Download the thesis - South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault

within those who have had this experience rather than focusing on the weaknesses
implied by the term “victim”. Surviving is in itself reassuring, observes Colin Murray
Parkes, as victims can discover inner strengths they had not expected to find (Love
and Loss 147). Others combine the terms as “survivor/victim”. I follow the convention
of using the terms “survivor” and “victim”, depending on the context, during the first
part of the thesis; throughout the sections discussing the arts practice, I use either
“women” or “participants”, which better describes their status in that context.
Statistics compiled in May 2008 by the South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault
(SECASA), 5 with whom I undertook this thesis, indicate that after the age of fifteen,
one in five women and one in twenty men become victims of sexual assault; one in
three women and one in six men are abused before the age of eighteen. Because of
the secretive nature of sexual abuse and the high incidence of non-reporting, it is
difficult to know the actual frequency of these crimes; it is however, known that while
statistics point to a large number of people affected by sexual assault, they cannot
begin to reflect its impact. Sexual abuse includes rape, incest and encounters
involving much, or no physical violence. Random sexual assaults are probably the
most feared and receive greatest attention, but it is the sexual abuse that is endured
over years in families and communities that is overwhelmingly more prevalent, less
acknowledged, and deeply damaging. Most sexual abusers are male, most are related
or known to the survivor, and many are trusted members of a family or community.
Consistent with the statistics available from SECASA and in the literature, most victims
of sexual trauma who participated in this study were abused as children (Baker; Gold;
Bifulco and Moran; Briere). Therefore, the long-term and sometimes lifelong impacts
5 South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault (SECASA). Sexual Assault Statistics. Available
at www.secasa.com.au/infosheet/Statistics.pdf, 2008
SECASA is one of Victoria’s fifteen Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASA); CASAs “work
to ensure that women, children and men who are victim/survivors of sexual assault
have access to comprehensive and timely support and intervention to address their
needs”. CASA “also work towards the elimination of sexual violence through
community and professional education, informing government policy, advocating for
law reform and facilitating research to increase community understanding of the nature
and incidence of sexual assault” (www.casa.org.au, 20 January 2009). SECASA
provides a crisis service at Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, and follow-up counselling
and other services throughout the south-eastern region of Melbourne.
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