Regulating Bodies: Children and Sexual Violence. (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hlavka, Heather R.
• Other Names: Renzetti Claire M. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Violence against women. Volume 25:Number 16(2019)
• Page Start: 1956
• Page End: 1979
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: children and youth -- sexual violence -- discourse -- ethics; Abused women -- Periodicals; Women -- Crimes against -- Periodicals; Violent crimes -- Periodicals; Femmes victimes de violence -- Périodiques; Femmes, Crimes contre les -- Périodiques; Crimes violents -- Périodiques; 362.8292
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801219875817
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8012

Abstract

The interdisciplinary silences on sexual violence and the omission of children and youth from social science research speak volumes of the power of the child as a flexible, cultural signifier. In this article, I argue that dominant frameworks of children and childhood make child sexual assault a discursive impossibility for most young people. The epistemic violence of silencing matters, and it is these erasures that are fundamental to understanding violence and power. I argue it is paramount for feminist researchers to call attention to the undermining qualities of Institutional Review Boards that act as gatekeepers of representation and voice.