Exploring African-Caribbean-British Women's Activism and Agency on Childhood Sexual Abus

293 Pages·2017·2.92 MB·English

by  Joanne Wilson

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‘Spaces to Speak’ of Sour Milk: Exploring African-Caribbean-British Women’s Activism and Agency on
Childhood Sexual Abuse from the 1980s to the Present Day

A thesis submitted in fulfilment with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
London Metropolitan University
June 2016
Joanne Wilson
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Declaration
I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously
submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and to the best of my knowledge and belief does
not contain any material previously published or written by another except where due reference is made
in the text.
I give consent to this copy of my thesis when deposited in the University Library, being made available
for loan and photocopying, subject to the conditions of the Copyright Act 1968.

__________________________________ _______________________
Joanne Wilson Date
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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge my supervisors especially Professor Liz Kelly who has been most patient in
her guidance to me during this long and very challenging experience. It has been an honour. Dr Kerry
Lee, for her support during the early stages and Dr Maddy Coy for helping me to cross the finishing line.
Without the support of Maria, Fiona, Ava and Karin this journey would have been unbearable. I thank
you all from my very soul for walking with me, and often carrying me on this journey. You are all my
sisters. Love you all.
I also wish to acknowledge London Metropolitan University for providing me with the very best start to
my academic journey, way back in 1998, and for believing that I could accomplish this studentship. I
wish to thank Dr Helen Crowley, Dr Irene Gedalof for planting the seeds which enabled me to question.
To the women who so courageously participated in this study. I “Thank you” for being brave enough to
“Speak the Unspeakable”. It was a privilege to work with you all.
I wish to thank Cathy Larne for her enduring patience and kindness and Amy Renton for her support.
To Sharon Godfrey (London met counselling) you kept me sane through this process and I thank the
Lord for your support and kindness.
To Mother and Father ‘Thank You’; and to the rest of my family, I love you all.
Solaire you have grown into a wonderful man during this project. I am so proud of you. Thank you for
‘being’. You are my life!
Michael “Thank you” for challenging and provoking me to achieve what I never thought I could. You
believed in me throughout all of the ‘meltdown’ days of self-doubt. I thank the Lord for you.
To the Lord “I never would have made it without you”; Hallelujah I am free!!
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ABSTRACT
The aim of this research study is to add the voices of African- Caribbean British female victim-
survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to existing knowledge(s) on childhood sexual
victimization. In so doing the study will examine whether racialisation, racism and cultural identity
and cultural factors have had any bearing on African Caribbean British women’s ‘space to speak’
of childhood sexual abuse. The study also explores Black British feminist activism on CSA from
the late 1970s- mid 1980s in order to further explore the issue of spaces to speak.

