Aiha Zemp, Erika Pircher and Christine Neubauer

GenderLink Diversity Centre Occasional Papers No. 12 Salzburg, European Union, 1997

Sexual Exploitation of Girls and Women with Disabilities1

Theoretical Comments
The sexual exploitation of girls and women with disabilities remained a distinct taboo long after the general living conditions of women with disabilities no longer were. Although disabled women introduced this issue at the Cripple Tribunal in Dortmund in 1981, it took a full ten years until this topic was made public (Zemp 1991a, 8-11; Zemp 1991b, 39-44). The Tribunal was followed up by the pioneer initiative of the former Austrian Federal Minister of Womens Affairs, Johanna Dohnal, who chaired the first international symposium on this topic in November 19922. Approximately 160 women from nine countries participated in the Vienna meeting. It was indeed a moving experience to see how many of the participants had themselves been effected by sexual violence and not one of the experts on hand did not have their share of cases to report on. The extent of this hidden tragedy became recognizable for the first time. In-depth scientific research on the actual extent of this tragedy was then carried out in a survey of Austrian institutions (Zemp, Pircher 1996), the results of which will be presented in following. The topic, sexual exploitation of girls and women with disabilities, is strongly influenced by schizophrenic social assumptions concerning the sexuality of people with disabilities. On the one hand, society denies their sexuality; an active sexual life is, in many cases, consistently prevented through institutional preconditions or is explicitly forbidden by the institutional staff. On the other hand, individuals with a physical or mental disability are forced to experience sexual violence at home, in care centers, doctors offices or orthopedic centers, on the way to school, and in physiotherapy, among other places. People with disabilities live daily lives which are largely determined by others. Because of their dependence, lack of ability to articulate, and their stereotypical lack of credibility
1

This article is a translation of a German article originally published in: Amann, Gabriele et al (1997). Sexueller Mibrauch, Tbingen 2 International Symposium, Vienna 9-11.November, 1992. Combating Sexual Harassment/Violence against Women with Disabilities or At Night the Man without a Face Will Come Again (Gegen Sexuelle Belstigung/Gewalt an Frauen mit Behinderung oder in der Nacht kommt der Mann ohne Gesicht wieder). Organized by the Federal Ministry of Womens Affairs, Vienna.

their environment is indeed offender friendly. The testimony of rape victims with disabilities is regularly belittled as make-believe, commonly accompanied by discriminating comments such as: who would want one of those, anyway. This is made possible because society on the whole still considers sexual violence a petty offense. It is therefore not surprising that women with disabilities are not included as a specific group in statistics on rape victims. This, however, is not mainly the result of a lack of information on the gravity of the situation. Grisly proof of this during the last several years, for example, is the onset of the debate on forced sterilization of women with metal disabilities. One of the main justifications of this practice remains the admission that because women with mental disabilities experience a higher rate of sexual violence they are therefore more readily threatened with becoming pregnant against their will. In the study presented here, we have concentrated on women who live in an institutional setting because of their physical, mental, and/or psychological disabilities. By doing this we have sidestepped the controversy surrounding the issue concerning who, according to which criteria has a disability to which degree. Most attempts at defining this issue are merely descriptions of specific deficiencies rated according to a preconceived social norm. In this study we shall only differentiate between types of disabilities when they are significant when dealing with specific sets of questions. In these causes we will differentiate between women with mental, physical, and learning disabilities.

Definition
Zemp (1991a) defines sexual exploitation of people with disabilities as follows: Sexual exploitation of children and/or physically and/or mentally dependent individuals by adults (or adolescents) is a sexual act of an adult with a dependent individual who because of her/his emotional, intellectual, or physical development is not able to consent to this sexual act in a voluntary and informed manner. The adult and/or assistant makes use of her/his unequal power advantage vis--vis the dependent individual to convince or force her/him into compliance. The oath of silence required of the child and/or dependent individual commits her/him to speechlessness, vulnerability, and helplessness.3 We utilize an extensive definition of sexual violence. For us sexual exploitation begins at that point at which one person is used by another to satisfy specific needs. In order to achieve this sexual gratification, acts are committed against or demanded of an individual that are, in our culture, seen as being related to sexuality. These acts range from disrespectful comments about an individuals body, touching of genitals, up to and including sexual intercourse. These acts are mainly made possible because of disparate access to power resources and usually occur against the will of the individual forced to experience these acts. Rape is therefore at the extreme end of a spectrum including attacks of a bodily sexual nature as well as verbal and visual nature, such a suggestive whistling, obscene comments, exhibitionism, or the use of pornography. The concept, rape, includes all forms of penetration (vaginal, anal, and oral with a penis, finger, or other object). Our definition is intentionally extension because suggestive whistling and patting on the rear do not occur in a vacuum, but rather are embedded in a social context in which, as a rule, men perpetrate such gestures and actions and women are generally thereby relegated to the role of physical objects of such activity. This means
3

based on Sgroi 1982, 13.

