It's never too late. Older women and sexual violence: The search for therapeutic solutions

Abstract

This research aims to explore older women's perspectives on the factors contributing to their survival and recovery from sexual assault experiences in earlier life. A sample of older female survivors was recruited from counselling agencies where they had named sexual violence as an issue in their counselling. Drawing on the analysis of the women's perceptions of their experience, the study aims to identify appropriate counselling approaches for supporting survival and recovery for older women who are survivors of sexual assault. It is acknowledged that such approaches would address both the long-term histories and the complexity and severity of related issues that would lead to resolution of outstanding sexual violence issues by old age. The importance of this study lies in the intersection of several areas of experience that rarely appear to have been examined for their interrelationships but are relevant to understanding both the experiences of older survivors and in turn service provision for this group. The most significant reason for women reaching old age with lingering issues appears to be related to the passing of long time periods since their unresolved sexual violence experiences occurred.Accumulating impacts across many years of life tend to culminate in trauma effects which may be challenged by fresh issues related to ageing. Recovery trajectories for these women are complicated by the statistically high rate of revictimization and the accumulated impacts of sexual violence in a number of areas, as well as increasing trauma effects that may result from suppression of memories for many years as a coping mechanism, as they weathered the aftermath of multiple instances of sexual violence. Recovery may have been delayed or old issues retriggered by revictimization and the physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, economic, spiritual and interrelational impacts remaining unresolved in the absence of counselling to appropriately address this issue.In the era of currently older women's youth when they first experienced victimization, the social norms and attitudes regarding sexual matters made it unacceptable to discuss this topic or the 3 related, shame-filled experiences of childhood abuse or adult sexual assault. Their violation frequently remained a secret within the family. Lack of knowledge about this phenomenon meant that women often blamed themselves and did not connect subsequent psychological or emotional issues with childhood experiences or those occurring in their youth. They were effectively silenced about their victimization.Many older survivors have availed themselves of the services of psychiatrists or counsellors many times across life for various issues that these professionals mostly did not recognise as related to earlier sexual violence. Not until the 1980s, when these women were already adults, did specialist sexual assault counselling commence in Australia. Despite this, apparently little knowledge about these services was available from mainstream medical practitioners and ...