Speaking Out: Representations of Childhood and Sexual Abuse in the Media, Memoir and Public Inquiries

Prior to the 1970s, the public sharing of experiences of child sexual abuse was almost unheard of (Davis 2005). There were no survivor groups agitating for political action, no distinct genre of memoirs documenting experience of abuse and its effects, and the establishment of public inquiries typically occurred only in response to isolated incidents or crises of limited scope. The term “child abuse” was just coming into common parlance, and child sexual abuse was not yet an issue of major public concern. Today, the picture is markedly different. There are now organized survivor groups in many countries advocating for justice and redress for abuse suffered in childhood. Public disclosures by adults of their experiences of child sexual assault are widely made through the media and in autobiographical literature. And official inquiries across many jurisdictions have now investigated the sexual exploitation of children not as isolated incidents but as a widespread and systemic problem involving organizational failures to properly care for and protect young people.