that gestures of this nature are manifest expressions of the power relationship between men and women. These power relationships are intensified many times over in cases in which women with disabilities are effected. Their sexual exploitation is a further expression of the general contempt for people with disabilities and is indeed one of the most severe manifestations of this phenomenon. Our approach is feminist. It is based on the recognition of the fact that patriarchal power structures are the main source of sexual violence against women and children. In this context patriarchal power structures refer to the hierarchical comprehensive organization of all social institutions, thus necessarily including the area of social relationships. In this context women do not merely enjoy limited access to economic, political, and social power. These structures are intended to suppress and exploit women. A feminist approach therefore includes not only the individual or interactional level, but also the overriding economic, legal, and social services levels as well. Feminist research examines the significance that sexual violence has for the maintenance of male dominance. This approach emphasizes the fact that sexual exploitation is only then possible when it can rely on the existence of a socially based unequal distribution of power. Procedural concepts of masculinity, sexuality, and ownership are produced within this set of structures. Sexual exploitation is a subjugation ritual that serves the maintenance of these structures. The traditional family is one of the central pillars of this construction. The traditional family not only is based on gender inequality and exploitation, it also encourages these phenomena. The historical analysis presented by Dobash and Dobash (1979) demonstrates both that women are systematically subjugated through the use of violence within the patriarchal system and how this subjugation functions. In this context the economic devaluation of female reproductive activity and the male appropriation of the position of marital head of household are both important stations on the path towards the complete undermining of female power. Our research goal and object are explicitly conceived to fulfill the needs and interests of women with disabilities. We thereby intentionally replace impartiality and neutrality with partisan awareness and thereby utilize subjectivity in a conscious and transparent manner. Internationally, as shall be demonstrated in the following chapter, empirical research data on the topic of sexual exploitation of girls and women with disabilities remains a rarity. For this reason we have placed particular emphasis on the quantitative aspects of this study, especially considering the need to demonstrate the urgency of practical measures in this area. We are, nevertheless, aware of the limitations that quantitative research methods entail. The research abstinence in respect to the topic sexual exploitation of girls and women with disabilities is indeed enormous. The germanophone countries are not alone in their lack of surveys and statistical evaluations in this field, this analytical weakness exists Europe-wide. Currently a limited number of publications have dealt with aspects of this topic, and within the last three years a variety of graduate level studies have been carried out, especially in Germany. In this context, the only research to be completed to date on Sexual Violence against People with Mental Disabilities (Noack/Schmid 1994) was carried out in a study on the understanding of this issue within institutions offering services for the disabled.

