This thesis examines the construction of healing from childhood sexual assault from the perspective of adult women who had been sexually abused in their childhood years. The purpose of the study is to provide a space to hear the stories of rural women, and a forum to allow those stories to be shared with a wider audience. Its focus is on the women’s accounts of how their lives have been shaped by those experiences, what transformation has occurred, what people and processes have helped or hindered their journey and how they construct healing. It aims to develop an understanding of the notion of healing as reported by survivors themselves and does this though an emancipatory methodology underpinned by a critical post-modern framework. This study differs from previous studies in that its focus is specifically on the construction of healing and its participants are all rural women. The qualitative research methodology demonstrated in this thesis maintained a focus on the women’s narratives. It employed a unique method – a ten week discussion group in which the women chose the issues to be examined. The presentation of the data, maintains the commitment to the primacy of the women’s accounts. It utilises the themes they decided upon as well as those which emerged from the literature. The constructions of healing, which emerged from the sharing of stories, include healing as a non-linear process where individual strengths and transformation is acknowledged. The thesis argues that healing includes all aspects of survivors’ lives such as their relationships, parenting and engagement with their community. The implication for social work practice is that service provision to assist healing must focus on more than psychological and behavioural effects of childhood sexual assault. The method of collecting the women’s stories also has great potential for social work research because as the thesis argues, while generalisations cannot be made from the findings, the actual method has great value in giving voice to marginalised groups.

Internationally, there have been few studies examining the attitudes of people who have been raped towards police (Jordan, 2001a; Lievore, 2005; Temkin, 1997, 1999). Little research in Australia (particularly South Australia) has examined the experiences of victims/survivors of rape with police. Existing data do show that women who have been raped rarely report assaults to police. This has been attributed by researchers to a range of reasons, both personal and systemic, including the influence of stereotypes and myths about rape on victims’/survivors’ decision-making. Rape myths often reflect community attitudes, social norms and police responses. For example, victims/survivors may blame themselves and also expect police will blame or disbelieve them. Such expectations (or subsequent experiences) of negative police responses undermine victims’/survivors’ faith in police. However, this is not the whole story. In reality, police responses to rape are complex and inconsistent, influenced by both individual and organisational factors. I initiated this study to explore victims’/survivors’ expectations of, and experiences with, police in a transparent and accessible forum. Based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 11 women who had been raped in South Australia, my findings illustrated the diversity of South Australia Police responses to victims/survivors of rape and suggested that South Australia Police practices were similar to those of other Australian and English-speaking jurisdictions. Overall, interactions with South Australia Police ‘simultaneously provide grounds for hope and are disappointing (Lievore, 2005: 59; emphasis added). In many cases police responses were disappointing, through service provision that was partly or wholly negative. Specific individual and organisational factors were associated with satisfactory or unsatisfactory police practices. Poor service provision was evident in individual police officers’ apathy and dismissive or disbelieving responses, and through low prioritisation and limited resourcing of sexual violence at an organisation level. However, my findings indicated that there was also much to be hopeful about when considering South Australia Police responses to rape. The participants in my study often reported exemplary service from individual officers. At the reporting and investigation stages, good practices were based on ‘procedural justice’ rather than ‘outcome justice’: characterised by strong communication, empathy and professionalism at an individual level and consistency at an organisational level.

Domestic violence and sexual assault rates are higher on Indian reservations than anywhere else in the country. This text works toward an understanding of sexual violence as a legacy of colonialism. Rather than being rooted in inherent racial or cultural differences, current rates of sexual violence on Indian reservations are a continuation of a historical pattern in which colonizers used rape as a weapon to control, contain, and conquer the Indians. The unique history of racist and sexist oppression inflicted on Native Americans through the institutionalized denial of kinship, culture, sovereignty, and body autonomy has exacerbated the violence while frustrating the healing process. This paper describes how the boarding schools, Indian child removal, PL 280, the Oliphant decision, cultural appropriation, and the sexualized stereotyping of Indian women led to high rates of sexual violence on Indian reservations. It then explores how the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State have been proactive in fighting to end sexual assault and violence on their reservation, through retrocession, a holistic approach to batterer reform, and victim advocacy, while simultaneously lobbying in support of legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act, which would allow the Tribes to acquire criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians.

