Psyber News
Year : 2018, Volume : 9, Issue : 1
First page : ( 48) Last page : ( 52)
Print ISSN : 0976-0709.

Victim or Survivor: Perceived Identity

Mittal Shalini, Singh Tushar

Online published on 20 September, 2019.

Abstract

Sexual violence is a painful experience and with the rising incidents of such crimes, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the various issues being faced by the women who encountered sexual violence. The current paper comprehensively examines the victim/survivor dichotomy bringing to light the pros and cons of the terminology. It discusses the unidirectional and forced nature of labeling an individual with terms that were meant to describe their experience rather than defining their identity. There is a lack of linguistic options available to the women who have faced sexual violence to describe their experiences and hence many people suggest not labeling them as ‘victim ’or ‘survivor ’. Rather, they suggest using a phrase such as ‘women who have faced sexual violence ’or considering their own ‘freedom of choice ’to decide what they want being called or what they identify with. The paper further attempts to find a solution in Amartya Sen's concepts of ‘multiple identities ’and/or ‘identity disregard ’.

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