing event. To me, this phenomenon highlights the
importance of properly and thoroughly assessing for trauma and sexual
assault/abuse as a clinician because it is evident that these words may take on
a different meaning to different individuals at different points in their
life. Perhaps exploring these legal
definitions during the therapeutic process may help survivors to acknowledge
the violation and feel a sense of validation in their psychological and
physiological response to a horrific event.
Of course, clinicians would have to simultaneously remain aware of legal
definitions which apply to the state they’re practicing in and the fact that in
some cases, legal definitions do not adequately encompass all sexual
violations.
Overall,
I found the role of knowledge of the law in acknowledging sexual violence to be
fascinating, especially because it seems remarkably simple in comparison to the
role of psychological protective/defensive factors. I want to acknowledge that I recognize this
study (Hull, Sheplavy, & Hull, 2015) is
only a small glimmer of information on the topic. However, I hope its
acknowledgment helps survivors and clinicians to gain clarity on one of the
many reasons survivors may not acknowledge having been sexually violated.
Written by Megan Mansfield, M.A.
References
Cantalupo, N. C. (2012). “Decriminalizing”
campus institutional responses to
peer sexual violence. Journal of College and University
Law, 38, 483-526.
Hull, D. B., Sheplavy, E., & Hull,
J. H. (2015). The role of knowledge of the law in perceptions
of sexual violence. North American Journal Of Psychology, 17(2), 251-258.
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