Women's College Research Institute, Women's College Hospital, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.
Women's College Research Institute, Women's College Hospital, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada.
Soc Sci Med. 2023 Jul;328:115978. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115978. Epub 2023 May 20.
Sexual assault is a pervasive, violent and often gendered crime that can result in significant negative consequences. Many sexual assault survivors consider disclosing to health and social care providers, therapists, and others who collectively fall under the banner of formal support, in order to access information, referrals, treatment and/or emotional support, however barriers to disclosure remain. This qualitative study is unique in its application of an intersectional sexual assault stigmatization framework to understand (non)disclosure to formal support providers among diverse sexual assault survivors. Through anonymous online narratives posted to the platform Reddit, survivors documented experiences of intersectional sexual assault stigma (perceived, internalized, anticipated, experienced) showing that they were not only stigmatized through negative gender stereotyping, but they were also marginalized through other structural inequities. The experience of multiple marginalization that arose from intersectional sexual assault stigma often impeded survivors in accessing and/or utilizing the formal support they wished for. The findings suggest that formal support providers could benefit from stigma reduction training related specifically to sexual assault survivors and that current models of stigma and discrimination training need to be expanded to include intersectional stigma. Further, the findings suggest that beyond training at an organizational level, a broader intervention aimed at reducing structural stigma and discrimination toward sexual assault survivors at a societal level appears warranted. Implications for future research related to the unique disclosure, health, and social care needs of diverse sexual assault survivors and support-seeking online alongside or in lieu of formal support are discussed.
性侵犯是一种普遍存在的、暴力的、常常带有性别色彩的犯罪，可能会导致严重的负面后果。许多性侵犯幸存者考虑向卫生和社会保健提供者、治疗师以及其他正式支持机构的人透露情况，以获取信息、转介、治疗和/或情感支持，但是披露的障碍仍然存在。这项定性研究的独特之处在于应用交叉性性侵犯污名化框架来理解不同性侵犯幸存者对正式支持提供者的（非）披露情况。通过在 Reddit 平台上匿名发布的在线叙述，幸存者记录了交叉性性侵犯污名（感知的、内化的、预期的、经历的）的经历，表明他们不仅受到负面性别刻板印象的污名化，还受到其他结构性不平等的边缘化。交叉性性侵犯污名化所带来的多重边缘化经历常常阻碍幸存者获得和/或利用他们所希望的正式支持。研究结果表明，正式支持提供者可能受益于专门针对性侵犯幸存者的污名减少培训，并且目前的污名和歧视培训模式需要扩大，以包括交叉性污名。此外，研究结果表明，除了在组织层面进行培训之外，还需要在社会层面上采取更广泛的干预措施，以减少对性侵犯幸存者的结构性污名和歧视。讨论了与不同性侵犯幸存者独特的披露、健康和社会护理需求以及在线寻求支持（代替或补充正式支持）相关的未来研究的意义。