The Rideout trial in 1978 was the first case in the United States in which a wife charged her husband with rape while the couple was still living together. This thesis furthers research in the area of marital rape by examining the press coverage through textual analysis. The scope of the research is limited to newspaper coverage (local and national) and the subsequent made-for-television movie based on the trial. As a case study, the Rideout trial illustrates how the press has covered sexual assault in the United States—especially during the height of the 1970s women’s movement. The findings indicate that through the execution of various rape-centered scripts, traditional rape stereotypes were perpetuated and only a few were challenged. This perpetuation led to an initial invalidation of marital rape, including Greta Rideout’s claim of rape.

Disclosure of sexual assault is a complicated process which depends upon a host of factors, such as assault characteristics, the victim’s interpretation, and the level of distress she experiences. Comprehensive theories of adult sexual assault disclosure have not been proposed. Most studies concentrate on a particular aspect of disclosure, such as outcomes of disclosure and reasons for disclosing versus not disclosing. A number of gaps exist in the current literature on adult sexual assault disclosure. These include the conceptualization of disclosure as a discrete or continuous variable; how it may evolve during stages of recovery; the progression of disclosure (e.g., observable patterns to disclosing); the potential variety of motivations for disclosing beyond help-seeking; and the role of culture (e.g., how one’s cultural and familial upbringing influences comfort and acceptance of disclosure as a viable option). The present study aimed to clarify and expand our previous knowledge about disclosure of sexual assault by investigating the overall process. A qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach, was conducted with a diverse sample of women who were sexually victimized after age 12. Findings from the study reveal the complex nature of disclosure and expand on previous conceptions of its process and behavioral manifestations, such as evidence supporting a disclosure continuum, a variety of motivations for disclosing and not disclosing, the roles of culture and parenting practices that may influence disclosure, and the interactive nature of disclosure and recovery. The results suggest that the disclosure process consists of the factors that contribute to whether a disclosure is made, the disclosure itself, and the aftereffects of the disclosure, a process which could be conceived as occurring in circular manner. Thus, decisions of disclosure appear to be very complex, and all of these factors potentially interact with one another and collectively influence whether a woman discloses and how much. A number of research and practical implications are discussed including examining the relationship between motivations and current recovery stages, modifying our conceptualization of disclosure (as continuous rather than dichotomous), and recognizing the needs and concerns of diverse cultural groups in their decisions to disclose.

Sexual assault of women is a well-documented phenomenon in U.S. samples, particularly on college campuses. Innovative approaches to prevention encourage men and women to intervene as bystanders in sexual assault situations; however, bystander behavior is notoriously inhibited by various situational factors. This study used a mixed-method approach to better understand the role of situational factors in college men’s bystander behavioral intentions in a party gang rape situation. The first aim was to develop an experimental paradigm using vignette methodology to manipulate the amount of masculinity threat present in a party gang rape situation, which could then be used to explore the effect of masculinity threat on men’s bystander behavioral intentions. Although I was unable to heighten masculinity threat, findings indicate that a previous relationship with the offenders results in men expecting a typical male college bystander to experience less negative affect in the situation. The second aim was to use the vignettes to examine whether men’s perception of the rape-supportive and traditional masculine gender role norms among the offenders involved, as well as indicators of masculinity threat, would predict men’s bystander behavioral intentions. Boding well for bystander intervention programs, the majority (98%) of men reported intention to intervene to stop the assault to some degree, although this intention was lower for men who perceived the party gang rape situation to result in more negative affect for a typical college male bystander. Data depicts the party gang rape situation as one in which masculine norms and masculinity threat are salient; however, these aspects did not play a role in intentions to intervene. Eighteen percent of men reported some intention to join in the assault, which was predicted by perceived masculine norms and men’s demographic characteristics. Findings point to the importance of culturally competent programming and the utility of incorporating a social norms approach in bystander intervention programs. Programs may benefit from addressing concerns about retaliation, particularly as a function of men’s relationships to the offenders. A limitation is the exclusion of individual difference variables to explore whether men’s own attitudes interact with situational factors to predict bystander behavioral intentions.