As opposed to Western Europe, research results are available in the US and Canada (Becker 1995, 42). These are the only studies that specifically deal with sexual violence against children with developmental disorders. Several of these studies present results taken from studies dealing mainly with other population groups, others were specifically projected to deal with this topic. All of these studies have common weaknesses stemming either from methodological problems or sampling procedure. This means that their results can only be generalized in a limited manner. The researchers in the US were hampered in their attempts to include people with disabilities living either in institutions or homes for the elderly because these establishments denied them access. Furthermore, these researchers were not equipped with a means of overcoming the barriers existing between themselves and people with disabilities that severely limited their ability to communicate verbally. This led the US studies to emphasis people with mild mental retardation (Stromsness 1993, 139), i.e., a category comparable with the so called learning disabilities in the germanophone countries. Irrespective of these difficulties, the studies did make it quite clear that people with disabilities suffer from significantly higher violence exposure in all areas than comparable population groups without disabilities. At the outset we assumed that sexual violence is an expression of a power relationship. Staub-Bernasconi differentiates between limiting and disabling power. In connection with sexual violence we can assume that we are dealing with disabling power because in this context the control and distribution of goods and resources, and thereby the equipping of individuals and social systems, is carried out according to characteristics that are invariable, such as gender, age, skin color, family heritage, ethnic belonging, geographic position, constitution, among others (power as feudal, patriarchal caste structure, class society). (1989, 9) We have defined these various sources of power in detail and have formulated our survey based on these theses. People with disabilities exist in a power distribution imbalance in respect to their power over resources As a rule, people without disabilities are at a physical advantage when relating to people with disabilities. In many situations people with disabilities must often rely on assistance from third parties, e.g., hygiene, the preparation and consumption of meals, mobility within and outside the home. Potential offenders often only need to threaten their victims with disabilities in order to get their way. For this reason we have dealt with the interrelationship between dependency and sexual violence. People with disabilities exist in a power distribution imbalance in respect to their articulation and cognitive power The speechlessness of many victims contrasts with the offenders lingual power. Many people with disabilities do not have access to verbal communication. Others are speechless because the have never benefited from sex education and therefore neither understand nor are able to explain what is happening to them when they experience sexual violence. Oaths of silence often demanded of victims are reinforced through threats of violence against victims themselves as well as emphasizing impending danger for the offender. People with disabilities usually have no means of testing the validity of

statements made by offenders. They are thereby, even when unable to express this, saddled with the burden of proof. We were therefore interested in determining which role credibility plays in this context and whether or not this is interrelated to the extent to which individuals have been educated about their bodies and sexuality. People with disabilities exist in a power distribution imbalance in respect to their positional power The social positions in which people with disabilities find themselves as well as the different positions socially allocated to women and men play a significant role in obscuring sexual violence. All people with disabilities (not only the mentally disabled) are usually not considered fully mature, i.e., they are seen as being socially immature and thus subordinate. Girls and women with disabilities are forced into a doubly impotent position: i.e., because of their disabilities and their gender. We were therefore interested in determining which role the interrelationship between self-determination and sexual violence plays in this context. People with disabilities exist in a power distribution imbalance in respect to their organizational power This source of power is probably the least developed within the family or institution. We have limited our survey to women who live in an institutional setting. A home for the disabled is always a ghetto situation, thus placing its residents in a more or less severe state of isolation. People with disabilities are rarely able to freely determine with whom, when, and how they choose to network because of their state of forced immaturity, the geographical isolation of their living situation, or the social exclusion in which they find themselves. People with disabilities are usually represented or are forced to allow themselves to be represented by people without disabilities. They are therefore extremely limited in their ability to individually and voluntarily determine the character of their daily lives and the structures controlling them.

The Results of the Study

The few studies completed to date have concentrated mainly on women with learning disabilities. In contrast, we have survey all those women in the various participating Austrian institutions who volunteered for the study, irrespective of the nature of their disability. This study was conceived as an exploratory survey incorporating issues such as the interrelationship between dependency and sexual violence, credibility, the interrelationship between sex education and sexuality, and the social position and organization of people with disabilities. On Site - Women Speak Out A questionnaire based survey of women with disabilities plays a central role in this study. Although we are aware of the limitations that questionnaire based surveys entail when dealing with sensitive topics such as this, the severe lack of empirical data in this field of research seemed to make this research form necessary. Only women with disabilities

