Personal and common meanings of sexualised coercion: Empowerment or Double Victimisation - A Transversalist Approach to the Meanings of Rape and Attempted Rape

In 2003 a research project on the personal and common meanings of sexualised coercion was initiated at the Centre for Victims of Sexual Assault at the University Hospital of Copenhagen.
Right from its start in the year 2000 first and second generation migrant women were among those seeking help at the Centre. This raised questions as to whether sexualised coercion has special meanings for migrant women in their trajectories across different communities, or whether the meanings of sexualised coercion are common/universal. It also raises questions of risks of being exposed to sexualised coercion as well as of access to help. Fundamentally these are questions concerning the nature of health promotion, ethnicity, gender and empowerment.
The above mentioned research project facilitated our understanding of such questions. It did so because it took its point of departure in the women’s own perspectives on their difficulties in the aftermath of their experience of sexualised coercion. Reversely, a point of departure in psychiatric diagnosis such as PTSD and depression may contribute to the symbolic violence implicit in many dominant discourses concerning gender, violence as well as ethnicity.
My presentation will discuss such issues.