Disclosing rape, seeking justice? Navigating the aftermath of sexual violence in digital society
Creators: name: O'NEILL, Tullia
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 440205
subject: Criminological theories
classificationCode: 500104
subject: Human rights and justice issues (excl. law)

description: Millions of victim-survivors have disclosed experiences of sexual violence in digital society. This thesis delves into this phenomenon, examining how and why victim-survivors speak out about their experiences in digital contexts. This research argues for the potential to understand these digital practices as a movement towards 'justice.' Within criminology, scholars have suggested that victim-survivors¿ online disclosures are tantamount to informal justice that occurs beyond the criminal justice system. Curiously, limited research has engaged directly with victim-survivors to ask them why they disclose online. This thesis contributes to a significant gap in research by engaging with victim-survivors to shape knowledge about their disclosure practices in digital society, drawing from data collected from a content analysis of a community on Reddit, as well as semi-structured interviews with victim-survivors who had used a variety of digital platforms as a means to disclose sexual violence. <br><br>
Three dominant findings are revealed in this research and several key themes recurrently emerge regarding victim-survivors¿ digital practices. Firstly, the research found that victim-survivors engage in varying and multiple digital practices, demonstrating how they navigate digital society by considering the consequences of disclosure. These potential consequences bear implications for victim-survivors¿ identities, and as a result, many prioritise community, safety, and particular audiences to hear their disclosures. Moreover, disclosures vary across public and private digital space and platforms fulfil different needs and purposes. Secondly, this research critically engages with a feminist politics of speaking out by examining how victim-survivors' disclosures are influenced by discourses that shape dominant understandings of sexual violence. The research found that disclosures are not inherently political, particularly when viewed from the perspectives of victim-survivors. Additionally, the findings provide a critical examination of #MeToo, signifying the empowering and silencing effects of this hashtag event and contributing unique reflections from victim-survivors who chose not to participate. By complicating the politics of 'speaking out' online, I argue that 'speaking in' is a significant digital practice among victim-survivors that has been overlooked in feminist and criminological research. While speaking out presented potential risks to victim-survivors; speaking in afforded safety, connection, and recognition.<br><br>
Lastly, this research demonstrates the potential for informal justice in digital society in the aftermath of sexual violence. By speaking with victim-survivors, I found that their perceptions of informal justice are partially hindered by the dominance of the justice system. Concurrently, the findings indicate that 'justice needs' such as recognition, validation, and belief were met in various ways through victim-survivors' digital practices, which affirmed that victim-survivors' perceptions of justice could be "kaleidoscopic" (McGlynn, Downes and Westmarland, 2017). Victim-survivors in this research were critical of criminal justice and were more likely to have turned to trauma discourses of healing, support, and recovery as a way to frame and understand their digital practices. Therefore, I argue that digital society provides spaces where justice and therapeutic outcomes can be pursued simultaneously. Through sharing and recognising experiences of sexual violence, this research contends that victim-survivors¿ participation in digital society presents the potential for a multiplicity of justice.