A Listening Guide Analysis of Women’s Experiences of Unacknowledged Rape

In the empirical literature, unacknowledged rape has been well documented. But due to ethical and methodological challenges, very few researchers have employed qualitative methods to examine unacknowledged rape. Through pre-screening and careful articulation of interview questions, these barriers were overcome, and 10 undergraduate women from the University of Windsor were interviewed about their experiences of unlabeled sexual assault. I used the Listening Guide to inform both the methodology and the data analysis. I identified three voices pertaining to rape acknowledgment. These voices were labeled the not knowing voice, the knowing voice, and the ambivalent voice, and I illustrate that rape acknowledgment is not dichotomous and that women can both simultaneously recognize and resist the labels of rape and sexual assault. This article addresses the need for a multidimensional understanding of rape acknowledgment. I discuss the implications the findings have for how we understand and respond to women, as they negotiate the labeling of coercive sexual experiences. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available to PWQ subscribers on PWQ's website at http://pwq.sagepub.com/supplemental