“She keeps his secrets”: A gendered analysis of the impact of shame on the non-disclosure of sexual violence in one low-income South African community

Abstract

Sexual violence against women and girls forms part of a global pandemic of human rights violations. In South Africa, crimes of sexual violence are at a globally unprecedented level. The majority of these crimes of sexual violence are underreported. Understanding the factors that contribute to the silence around sexual violence is pivotal, not only so that perpetrators can be held accountable, but also so that victims/survivors of sexual violence may experience some alleviation from the psychological symptoms related to internalised trauma. This paper, a case study which utilises a social constructionist research paradigm, focuses on the lived experience of one depressed South African woman, Zee, who lives in a low-income South African community. Her accounts of sexual, physical and emotional abuse are discussed, focusing specifically on how she constructs the impact of shame on the non-disclosure of sexual violence. The authors suggest that the relationship between shame and non-disclosure is complex, in that larger societal discourses play a pivotal role in the shame of women who are victims/survivors of sexual violence. On the one hand, as in the case of Zee’s community, sexual violence and the painful emotions associated with such violence are obscured in a communal complicity of silence. On the other hand, powerful gender discourses also compel women to be silent and passive.

Keywords: Shame; non-disclosure; sexual violence; gender; agency; community