resident in institutions were included. Because this population category is not centrally registered in Austria our sample was based on the listings published in the brochure sterreich sozial 94/95 - or Social Austria 94/95 - (Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs 1994), which includes all institutions active in the field of social welfare. The preliminary telephone survey resulted in a total of 1,576 women living in institutions serving people with disabilities (excluding psychiatric wards and homes for the elderly). The survey was carried out in nine institutions in five Austrian states. On the whole, these were institutions in which women with learning and mental disabilities, sensory and multiple disabilities lived. Only one home served women with physical disabilities exclusively. The survey included all voluntary participants wishing to be interviewed, irrespective of whether they had had experiences with sexual violence or not. We also carried out additional in-depth interviews with those women willing to give detailed reports of their experiences. Furthermore, we carried out 19 structured interviews with the representatives of the respective institutions (home administration, pedagogical teams, counselors and assistants) as well as six interviews with superordinate experts (e.g. psychiatry, social welfare, legal affairs) who were active in the various fields covered by the study. These interviews concentrated on the cognitive understanding of sexual violence as an issue and the view these individuals shared on the human nature of people with disabilities. The questionnaire based survey phase was carried out in the institutions themselves. Trained female interviewers explained the purpose and goals of the study to the potential interview partners in simple and easily understandable language and subsequently asked them to participate. 90% of all those women who attended the orientation meeting were willing to be interviewed. Ten participants did not respond to the questions ask so that, in total, 130 questionnaires could be adequately evaluated. In the following, the presentation will be limited to those aspects of the survey dealing directly with issues connected to the sexual violence. Biographical Data The average age of all women interviewed was 34. Over two thirds of the women interviewed, 79.4%, were single, 4% were married, 1.6% were divorced or separated, and 2.4% were widowed. Five women had children which, however, did not live with them. 12.7% of the women currently had a partner. The majority of those women participating categorized themselves - or were categorized by others- as being mentally disabled (57.5%). 23.3% of the participants were physically disabled exclusively, 12.5% had multiple disabilities. As far as we were able to determine, 81.5% of the women had pre- or perinatal disabilities. The rest had disabilities resulting either from illness or accidents later in life. Concerning the Possible Interrelationship of Structural Violence, the Lack of an Intimate Sphere, and Sexual Violence The care of people with disabilities is organized in a relationship-framework offering a variety of possibilities to use violence. People with disabilities are, for example, integrated into a particularly dependent relationship to the institutional personnel. The

status of constant dependency concerning areas of daily physical needs (e.g., eating, bathing, dressing and undressing, using the toilette) can easily be misused to facilitate sexual exploitation. Does the degree of dependency on others and the type of assistance required in daily life also indicate the degree to which potential offenders might misuse this status to use sexual violence? 71.5% of all those interviewed were dependent on some sort of assistance in their daily lives; 17.7% did not need any help whatsoever. In 10.8% of all cases this question was not sufficiently answered. Because of the lack of skilled personell in many institutions most women can not choose from whom they wish to receive assistance. Although the overwhelming majority of all personell - as is the case in most social service professions are female, cases do exist in which women with disabilities are dependent on assistance from male personell. This situation is of particular significance considering the fact that only in a minority of the institutions surveyed - approximately one third - was work with people with disabilities based on a gender specific approach. We attribute this situation to a wide spread sexual taboo in respect to the people with disabilities and their sexuality. Almost half of those experts interviewed did not understand the question when ask about the potential interrelationship between structural and sexual violence. Only after suggesting possible cases - e.g., that residents with disabilities did not live in single rooms (close to 18% of those women questioned had to share their bedrooms with one or more persons) or that the bathroom or toilette could not be used in privacy - did the experts recognize a possible connection. The child neurologist Berger4 explained this situation in the following terms: The infantilization of individuals in institutions corresponds with the denial and prohibition of self-determination and thus naturally of self-determination in all areas of human interaction. Thus, such individuals are severely limited in the area of sexual relationships, including all forms of saying no. Only four of the 19 interviewed experts considered their institutions to offer a sufficiently respected intimate sphere. Our Ladies Know When They Have Their Periods, But Why Sex Education and Contraception The questionnaire emphasized - along with the issue of sexual violence - questions concerning sex education because we assumed that the womens level of vulnerability to sexual violence was related to their lack of information. The following tendencies can be ascertained from the survey data base: On average, the level of sex education among women with disabilities is low. 34.7% do not understand their sexual functions; 17.6% did not answer the question or were unable to figure out what we were asking. It can be assumed that a percentage of these women had no sex education whatsoever. Considering these results it can be stated that approximately half of all women interviewed can be considered uneducated concerning their own sexuality. One staff member described the situation as follows: Our ladies know when they have their periods, but why they have them and that they
4

Expert interview with associate professor Dr. Berger, head of the neurological ward of the Rosenhgel Hospital for Children and Youths in Vienna.

