Cracking open the victim-survivor binary: an examination of victim-survivor identity of people who have experienced sexual violence

Abstract

Since the 1970s, there has been an ongoing sense of uncertainty within feminist literature surrounding the most appropriate vocabulary to refer to people who have experienced sexual violence. Within contemporary society, people who have been sexually assaulted are normatively labelled as either a ‘victim’ and/ or a ‘survivor’, but ever-increasingly, combination terms like ‘victim-survivor’ and ‘victim/ survivor’ are being adopted. Amongst anti-victim discourses within the #MeToo movement, understanding victim-survivors’ language choices becomes imperative. However, language choice should not be viewed in isolation; concepts are affected by cultural discourses reinforcing dominant narratives of victim-survivors, and choice can also be shaped by the language used by those surrounding victim-survivors, such as disclosure recipients and professionals they may encounter when accessing support and reporting their experiences.

This thesis integrates documentary analysis and arts-based visual research through methodological braiding, employing a simultaneous and sequential research design. A critical discourse analysis of policy and practice documents produced between 2013 and 2023 examined how victim-survivor language choices are used in materials victim-survivors are exposed to. In tandem, staged photography and follow-up photo-elicitation interviews were conducted to generate data on the understandings and associations behind victim-survivor concepts for people with lived experience of sexual violence and/ or professionals working on a day-to-day basis with victim-survivors. Adopting a symbolic interactionist and feminist standpoint epistemological lens, this research explores the underlying meanings behind victim-survivor identity.

This thesis argues that there are three key pillars of the survivor concept and three key lenses of victimhood, forming the building blocks of victim-survivor concepts in policy and practice documents. Moreover, the victim-survivor binary is overly simplistic by positioning the two as polar opposite categories, particularly when automatically binding survivor with agency as this holds implications, especially for survivors with trauma-related disabilities.