Perspectives: A Critical and Creative Examination of the Narratives of Women Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence
Date
2015-05-27
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Abstract
My project focuses on the agentic components of the accounts of women who have experienced sexually traumatic events. Important research has been done into the painful psychic consequences of sexual trauma. Research has also been conducted into various and varied theoretical and therapeutic responses to sexual violence for women survivors. Without negating or trivializing these essential contributions, my research considers the empowering ways and means that women’s resiliency creates agency for those who have been sexually exploited. My project utilizes narrative inquiry within an autoethnographic methodological frame to consider my own healing journey as well as the narratives of three other sexual assault survivors who participated in my research study. I consider these narratives while employing a thematic content analysis that reveals three topics: 1) Survivors internalize feelings of shame that result from acts of sexual violence. 2) A culture of silence impedes survivors from revealing narratives of sexual trauma. 3) The survivors exhibited profound acts of courage and resiliency to overcome feelings of shame and create agency in their lives. As a means of interrogating and disseminating my research findings, I present my play Can’t Cross a Bridge as an artistic artifact that dramatizes the lived experiences of my life as well as the three participants’ lives. Through the academic discussion and the artistic representation, I endeavor to demonstrate the agency found within sexual survivors’ narratives. The play is also an artistic artifact that exemplifies the possibilities inherent in synthesizing social science research and the arts to promote social change.
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Citation
Melnyk, S. (2015). Perspectives: A Critical and Creative Examination of the Narratives of Women Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27318