Supporting Survivors in
Community Settings
This resource
is based on Sarah Ullman’s (2010) research regarding social reactions to
survivors who disclose sexual assault. Ullman determined that negative social reactions have
a harmful impact on survivors who disclose sexual violence (pp.74-76), and that
commonly-held attitudes, such as rape myths and stereotypes, constitute “social
phenomenon that maintain a rape-supportive environment” (p. 14). Further, she concluded that anticipation of
“receiving negative reactions,” such as victim-blaming, harms survivors
considering disclosure (p. 19).
Sexual violence is so epidemic that the presence of survivors can be assumed in
every gathering. To support survivors in community settings, negative social
reactions should be avoided proactively in every discussion of sexual violence.
ESD
instructors have utilized these communication skills for many years to support
survivors in our classes and to model speech that disrupts “rape-supportive”
culture. The recommended behaviors are
consistent with trauma-aware and survivor-centered practices endorsed by
experts such as the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), UN
Women and Know Your IX (http://knowyourix.org/). These practice
behaviors are appropriate to many public settings and may have particular relevance
for educators, religious congregations, policy-makers and journalists.
Behaviors[i]
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Negative
social reactions[ii]:
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Recommended
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Avoid
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Victim blaming: Suggests
that assault result from a survivor’s behavior or character.
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Incorporate
a philosophical statement in written and spoken communication repudiating
victim-blaming. For example: “Women do
not ask for, cause, invite, or deserve to be assaulted.”[iii]
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Avoid
questioning any survivor’s choices, even in the abstract.
Avoid
“why” questions, which “can sound accusatory and might bring out defensive
and/or self-blaming responses.”[iv]
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Egocentric response: Prioritizes
concern about the effect of the victim’s assault upon the listener.
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Utilize
clinical interviewing skills, such as open-ended questions and active- and
passive- listening.
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Avoid
asking too many questions or imposing your values.
Be sensitive to the possibility of
triggering, the experience by which trauma symptoms are evoked by experiences
reminiscent of the original injury.
Do not unnecessarily introduce lurid
or potentially challenging topics.
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Stigmatizing response: Treat
survivors of sexual violence as different than others/different than they
were before the assault.
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Anticipate
the likelihood that survivors are present in every setting.
Utilize
the principle of “pre-emptive radical inclusion,” which assumes
representatives of any population we might discuss are present in the
conversation.[v]
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Avoid
assuming that survivors are not present.
Avoid
speaking about survivors as somehow different from those who are present, or
from people who have not experienced sexual violence.
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Distraction: Discouraging
discussion of the details of assault.
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Model
empathic responses.
If
facilitating a group within which a disclosure is made, skillfully moderate
the survivor’s needs, the group’s needs, and your own emotional response.
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Avoid
rapid change of subject.
Avoid
off-topic inquiries.
Avoid
extremes of either sensationalizing or dismissing the details of an assault.
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Controlling response: Trying to control
the victim or the situation.
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Validate
survivors’ choices and support their decisions.
Be
prepared to share information about resources to support survivors of sexual
violence.
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Avoid
suggesting what a survivor “should” do/have done.
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Rape myths: Repeat
rape-promoting social attitudes.
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In
written and verbal communication, explicitly reject correlation of dress,
behavior, location or character with deserving or inviting assault.
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Avoid
questions or statements that “imply that women invite rape, enjoy it, and are
responsible for rape because of their dress or behavior.”[vi]
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Trust violation: Betrayal of
trust.
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Arrange
for privacy in meetings and interviews.
Maintain
confidentiality.
Establish
norms for confidentiality in groups.
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Avoid
compromising privacy or confidentiality.
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Minimizing response: Minimize the
trauma of rape and/or pathologize survivors’ coping reactions.
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In
written and verbal communication, acknowledge sexual violence as
significantly injurious.
Reflect
understanding that survivors recover from sexual violence along individual trajectories
and that the negative impact of sexual violence can be longstanding and
idiosyncratic.
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Avoid
comparing one type of violation or injury to another.
Never apologize for or defend the act
of perpetration.
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Disbelief/denial: Indicate that
the listener does not believe the survivor.
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In
written and verbal communication, express belief in survivors’ lived
experience.
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Avoid
expressions of surprise or disbelief.
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[i] Specific practice behaviors derived
from the feminist practice wisdom of ESD instructors and adopted from/informed
by these published sources: CALCASA. (1999). Support for survivors, p. 139-145.
Retrieved from http://www.calcasa.org/wp-content/uploads/files/CALCASA-1999_Support-for-Survivors.pdf; UN Women. (2012). Survivor-centred approach. Retrieved
from http://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/652-survivor-centred-approach.html; Wanamaker, L.M. & Safe Passage. (2013). Say
something superhero field guide: A manual for eliminating interpersonal
violence, p. 54. Retrieved from http://www.saysomethingnow.org/uploads/2/0/7/0/20705914/saysomethingfieldguide10.12.2014-1.pdf
[ii] Identified and defined by Ullman, S.
(2010). Talking about sexual assault: Society’s response to survivors. (1st ed.) [Electronic edition]. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association, p. 59-82. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.bc.psychbooks/publications/466417.
[iii] National Coalition Against
Sexual Assault, Ad Hoc Committee on Self Defense, Cited by CALCASA, 1999, p.
401.
[iv] CALCASA, 1999, p. 141.
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