The thesis presents findings from 5 in-depth interviews with Black British feminists (Experts); a
partial content analysis of British feminist periodicals from 1980s onward; 7 in-depth interviews
with African-Caribbean British victim-survivors of CSA and a survey examining Black, Asian and
Minority, Ethnic service provision (BAME) in 13 Rape Crisis Centre’s in England and Scotland.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 9
Setting the Scene 9
Sour Milk 12
Racialisation 14
Culture 16
Intersectionality 18
African-Caribbean British 19
Contribution to Knowledge 20
Structure of thesis 21
Chapter 2 ‘WORKING WITH THE NEGATIVES MAKES FOR BETTER PICTURES’ WHAT WE KNOW
ABOUT CHILD SEXUAL AND RACE AND CULTURE ......................................................................... 24
The role of Feminism in unveiling child sexual abuse 25
Consciousness-raising (CR) and the question of sex and violence in the lives of women and girls
...................................................................................................................................................... 27
Theorising violence 30
State Intervention on CSA: race off the agenda? 34
Key Research Studies on CSA 35
Are prevalence studies Culturally aware? .................................................................................... 36
Relationship to Abuser ................................................................................................................. 37
Trauma, Race and Culture ............................................................................................................ 38
UK Research on prevalence 39
The significance of race and culture: findings from research 40
A cultural lens? 41
Studies of CSA and race in the UK 46
Violence Against Women (VAW) and Women of Black/ African descent 49
The response to reconfiguration of rape ..................................................................................... 49
CONCLUSION 53
Chapter 3: “Unspeakable things Unspoken”: Researching child sexual abuse with African Caribbean
victim-survivors ......................................................................................................................... 55
Introduction 55
Aims of Study ............................................................................................................................... 56
Research Approach ...................................................................................................................... 58
Epistemology 59
Black Feminist Framework ........................................................................................................... 59
(Auto)-ethnography ..................................................................................................................... 66
Methodological Approach 69
METHODS USED FOR COLLECTION OF DATA ..................................................................... 69
Data collection and research Methods 71
Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 71
Content Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 74
Sampling and Recruitment 75
Sampling for Victim-Survivors ...................................................................................................... 75
Recruiting Victim-Survivors .......................................................................................................... 76
Sampling Experts .......................................................................................................................... 77
Recruiting Experts ........................................................................................................................ 78
Expert interviews.......................................................................................................................... 78
Victim-Survivor Interviews ........................................................................................................... 81
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Survey of Rape Crisis Centres 83
Data Analysis 85
Ethical Considerations 87
Do No more Harm ........................................................................................................................ 89
Researcher Safety ......................................................................................................................... 92
Challenges and limitations of methods/ology 94
Hybrid Identities ........................................................................................................................... 94
Changing Direction ....................................................................................................................... 96
Reflections 97
Liminality ...................................................................................................................................... 97
Conclusion 102
Chapter 4: Child Sexual Abuse and Black British Feminism: ‘It was a Movement, not an
organisation so there were many factions’ (EID5) ..................................................................... 107
Introduction 107
Black British feminist activism on CSA 108
Activism on CSA today 112
AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH Households and State Intervention 115
Enduring Silences 118
The Desire to be Autonomous 119
Representation and the embrace of ‘blackness’ 126
The Political becomes Personal 129
The importance of belonging 133
Protecting the Black Male and African-Caribbean British Communities 137
Promoting a positive Image of the African-Caribbean British community 142
Knowing and Not Knowing 145
Conclusion 147
Chapter 5: Coconut milk and the “The Prism of Race” ............................................................... 149
Introduction 149
The connection of racial abuse and CSA 149
What we know about African-Caribbean British/black women and support services 151
The Prism of Race and CSA 152
Race, Gender and Mistrust 163
The AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH front room 165
‘Good-girl’ ................................................................................................................................... 167
The Prism of Race and seeking structural support for CSA 170
Structrual and personal Mistrust ............................................................................................... 171
Identity and Representation as barriers to seeking support 177
Specialist African-Caribbean British Sexual Violence Support 180
Conclusions 184
Chapter 6: “Boil stones pretend that you are cooking soup”: representation and the role of
maternal mimesis on disclosures of CSA by AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH victim-survivors........ 187
Key themes 187
The Victim-Survivors 189
Multiple ‘Tellings’ 190
Turning a blind eye ..................................................................................................................... 193
Parental Responses 195
Beatings ...................................................................................................................................... 198
How they would have liked it to be 201
Generational Patterns: African -Caribbean British MATERNAL MIMESIS 203
CONCLUSION 207
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Chapter 7: THERE’S more to me than rice ‘n’ peas and jerk chicken: Rape Crisis Centres and
AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH Provision in England and Scotland .............................................. 209
Introduction 209
Ethnicity, Culture and CSA Service Provision 209
The Survey 212
Rape Crisis Centres 212
Location of the Centres .............................................................................................................. 213
Services provided ....................................................................................................................... 213
History of UK Rape Crisis Centres ............................................................................................... 214
The ambiguity of bme/BAME in service PROVISION .................................................................. 216
Local AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH Populations and RCC Provision......................................... 217
Services to AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH Victim-Survivors of CSA ........................................... 219
Outreach by RCCs ....................................................................................................................... 221
Understandings of BME/BAME 224
Awareness of intersectional Issues 225
Intersectional Liminality 230
Conclusion 232
Chapter 8: Conclusions: “white women listen”; black women speak .......................................... 235
African- Caribbean British Maternal Mimesis ............................................................................ 242
Intersectional Liminality ............................................................................................................. 243
Future Work with AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH victim-survivors 244
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 247
Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 260
Appendix 1: EXPERT poster 260
Appendix 2:Expert Interviews Information sheet 261
Appendix 3: Expert interview consent form 264
Appendix 4: Expert(s) Interview Guidelines 265
Appendix 4.1: Interview Guide for Experts 266
Appendix 5: Information sheet: Sour Milk: African-Caribbean British(AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN BRITISH)
Survivor’s experiences of childhood sexual abuse 268
Appendix 6: Interview Guide for Sour Milk Victim-Survivors 270
Appendix 7: Consent Form for Victim-survivor Interview 277
Appendix 8: Victim-survivors Poster 278
Appendix 9: Referral Details 279
Appendix 10 : Survey 281
Appendix 11: Example of Content analysis 286
Appendix 12: Thematic structure for experts 289
Appendix 13: Example of themed experts page from original Analysis in appendix 12 290
Appendix 14: Example of themed experts page from original analysis 291
Appendix 15: Victim-survivor emergent concept thematic structure 292
appendix 16: Victim-survivor emergent concept thematic structure 293
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List of tables and figures
Figure 1 Liminal positioning of African-Caribbean British women in political discourses of gender
and race 104

