Open Access‘They would rather not have known and me kept my mouth shut’: The role of neutralisation in responding to the disclosure of childhood sexual abuse
Author(s) -
Claire Cunnington,
Tom Clark
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
qualitative social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.554
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1741-3117
pISSN - 1473-3250
DOI - 10.1177/14733250221124300
Subject(s) - harm , silence , thematic analysis , child sexual abuse , criminology , psychology , focus group , social psychology , loyalty , sexual abuse , qualitative research , suicide prevention , sociology , poison control , political science , law , medicine , social science , philosophy , environmental health , anthropology , aesthetics
There is a well-established literature examining how perpetrators of child sexual abuse (CSA) neutralise the norms and beliefs that ordinarily prohibit such behaviours. However, there has been substantially less focus on how such techniques of neutralisation might also be applied by people and groups who were not directly involved in the abuse, who we might expect to be more supportive. Drawing on a thematic analysis of an open-ended survey (n=140) and semi-structured interviews (n=21) with adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse this paper examines societal responses to disclosure. Identifying three key techniques of neutralisation, it explores how families, professionals and institutions use wider discourses that deny the victim/survivor, deny or minimise harm and silence by appealing to loyalty. The results demonstrate how significant others can constrain, rather than support, the process of disclosure and recovering from CSA.