Riesgos y resultados en 2009

The new conceptualisations of rape by radical feminists (Rush, 1974; Brownmiller, 1976; Mackinnon, 1982) were one outcome of feminist movements during the early 1970s. However, this period was one of great social and civil movements and unrest. An explanation of sexual violence against women and girls, couched within radical feminist theories of patriarchy and male power was viewed by many, at the time and subsequently, as too simplistic. As people of African descent began to contest the universalism of patriarchy, highlighting the hierarchies which exist within the concept of patriarchy itself, the radical explanation was left wanting and unrepresentative of the lived experiences of women traditionally associated by race as outlined by Carby (1982); see also Combahee River Collective, 1978).

When white feminists emphasize patriarchy alone, we want to redefine the term and make it a more complex concept. Racism ensures that black men do not have the same relations to patriarchal/capitalist hierarchies as white men (Carby, 1982, p. 46).

Responding to these and other criticisms Connell (1995) deploys Gramsci’s theory of hegemony with respect to masculinity. The concept of hegemony refers to to the cultural dynamic by which a group claims and sustains a leading position in social life. Although this dominant group may not all be the most powerful, there is a hegemonic “ideal” culturally and institutionally (Connell, 1995, p. 77). Connell recognises alternative forms of masculinity, that are themselves in a hierarchy with hegemonic masculinity. The relations between the various forms of masculinity are based on the relational dynamics of alliance, dominance and subordination. Constructed through practices that exclude and include, intimidate and exploit, it is crucial to recognise that there are also inequalities within masculinities (ibid).

Within masculinities, class, sexuality and race play a fundamental role in the postioning of men upon the hierarchical ladder. In the US and the UK black men are marginalised due to racism and thus are disadvantaged with respect to the hegemonic status of white males (Pleck, 1981). White supremacist notions of racial inferiority appear to have produced a situation whereby patriarchal practices of control and violence experienced by black women became invisible, almost justified, as a means of enabling black masculinities to be bolstered and reaffirmed. This racialised context and how it serves to silence women of African descent has been noted in a number of commentaries (Wallace, 1990; Crenshaw, 1991: hooks, 1984: White, 2001). The only visibly acceptable representation of a black female rape victim-survivor appears within historical discourses which focus on the raping of black women by white men during slavery (White, 2001). This in turn has served the supposed unifying political collective of ‘blackness’, thereby securing black female silence in regard to black on black sexual violence and CSA.

White’s (2001) examination of attitudes toward black on black rape amongst African-American anti-rape activists found that rape problematised and compromised cultural solidarity. Her use of the African proverb, “I am because we are”, demonstrates the patriarchal privilege afforded the black male when notions of racial/cultural solidarity are evoked. A consequence of this supposed unifying connection is that women and communities of African descent in the West remain silent regarding CSA and sexual violence, promoting an implicit sense of impunity regarding such acts, consistent with Jones and Trotman Jemmott’s (2009) findings in the Caribbean.

According to White (2001) this supposed racial/cultural unity undermines social justice both within and outside the African-American community. She further argues that the same proverb could be employed to hold black men accountable for their displaced anger and aggression regarding their assumed sense of entitlement to black women’s bodies. Research on CSA in both Africa and the Caribbean has identified patriarchal power as contributing to and normalising sexual abuse, justifying such practices as ‘something that men do’ (Levett, 2003; Kempadoo, 2004; Richter & Higson-Smith, 2004; Jones & Trotman Jemmott, 2009). These findings are also significant for women of African descent in the West, where inter-personal and structural racism has obscured patriarchal abuses. Emergent narratives of sexual abuse within African/ African Caribbean contexts may better enable identification and contestation of patriarchal power within the lives of African-Caribbean British women and girls.

In regards to race equality politics, women of African descent in the West hold a subordinate almost invisible position to that of our men (see Painter, 1993; White, 2001). Because black men have historically been portrayed as sexual predators of white women, if a black woman discloses sexual abuse or rape she tends to be recast as a race traitor, disloyal to blackness.

White (2001) has termed this ‘race loyalty’, born out of the struggle for racial equality for all people of African descent. By this she means that the concerns of black/African-Caribbean British women are tied with those of the black/African-Caribbean British male and thus gender becomes a secondary, almost

privileged concern. Therefore, where Fanon (2008) has argued that the “black man wants to be white”, the black woman needs him to remain black4 _{in order for her to remain coherent and intelligible and} access the gains of race equality via him.

