Working with survivors of sexual violence from a sex-positive perspective

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Sexual violence is a widespread social problem with a destructive range of sexual behaviors that are committed without consent and results in physical, psychological, and social consequences (Jewkes et al., 2002).The Center for Disease Control found that approximately 20% of women in the U.S. will be sexually assaulted or experience an attempted assault in their lifetime and more than one in 10 men are victims of sexual violence (Black et al., 2011).Survivors of sexual violence are at risk for a complex array of health problems.Two review articles (Van Berlo & Eisnik, 2000;Weaver, 2009) summarized the impact on survivors' sexual health specifically.Van Berlo and Eisnik (2000) concluded that less sexual contact, diminished sexual pleasure, and fear of sex are prevalent among survivors.Specific to women, Weaver (2009) found that the research supported three primary areas of impact: (a) genital injury and sexually transmitted infections, (b) reproductive and sexual functioning, such as painful menstruation and sexual intercourse, and (c) sexual behaviors, including high-risk behaviors.The sexual health of sexual assault survivors who are men, queer, or transgender is understudied (Black et al., 2011;Rothman et al., 2011;Stotzer, 2009).All facets of health are connected (Dahlberg & Krug, 2002).Social aspects of the sexual trauma contribute to negative psychological outcomes.Specifically, the relationship between the offender and the survivor is related to the survivor feeling damaged, guilt, and shame (Van Berlo & Eisnik, 2000).Intimate relationships between offender and survivor are shown to correlate with more severe psychological injuries, including dissociation and symptoms consistent with Borderline Personality Disorder (Freyd & Birrell, 2013).Psychological injuries of sexual violence can include self-blame, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and attempted or completed suicide (Basile & Smith, 2011;Chen et al., 2010;Tomasula et al. 2012;Weaver, 2009).Given these risks, we consider the role of sex-positivity to advance the health of sexual trauma survivors.