will someday no longer have them, that theyve never heard. Significantly, 38.5% of all women were unable to explain why women menstruate. Of all aspects of sex education the difference between men and women was most readily answered by the participants (64.6%). The women knew least about male ejaculation (46.2%). 47.7% of the women knew what was involved in the act of sexual intercourse and 51.5% knew that it could result in pregnancy. 46.2% of the women knew what sexual violence was. Considering the fact that the institutions do not offer a comprehensive course on sexual violence this percentage does seem quite high. It is remarkable that 43.1% of the women stated that they were informed about contraception. It can be assumed that this is representative of the group that practices some form of contraception themselves. The school system (9.1%) was the most important sex education institution, followed by the family (8.4%). All other areas surveyed in the study played next to no role whatsoever. The expert interviews reveal that the majority of all staff members felt overwhelmed and not properly competent to provide sex education to people with disabilities. This state of affairs is particularly grave considering the fact that many women spend decades in homes and that these institutions should therefore accept responsibility for various training, educational, and socializational activities. The majority of these institutions have no well conceived sex education program. To which degree do the women use contraceptives and which contraceptives do they prefer? Nearly 71% of all women interviewed do not currently use contraceptives. A percentage of them, about on third, has been sterilized. More women use contraceptives, however, than presently have a partner. The former applies to 16.2% of all participants, whereas approximately 12% of the women currently have a relationship. Of the total number of women presently using contraceptives, i.e. 21 out of 130, most of them use the pill (62%), the three month injection is the second most common form (23.8%) available to these women. Condoms (4.8%) and spirals (9.5%) play a subordinate role.

A Phenomenon of Incredible Proportions: Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Using an extensive definition of sexual exploitation, we shall differentiate here between two specific forms of this phenomenon: sexual harassment and sexual violence. 114 out of 130 women interviewed answered the question concerning sexual harassment. 62% thereof stated that they had experience sexual harassment one or more times during their lives. 116 women answered the question on sexual violence. 64% thereof stated that they had been the victim of sexual violence one or more times during their lives. According to these results women with disabilities suffer from a much higher degree of exposure to sexual violence than do women without disabilities. According to a study by Draijer (1988) 34% of all women without disabilities have had experience with sexual violence. The most common forms of harassment are stupid jokes about the body, e.g., fat pig. This is followed by unpleasant touching, including caressing the hair or obscene jokes. The most common form of sexual violence is the unpleasant touching of a womans breasts or genitals against her will (44.6%). This is also a form of sexual violence that is relatively easy to use in daily life without being noticed. There is also a high frequency of women being hugged or kissed in a way that made them feel sexually threatened (29.2%). Rape and attempted rape are almost as common (26.2%). It can be demonstrated that one quarter of all women with disabilities has had this experience. Normally these women experience sexual violence more than once in their lives. Offenders are present in the entire spectrum of experiences in which women grow up, live, and work. The threat of sexual violence exists in the family setting, in institutions, therapeutic and medical settings, at school, at work, and during recreation. In the hierarchy of most frequent offenders three groups stick out. In 39.4% of all cases the offender was someone who lived outside the institution but was known by the victim. These individuals can include friends, as in the case of Ms. Dagmar S. This interview partner is 17 years old and had been living in one of the apartment co-ops we visited for five months. She was forced, during a hike in the forest with friends one year ago, to have oral intercourse with a male friend. He lured her away from the group to a nearby underpass, where nobody could see them, and then raped her. The category other - unknown was the second most common group in this study, with 23.1%. This includes casual street acquaintances, unfamiliar men, or persons that the women are unable to place, or whom they would recognize, but are unable to name. The example of a 43 year old woman with Down-syndrome is a typical case in this respect. She lives alone in a supervised apartment. The offender, whose name she does not even know, visits her once a week, always on Wednesdays. At first they sit and chat on the coach, which she likes a lot because she is so often alone. But then that other thing, that is not so nice, happens. She demonstrates how he masturbates and forces her to

