Youth victims, competent agents: A second opinion on sexual victimization trauma.
Date
2011
Authors
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Publisher
International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies
Abstract
Michel Dorais’(2009) Don’t tell: The sexual abuse of boysshowcases the
testimonials of 30 males who experienced sexual abuse in their youth. Though insightful
in its challenge to normative readings of child sexual abuse (CSA), Dorais’ compilation
remains limiting in that victims’ experiences are continually (re)framed through the
medicalized lenses of trauma and pathology, while young victims are represented as
having been developmentally “damaged” as a result of their experiences. Using a
postructural/discursive approach to ground my analyses, I argue that Dorais’ work
parallels dominant CSA discourses, which pathologize already heavily stigmatized
individuals, efface counter-narratives, essentialize trauma as an inherent and immovable
attribute, and constrain the ability of former victims to transcend their victimization. This
maintainsthese victims “in” trauma through the discourse of the trauma “in” them.
Finally, I offer an alternative reading of the claims put forward by Dorais and his research
participants to highlight young people’s own positions of power contra adult sexual
aggressors and thereby draw out youth resistance. I do so in an effort to sketch out the
beginnings of a framework that does more than pay lip service to the recognition of young
people’s agency.
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Keywords
child sexual abuse, trauma
Citation
Grondin, A. M. (2011). Youth victims, competent agents: A second opinion on sexual victimization trauma. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2(3/4), 450-472.