Sammanfattning       Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att analysera och diskutera hur rädsla utvecklas i samband med överfallsvåldtäkter, och undersöka samband mellan media och kvinnors rädsla. Syftet har också varit att relatera rädslans betydelse i förhållande till jämställdhet.   Den övergripande problemfrågan har varit: - Finns det samband mellan medias nyhetsförmedling och kvinnors rädsla för överfallsvåldtäkt? Följande undersökningsfrågor har använts: - Hur ser forskningen på problemet med kvinnors rädsla för brott och våldtäkt? - På vilket sätt kan nyhetsklippen i Nerikes Allehanda ha påverkat utvecklingen av rädsla för överfallsvåldtäkter i Örebro?   Undersökningen har gjorts i två delar. Först genom en undersökning av vad tidigare forskning kommit fram till om kvinnors rädsla för brott och våldtäkt. Sedan genom en textanalys av nyhetsklipp i Nerikes Allehanda, och hur dessa kan ha påverkat rädsla för överfallsvåldtäkter i Örebro. Tidsrummet sträcker sig från september 2009 till september 2010. Som utgångspunkt för textanalysen har Göran Bergström och Kristina Boréus metodbok Textens mening och makt använts. Jag har utgått från en teori om att medierna sätter dagordningen för vilka frågor som blir viktiga.   Genomgående har analyserna genomförts från ett genusperspektiv, som utgår från att män och kvinnor har olika positioner i förhållande till våldtäkt. Ett tema om kvinnors tillgång till det offentliga rummet har en central plats i uppsatsen. För att relatera resultaten till ett vidare jämställdhetsperspektiv har Susan Brownmillers teori, om våldtäkt som uttryck för makt och social kontroll, använts.   Slutsatsen är att det verkar finnas samband mellan medias nyhetsförmedling och kvinnors rädsla för överfallsvåldtäkt. Nerikes Allehandas nyhetsklipp är utformade på ett sätt som kan verka uppskrämmande på många kvinnor. Det gäller t.ex. signalerande nyheter, som är utformade på ett sätt som varnar kvinnor att de kan bli serievåldtäktsmannens nästa offer. Det sker också genom varningar från polisen, medierade genom media. Samspelet mellan Nerikes Allehandas kriminaljournalistik och polisen som huvudsaklig källa till nyhetsartikarna, har troligen haft en central roll i genererandet av en genuskodad rädsla, utan att varken polis eller Nerikes Allehanda haft något syfte att skrämma kvinnor. Ett sätt varigenom rädslan kunnat föras vidare är genom ett kulturellt narrativ, som skapas genom nyhetsklippen. / Abstract   The aim of this essay has been to analyze and discuss how fear develops in the context of rape attacks and investigate the relationship between media and women's fear. The aim has been to relate the importance of fear to gender equality. The overall question has been: - Is there a connection between media coverage and women's fear of sexual assault? The research issues that have been used: - How does research regard questions concerning women's fear of crime and rape? - How can newspaper articles in Nerikes Allehanda have influenced the development of fear of rape attacks in Örebro? The study was conducted in two parts. The first part was carried out as an examination of what previous research has concluded on women’s fear of crime and rape. Then through a textual analysis of newspaper articles in Nerikes Allehanda and how these may have affected the fear of rape attacks in Örebro. The time span is September 2009 to September 2010. Göran Bergström and Kristina Boréus method book Textens mening och makt was used as a basis for the text analysis. My point of departure has been a theory that the media set the agenda for what issues are important. The analysis was conducted from a gender perspective that assumes that men and women have different positions in relation to rape. A theme about women's access to public space has a central place in the essay. In order to relate the results to a wider gender equality perspective, Susan Brownmiller's theory of rape as an expression of power and social control has been used. The conclusion is that news media and women's fear of assault and rape seems to be linked. Newspaper articles in Nerikes Allehanda are designed in a way that may seem frightening to many women. This applies, for instance, to signaling news stories designed to warn women that they may become the next victim of a serial rapist. It also applies to warnings from the police, mediated through the media. The interaction between the crime coverage of Nerikes Allehanda and the police, as the main source of the news stories, probably played a central role in the generation of a gender-coded fear, without neither the police nor Nerikes Allehanda having any intent to scare women. A way that fear seems to have been passed on is through the creation of a cultural narrative that is created by the design of news articles.

