AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

138 STEFANIA DONZELLI
sense of guilt for having “invited” the perpetrator in some way or another;
they may blame themselves for a “too passive” reaction; they may
feel ashamed and face societal reproach for a “too free” conduct; they
may lose confidence in themselves or trust in human relationships and so
on.
Whatever forms of violence a survivor may face, I assume that s/he
will pass through a process of reflection to make sense of the violence
experienced, both in the rape event and in the following and likely victimization.
Moreover, I am inclined to think that, in this process of making
sense of violence, a person may be influenced by her/his own dynamic
understanding of the world. Thus, being aware of the working of
gender power relations and of their intersection with other social relations
of power based on sexual orientation, ethnicity, class, age, etc., may
influence survivors’ understanding of the world, and hence, their reactions
to the process of victimization. More specifically, assuming that the
notion of power is related to one of responsibility, acknowledging social
relations may contribute to emancipate survivors from their condition of
victimization, clarifying them what has and what has not been their responsibility
in the deploying of violence, what might be their future possibilities
to take decisions and what they might face in relation to their
decisions.
Finally, I consider that human beings understand the world through
discourses and representations: language, in fact, operates as a representational
system through which meanings are constructed and exchanged.
In other words, it is through language that we make sense of the environment
around us. Beside this, recognizing that the construction of
meanings is not fixed and steady makes possible to change discourses
and representations (Hall, 1997: 1-11). In relation to these reflections I
believe that making visible, through discourses and representations, the
operating of social power relations in daily life may have a practical implication
for survivors’ emancipation.
Research Problem
The present research is concerned with the analysis of the politics of representation
of sexual violence promoted by feminist organizations working
with media and communication that make visible the working of social
relations of power in daily life. More specifically, this investigation
will analyse the politics of representation of rape/victimization of a