Surfacing (im)possible victims: A critical review of the role of gender,sexuality and power in constructing the conditions of possibility for South African victims of female sex crimes

Abstract

Female sex abuse (FSA) has recently gained increased visibility in academia, the legal and mental health systems and the media both globally and in South Africa. However, the academic research currently in circulation is primarily focused on abusers, resulting in very limited information on the victims. Victim data that is available is based mainly on studies conducted with these abusers. FSA victimhood is underexplored and many victims remain invisible to the criminal justice and health systems and are barely discernible as objects of human science knowledge. Despite the accent on vulnerable populations and human rights in the contemporary world, there is very little work on precisely why these victims remain invisible. This article therefore aims to explore the role of gender, sexuality and power in shaping the conditions of (im)possibility for the construction of FSA victimhood. This will be achieved by reviewing the current literature in circulation concerning FSA specifically and gender and sexuality more broadly. The key objective of this review will be to identify the intersections between FSA victimhood and gender, power and sexuality in order to illuminate the discursive coordinates that limit FSA victims from occupying a victim subject position. Consequently, this article will expose power relations operant in society and, in turn, call for a more complex, variable and dynamic understanding of both gender and sexuality as instruments and effects of modern power.