"Rape is a part of life where I live" the normalization of girl-child sexual abuse in Jamaica
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This research focused on understanding the role of institutions, social and cultural factors, and women's socio-economic status in (re)producing and perpetuating the sexual abuse of girls in Jamaica. Using an interpretive phenomenology and a Caribbean Intersectional Feminist (CIF) lens, data were collected and examined from six child sexual abuse survivors, seven mother/daughter pairs (14) impacted by sexual abuse, four key experts, and a focus group of 12 persons from five select communities with high incidences of girl-child sexual abuse (GCSA), to understand how this feminised crime is maintained and normalised in Jamaica. The study indicates that girl-child sexual abuse (GCSA) is normalised in Jamaica and defended through the inattention to structural and systemic issues in communities highly impacted by violence and poverty. Gender inequalities, specifically women's socio-economic status, male impunity and privilege, institutional weakness, and trauma associated with structural violence, perpetuate GCSA. Finally, the way the law interprets childhood and child sexual abuse are constructed differently by men and women and the communities in which they live. These findings have important implications for child protection and family violence in Jamaica.
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Ph. D.