Table 1 Demographic Table of Victim-Survivors 108
Table 2 Demographic Table of Experts 109
Table 3 Assessment of impact of racism and CSA 160
Table 4 Process of disclosure 194
Table 5 Response of parents ` 198
Table 6 Mother’s history of CSA 206
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

I had a boyfriend but I was never really allowed out; because my
mum said you can’t trust people out the street, I think that is
rather ironic really.
Q. Who were these people that you couldn’t trust?
I: White people and rapists. Isn’t it ironic? (Ciara)

The above quote from a survivor interviewed for this thesis sets the context for this research. The idea
of home or ‘homeplace’ (hooks, 1990) as a place where black people could take refuge from the
realities of white racist oppression is problematised by her words: home was not a sanctuary for
black/African-Caribbean British women and girls who have experienced child sexual abuse (CSA). The
lived experiences of African-Caribbean British victim-survivors of CSA appear to have slipped through
the gaps in accounts of sexual abuse, sexual violence support provision and are missing from
discourses which address the everyday experiences of racialisation. This thesis argues that African-
Caribbean British victim-survivors are situated within a liminal space, ‘betwixt and between’ the privacy
of the home and sexual violence and the public realm and the perceptions and reality of everyday acts
of racism and exclusion.
SETTING THE SCENE
Where recent research has begun to address the subject of sexual violence in the lives of women
associated with colour, it could be argued that the African- American female victim-survivor voice has
come to represent the experiences of all women of African descent residing in the West. African-
American feminist scholars have a long history of writing on the subject of child sexual abuse.
Additionally, they have outlined how intersections of race, gender and class have further problematised
and complicated sexual abuse experiences and help-seeking behaviours of African-American victim-
survivors in the United States.
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Yet in regard to African- Caribbean British women’s experiences and black British feminist activism on
the subject of CSA, little is known. The lack of African-Caribbean British victim-survivor voices has
enabled the African-American perspective to eclipse the specifics and experiences of African-
Caribbean British victim-survivors. At present, there are virtually no accounts within existing discourses
on CSA which explore how racialisation, racism (every-day and structural) impacts the agency of
African-Caribbean British victim-survivors in the UK and or black British feminist activism on the subject
of CSA. Consequently, African-Caribbean British women’s experiences of CSA and the localised
circumstances which may enable, or hinder opportunities to ‘speak’ of histories of CSA within both the
private and the public realms are poorly understood.
In contrast, feminist scholars and violence against women campaigners and advocates have enabled
the unveiling of men’s sexual oppression toward women within the white patriarchal home by publicly
addressing such issues in the lives of women from the 1970s onwards (Rush, 1974; Brownmiller, 1976;
Maynard & Winn, 1997). The origins of their activism began with one pivotal act: speaking. Yet for
African-Caribbean British victim-survivors speaking of the African-Caribbean British home and
communities is fraught with complex considerations of racialised and gendered positioning. Patricia Hill-
Collins has suggested that for diasporic Africans in the West, ‘blackness’ represents the private and
safety, with ‘whiteness’ representing the opposite for these communities (Hill-Collins, 1991; see also
sections below for a more in-depth discussion of racialisation and culture).
However, dynamics of racialisation appears to shroud black on black child sexual abuse in the lives of
African-Caribbean British women through a self-induced silence regarding all matters sexual, especially
in regard to the black male. How these restrictions deny African-Caribbean British women opportunities
to ‘speak out’ openly regarding everyday realities of both sexual abuse and racial abuse will be
examined in this study, including the impact on our subjectivity, the consequences of intersections of
race and gender oppression in how survivors gain meaning and the coping strategies employed in
order to live with histories of CSA as African-Caribbean British women.