Sexual assault and the resulting impact within the African American community continues to be an under researched phenomenon (Bryant-Davis, Chung, & Tillman, 2009). Although positive affect was presented as a protective model within the general population (Fredrickson, 1998), empirical research exploring its potential for use within the African American community is sparse. The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role of positive affect in the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) post sexual assault in African American women, within an economically disadvantaged community. Thus, this study tested the hypotheses that Positive Affect (PA) would mediate the effects of sexual assault occurring before age 13 (FSC < 13), between ages 14 and 17 (FSC 14-17), and after age 17 (FSC > 17) on PTSD related symptoms (MPSS). Data from 749 African American were analyzed. A bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis revealed that PA mediated the effect of FSC < 13 on MPSS, 95% CI [.418, 1.778]. The indirect effect of PA accounted for 12.3% of the effect of FSC < 13 on MPSS. A second bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis revealed that PA mediated the effect of FSC 14-17 on MPSS, 95% CI [.671, 2.344]. The indirect effect of PA accounted for 14.8% of the effect of FSC 14-17 on MPSS. A third bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis revealed that PA mediated the effect of FSC > 17 on MPSS, 95% CI [.741, 2.568]. The indirect effect of positive affect accounted for 14.0% of the effect of FSC > 17 on MPSS. The results of this study suggest that women who are higher in positive affect are less likely to endorse symptoms related to PTSD post sexual assault, while those presenting with lower levels of positive affect are more likely to endorse PTSD related symptoms post sexual assault. The results of these analyses appear to be consistent with Fredrickson’s (1998) theory that positive affect enhances psychological resources for the individual.

Recently, expert testimony in sexual assault trials shifted from an emphasis on Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS) to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and experts have tied these diagnoses either loosely or tightly to the victim’s condition following sexual assault. In the current study, 326 jury-eligible adults completed a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk in which they read a synopsis of a sexual assault trial and an expert testimony with either RTS, PTSD or neither; along with either no, loose, or tight links made between the diagnosis and the victim’s condition. There was no main effect of diagnosis label but testimony linkage did have an effect on verdicts. Women gave more guilty verdicts due to their lower levels of Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA), and the effect of gender partially depended on RMA. Implications for how expert testimony can affect defendants’ and plaintiffs’ credibility are discussed.

In loco parentis, or “in place of the parent,” was the model that formerly governed the relationship between student and university. Student behavior on campus was closely monitored, as if each pupil were the son or daughter of the dean. The university was granted power to regulate the lives of its students closely, but was also charged with responsibility for their welfare. The cultural revolution of the 1960s changed this. Student rebellions aimed against any and all authority, coupled with judicial interference that severely hindered the university’s capacity to act as parent, effectively killed off the doctrine of in loco parentis. Now the relationship between university and student more closely resembles that of landlord and tenant. These phenomena have coincided with the rise of the “campus rape epidemic,” or the notion that roughly 20 percent of women will be sexually assaulted during their college years. By comparing the sexual assault rate at schools that continue to practice in loco parentis to those that do not, this report will show that a return to the doctrine of university as parent can solve the problem of sexual assault on college campuses. In a survey of 657 colleges and universities around the nation, this paper will demonstrate that the sexual assault rate is lower at schools that attempt to regulate the lives of their students, such as with regard to alcohol and living arrangements. This is, in a sense, to state the obvious – or, at least, what was once obvious. Alcohol is involved in over half of all sexual assaults on campus, and 90 percent of sexual assaults occur in dorm rooms. By reducing the availability of alcohol on campus and by limiting the residence interactions between the sexes, the university can put an end to the campus rape epidemic.