| Abstract: | to andrewdurham{at}warwickshire.gov.uk Summary This paper uses a post-structural framework to examine the experienceand impact of child sexual abuse on the lives of seven youngmen aged between 15 and 24. The study highlights the importanceof survivors' perspectives and of allowing children and youngpeople to speak for themselves and theorize their own experiences.The study's sensitive methodology allowed the young men to besupported throughout the research and feel able to impart hiddenfeelings and anxieties which they had held on to for significantperiods of time. The research showed how the perpetrators tookextensive measures in targeting and gaining access to and silencingthe boys they sexually abused. Through purposefully constructedrelationships, the boys were made to feel responsible and guiltyabout being abused and therefore found it extremely difficultto tell. A social context of patriarchal relations, with genderconstructions characterized by compulsory heterosexism and homophobiasignificantly exacerbated the experiences of the young men.This context was shown to create circumstances and ‘normal’power relationships that allowed the abuse to happen, creatingmany opportunities for the abusers to justify their actionsand further silence their victims. |