This is not a choice. The collective of blackness has worked from slavery onward as a means of personal and political survival for people of African descent in the face of white racism. African- American feminists have argued, “that the line separating the black community from the white community served as a more accurate boundary delineating public and private spheres for African- Americans” (see also Hill-Collins, 1991, p.49). Although differences exist in regard to history, modalities of colonisation and oppression between African-Americans and African-Caribbean British communities unification for people of African descent is still necessary whilst racism remains intact at both a structural and individual level. In this regard it could be argued that racialisation/ racism has denied black women the autonomy and agency to self-determine (Song, 2003) where and with whom they wish to belong and identify. Consequently, they are faced with the hypocrisy of gains (belonging) and losses (of self/agency). Hill-Collins (1991) outlines the realities of gains and losses for African-American and African-Caribbean British victim-survivors women who feel powerless to act on black on black rape/CSA because of the reliance upon the collective of blackness.

Far too many African-American women live with the untenable position of putting up with abusive black men in the defense of an elusive black unity…Thus understanding the contempoary dynamics of the sexual politics of black womanhood in order to empower African-American women requires investigating how social structural factors infuse the private domain of black women’s relationships (Hill- Collins, 1991, p. 179).

CONCLUSION

The scarcity of literature which focussed on the African-Caribbean British attitudes and experiences of sexual abuse necessitated an analytical process of investigation of literature from an array of disciplines. Yet having to work with the ‘negatives’ in regards to the paucity of literature on African- Caribbean British victim-survivor experiences produced a mixed theoretical framework consisting of: black feminist/ eminist, critical race, intersectionality, and post-colonial theory. Subsequently, although interpreting the available data from mixed theoretical framework was challenging, eventually this multi- disciplined method enabled a more deeply rich analysis to emerge; creating a ‘better picture’ of barriers which may have contributed to the ommision of a specific African-Caribbean British voice emerging.

Therefore, the reasons for the exclusion of African-Caribbean British women from research and dominant discourses on sexual violence and CSA are not clear. The social barriers of exclusion which may have obstructed their partcipation became more visible by the employment of a mixed theoretical approach. Jones and Trotman Jemmott’s (2009) work is a clear example of working inter-discipline to achieve a greater understanding the everyday lived experiences of victim-survivors from diverse cultures. Employing an anthropological perspective (Korbin, 1979; 1987a) to their investigation in the Eastern Caribbean enabled them to understand attitudes, help-seeking behaviours, and the role of patriarchy within a specific Eastern Caribbean perspective and thus give voice to victim-survivors in that region.

Similarly, black feminist and critical race interpretations especially in reagard to African-American women’s experiences of CSA and rape provide insight into how the political impact the personal agency of women traditionally associated with race (Crenshaw, 1991; Davis, 1982; Hill-Collins, 1991; White, 2001). In regards to African-Caribbean British perspectives on these issues Bogle, (1987), and Wilson (1993) have attempted to address the gaps in our understanding in respect to African-Caribbean British

women and CSA. However, although invaluable their work is eclipsed within British discourse on CSA which are ‘white normative’ (Cawson, Wattam, Kelly, & Brooker, 2000).

Additionally, the critique of patriarchy as the sole explanation of violence and oppression for women may have reinforced a climate whereby white feminist scholars became wary of investigating CSA from differing cultural standpoints, for fear of being labelled universalist even imperialist. Furthermore, black British feminist scholars may have been aware that focusing on such a contentious subject could lead to further negative scrutiny of African-Caribbean British communities who were already feeling a sense of precariousness in the UK.

The limited knowledge of African-Caribbean British perspectives on, and experiences of, CSA persists. This thesis is a contribution to filling some of the gaps. The study aims to explore barriers to disclosing CSA experiences and histories for African Caribbean British women. Parental responses to such disclosures of sexual abuse, attitudes to CSA within African-Caribbean British communities, the influence of racialisation/racism and positions of intersectionalities of race, gender and class on how female victim-survivors understand and employ agency in regard to seeking support for CSA histories.