- 著者
-
湯野川 礼
- 出版者
- 社会学研究会
- 雑誌
- ソシオロジ (ISSN:05841380)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.53, no.3, pp.39-54,176, 2009
Increases in child abuse are widely known. In this paper, I look at sexual abuse andhow it develops and is sustained in society. In considering this matter, I have focusedon the narratives of women in a self-help group who were the victims of sexual abuse.I have also derived data from previous research regarding why abuse victims are heldpersonally responsible, and why this is portrayed as the composition of child abuseproblems. In this paper, my aim is to reveal how these aspects are connected with thenarratives of sexual abuse victims. Instances of child sexual abuse are generally thought to be limited in number whencompared with other types of child abuse. In a report prepared by a children's guidanceclinic in 2004, sexual abuse cases represented only 3-5% of the total. Yet reports in thefield of clinical psychiatry state that sexual abuse in childhood is the cause of 15% ofadult mental instabilities. From this data, we can assume that victims suffer from mentalinstabilities which can be recognized by both the victim and her doctor. We can alsoconclude that it is very difficult for children to seek help. Sexual abuse problems have been perceived as the problems of the assailants.But when we interpret sexual abuse as a social problem from the viewpoint ofsocial-constructivism, victims are concerned about the problems and can be seen as"actors." When we think about reasons for sexual abuse as a social problem, we have tothink about the meaning for these "actors" as well. When the victims detect the problemsand the situation and begin to talk with other people about their experience, theybecome active "actors." When I focused on the victims' narratives, some representativenarratives came to light which I defined as the dominant stories of the self-help group.Then I found that the victims of sexual abuse have a passive existence in the compositionof sexual abuse as a serious social problem. As a result, this paper concludes that nocure can be found for these victims.