Seksuālās vardarbības upuru stigmatizācija Latvijā

The aim of the study was to investigate how victims of sexual violence experience stigmatization in Latvia. The research design is a multiple case analysis. Four research questions were raised in the study: how do people who have experienced sexual violence describe stigmatization of people who have experienced sexual violence in Latvia; what are the most common forms of stigmatization of victims of sexual violence; what has been the source of personally perceived stigmatization in society and how this stigmatization has affected their actions after experiencing violence. Nine women aged 26 to 46 (M=32) participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Qualitative inductive content analysis was used for data analysis. The data analysis revealed that the sexual violence victims' stigmatization in Latvia has nine dimensions – “Concealing the violence”, “Self-doubt and self-blame”, “Unawareness of the violence”, “Institutional stigmatization”, “Retraumatization”, “Devaluation of personal experience”, “Gender stereotypes and prejudices”, “Disbelieving violence victim” and “Avoiding the victim”. The most common types of stigmatization of victims of sexual violence were “Concealing the violence”, "Avoiding the victim” and “Gender stereotypes and prejudices”. The study concluded that there were four sources of personally perceived stigmatization – self-stigmatization, institutional stigmatization, direct communication and public communication, however, it should be noted that perceptions and prejudices prevailing in the society should also be considered as a source of perceived stigmatization. Stigmatization of people who have experienced sexual violence has affected actions of the victims in several ways – often after experiencing violence victims had not known what the best course of action would be, stigmatization contributed to the fact that the experienced violence remained undisclosed, and it also affected victims' relationships with other people. The results of the study show that people who have experienced sexual violence often hide their experiences, therefore the thesis also provides recommendations for specialists who work with people who have experienced sexual violence, as well as for law enforcement, authorities and media workers.