Liz Kelly - Surviving Sexual Violence

As I was thinking about the introduction to this book, two statements on the radio drew my attention. A woman speaker at the 1986 British Trade Union Congress urged trade unionists to take the epidemic of cervical cancer seriously. In a commentary on international terrorism a male reporter stated that something must be done about the plague of violence that threatens our basic human rights. When the incidence of cervical cancer is defined as an epidemic, what word could adequately reflect the vastly greater incidence of sexual violence in the lives of British women? When the impact of international terrorism is represented as a threat to basic human rights, what words could illuminate the fact that it is domestic terrorism which more directly threatens countless womens lives across the globe?

These examples do not simply illustrate the power of rhetorical speech. They highlight a deeper, more fundamental point: that it is only in relation to certain issues that such forms of argument are considered to be justified. When radical feminists point to the appalling incidence of sexual violence we are seen by many as hysterical and, even by other feminists, as placing too much emphasis on womens victimization. Most men and many women do not want to acknowledge the extent of sexual violence in, and its impact on, womens lives. It is still illegitimate for us to refer to it as being of epidemic proportions, threatening womens basic human rights. Yet a cursory reading of the UN Declaration on Human Rights in the light of recent feminist studies of the prevalence and impact of sexual violence highlights how many of these basic human rights are still to be secured for women.

Surviving Sexual Violence is part of a growing body of feminist scholarship, primarily undertaken in but not restricted to first world liberal democracies, which documents the extent to which womens and girls rights to life and liberty are threatened daily. That such a fundamental assumption of liberal democracy is tenuous for the majority of the population yet not a major source of concern, suggests that there are vested interests at stake here mens interests.

During the six months I was writing this book, a number of instances, or consequences of, sexual violence occurred to women in my social network: for example, an incest survivor attempted suicide twice in a week after a BBC Television Childwatch programme triggered her memories; a womans life was temporarily devastated when her ex-husband raped her; two women were attacked near to their homes; a students sense of safety was so undermined by a peeping tom that she left college; an incest survivor discovered her sons girlfriend was being abused; during rag week, a woman teacher was pinned to the ground by several young men in masks and then photographed; three women were beaten up by their husbands/male lovers and, in just one week, in the refuge for battered women I work in one woman had a miscarriage and another her leg amputated as direct consequences of the violence they had experienced.

Despite feminist campaigns and actions in many countries which have, to a greater or lesser extent, made sexual violence a public issue, the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in womens lives is still not publicly acknowledged. In this context it is vital that the extent and range of sexual violence continues to be documented. Limiting our work to this, however, can result in women being seen as inevitable victims. This book also records the other side of womens experiences: our resistance and strength in coping with and surviving abuse. Any woman who has gone through this process (and any woman who has supported another woman through the pain and despairing moments) will recognize the connection between victimization and survival. This book attempts to validate that knowledge and make some of it accessible to those without it.

Surviving Sexual Violence is based on a feminist sociological research project and has two basic aims: to present the findings of the study; and to validate and give voice to womens experience and understanding.