Queering Survival: LGBTQA People’s Experiences of Living Through Sexual Violence

The experiences of victim/survivors of sexual violence who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or asexual (“LGBTQA” people) are significantly under-researched and under-theorised. Most sexual violence studies have predominately focused on the victimisation experiences of cisgender, usually heterosexual, women. However, a growing body of research has found that LGBTQA people experience high rates of sexual violence across their lifetimes. While these studies provide some insight into the prevalence of sexual violence for LGBTQA people, there has been far less research into how sexual violence impacts LGBTQA victim/survivors’ lives, how they seek support, and how they heal and recover from these experiences. To address this knowledge gap, this doctoral research involved in-depth qualitative interviews with 18 LGBTQA people who have lived experience of sexual violence, as well as 29 workers from sexual violence support organisations and LGBTQA community organisations in two Australian States, Victoria and South Australia. The research aimed to “centre” the voices of LGBTQA victim/survivors and document their journeys in the aftermath of sexual violence, including how they sought support from formal services (such as rape crisis services and mental health services) and their personal networks (such as friends, partners, and LGBTQA community members).

Drawing from queer, trans, and feminist poststructural theories, this research problematises the notion of a “normal” survivor and demonstrates how cisnormativity and heteronormativity shape what is visible and knowable about sexual violence. In particular, it is argued that dominant discourses about sexual violence profoundly influence how LGBTQA victim/survivors are seen, understood, and responded to by others. For example, participants in this study explained that the “typical script” of sexual violence involves a cisgender heterosexual man assaulting a cisgender heterosexual woman – which excludes the experiences of many LGBTQA survivors. Additionally, LGBTQA survivors are affected by homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic social discourses which dismiss their experiences of sexual violence as less serious and blame them for “asking for” violence. Further, the support services available are predominately designed to support cisgender heterosexual women victim/survivors. In this thesis, it is argued that that LGBTQA survivors are caught in a discursive bind of “invisibility”/ “hypervisibility” in seeking support for sexual violence – simultaneously erased as “real” victims and constructed as an “Other” that service providers may be unable or unwilling to support (Bauer et al., 2009; Pyne, 2011). However, in the shadows of these dominant discourses and systems, LGBTQA survivors are creating their own narratives of harm and healing. This research contends that queer survivors hold “subjugated knowledge” about resisting and healing from violence in the context of ongoing oppressions. It is argued that there is much to be gained by queering understandings of sexual violence and survivorhood, including reducing stigma and shame, as well as offering alternative pathways to healing. Ultimately, this thesis honours the diversity of survivors’ experiences and reconceptualises sexual violence beyond cisgender and heterosexual norms – establishing future directions for service delivery, queer criminology, and sexual violence research.