Yet we still tell them because we can see that beauty exists in both darkness and light. Our stories aren’t always pretty and they don’t always end well. If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, please call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.Everyone touched by Pandora’s Project has a story to tell. As a society, we have a collective responsibility to create safe spaces that help build a culture of acceptance rather than a culture of shame.Ī survivor’s choice to disclose should be solely based on their readiness to share their story. There is no perfect victim or survivor, and no perfect trauma response. However, every negative response also speaks to a survivor. Every survivor who shares a story of sexual assault indirectly speaks to another survivor and gently reminds them they are not alone. Statistics may shock us, but stories provide a face to suffering. Maximising choices for survivors in every decision allows them to feel empowered and gain back control. However, the act of freezing is the most protective response we have to avoid further injury when in danger.ĭuring the counselling session, we talk about the option to collect evidence, disclose to the police, and how to safely tell loved ones if that’s what a survivor wants to do. Many women feel angry at themselves they’d frozen rather than fighting back during an assault. ![]() It is important for sexual assault survivors to be heard, to be believed, and to be told what happened is not their fault. It places the survivor as the expert on their own life. This is a survivor-oriented approach and is underpinned by principles of safety, empowerment, choice, collaboration, and understanding of culture. In my role as a sexual assault counsellor in community health, I practise “ trauma-informed care”. These can include greater stigma in their communities, reduced access to services, and previous negative experience with the judicial system. Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, and LGBTIQA+ women may face further reporting barriers. The low rates of conviction, combined with the prolonged and complex judicial process, result in reduced reporting. Data from criminal courts in 2017-18, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, found it took an average of 40 weeks to secure a conviction for a sexual assault. In Australia, sexual assault cases have low conviction rates and the judicial process can be lengthy. Survivors who experience negative social reactions after coming forward are more likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Negative responses to a disclosure have been labelled as the “second rape” incident, a phenomenon known as secondary victimisation. When a disclosure is met with negative responses, it can lead to feelings of shame for survivors. With public attention focused on recent allegations of sexual assault, it’s the right time to be asking why survivors don’t always come forward straight away. It’s little wonder many victims wait decades to come forward, or decide not to report a sexual assault at all. The Goldilocks dilemma of being the perfect victim or survivor is extraordinarily difficult to navigate. If they were intoxicated at the time of the assault, we question their memory. They should be “model citizens” or we question their credibility. ![]() The timing of the disclosure should be just right or we question why they didn’t come forward soon enough. In Australian society, we often expect sexual assault survivors to show just enough emotion for us to believe them, but not so much they seem hysterical or attention-seeking. Higgins’s brave disclosure is in spite of the social factors that exist to silence survivors. Last month, former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins publicly disclosed she was sexually assaulted, allegedly by a male colleague at Parliament House. It can be hard to accept these violations take place in our very own backyard. We can’t imagine this happening to us, therefore it must have happened to someone who is inherently different to us. Victim-blaming can also occur when we try to distance ourselves from the horrific nature of the crime. Empathy for the perpetrator contributes to victim-blaming.
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