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watch him. This woman knows nothing about sex except male ejaculation, which she is forced to witness once a week. In 13% of all cases the offender is a fellow home resident. The problematic area of male offenders with disabilities has not yet been dealt with in the international literature. Men with disabilities behave in the same manner as men without disabilities in a characteristically patriarchal society, strongly influence by sexism, contempt and violence against women. Ms. Margarethe B. is a case in point. She is 46 years old, has a physical disability and has been a resident of one of the institutions we studied for the last seven years. A fellow resident forced me to accompany him to his room; he has MS and the other one had an occupational accident; theyre both in wheelchairs. And I was supposed to help them masturbate, including getting undressed and joining them myself. The open question as to whether male offenders with disabilities use violence against fellow residents as a result of the isolation inherent in such institutions, or whether they see sexuality as a form of violence because of their socialization - be it direct experience of via the media - is an issue which will have to be dealt with in a separate survey. As opposed to the offender groups mentioned above, our study indicates that relatively few offenders are members of the immediate family or are relatives of the victim (6.1%). This figure should be questioned, however, because it does indeed seem likely that many victims included relatives to the group others - known because they where afraid of betraying family members and feared for their own safety. In 34.9% of all cases sexual violence was used against women within the institutions; the same percentage occurred in the category outside the institutions; 22.2% of the women experienced sexual violence at home, either in the family or in their apartment, in those cases in which they lived alone. The other environmental categories were of no significance. There are no quantitative differences between violence experienced inside or outside the institutions. Differences do exist, however, in respect to the type of violence experienced. Within the institutions it is very common that women are forced to completely undress (54.5%) or to watch pornographic films (62.5%). Rape (32.1%) and threats in the form of flashing or touching of genitals (55.5%) occur primarily outside the institutions. When confronted with suspicions or actual cases of sexual violence, most of the experts employed in these institutions react awkwardly. Only five of those interviewed actually knew how they would deal with the current cases. 75% feel overwhelmed by such problems and have no idea what they should do. A typical reaction is that of a psychologist at one of the large institutions who said she would like to take action immediately, but, on the other hand, Im afraid of the publicity, I dont want the facility to get in the papers. This attitude demonstrates the way offenders are dealt with. Whereas most of the experts have less difficulty disciplining offenders amongst the staff by either firing them or reporting them to the authorities, many seem to have no idea how to react to cases in which the institutions residents with disabilities are themselves the offenders. Transferring offenders with disabilities to another institution seems to be the only currently available reaction to this problem, and it is indeed not satisfactory. To forcefully remove offenders with disabilities from the institutional setting altogether appears to be currently impossible, as the statement of a member of a leadership team after being confronted with such a case - seems to indicate. This is the dramatic

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situation at present within the institutions for the disabled. Once someone is on the inside it is almost impossible for them to be thrown out. In the mean time we have tried to deal with violence in the facilities by stating as forcefully as possible: This is the date you move out, and we dont care where to. Weve at least gone that far. What Encourages Exposure to Violence? According to the theses stated at the outset, some specific factors do exist that seem to encourage the use of violence within institutions. We assumed that the following numbered among the most important: type of disability, structure of the institution and/or living conditions, and the lack of sex education. The data analysis has, however, not produced conclusive results in this area. As far as the type of disability is concerned, women with learning disabilities do seem to suffer from a higher exposure to sexual violence (72%), as compared to women with physical (65%) and mental (62%) disabilities. These value differentials are, however, below levels of statistical significance. The same is true of the structure of the institution and/or living conditions of the victims (be they large homes, small homes, apartment co-ops within an institution, independent co-ops, or supervised apartments). None of these seem to significantly influence exposure to sexual violence; all housing forms have their share of offenders and victims. A significant correlation does exist, however, between the level of knowledge about sexuality and exposure to sexual violence; in a manner that we did not expect. Many women with disabilities have their first introduction to sex education in and through a violent sexual experience. The history of Ms. Betty R. is a shocking case in point. We had war refugees at home, they dragged me into the barn, they undressed me, they wanted to stick their penis in me and I started to yell and scream, because all that violence hurts. Yeah, and then my mother said, now you know what sex is all about. Ms. Betty R. was about seven at the time and was raped by seven war refugees. Yeah, I told mommy, I dont want that, that they undress me and stick their penis in and that was that. And then she told me, at least you now know how hard things are, that you know whats going on when you go to bed with a man. And then I said, you can explain it in another way, too. The Effects of Sexual Violence 73% of all those women who experienced sexual violence (74 out of 130) confided what happened to them to someone else. This is an astonishingly high percentage considering the consequences for the individual women involved. In most cases rape is accompanied by massive threats and intimidation from the respective offender, including claims that nobody would believe her anyway, that she wanted it, or that the family will be destroyed if it is found out, among others. Taking the step to accuse an offender is, in any case, associated with feelings of self-doubt and fear. When the women do confide their experiences to somebody else it is usually a female staff member (50%). A smaller percentage entrusts their experiences to their mother or aunt (15,3%). The women tend to be very isolated, however, when the use of violence occurs within the family, mainly stemming from a foster father, stepfather or natural father. The statements documented in the interviews demonstrate that many women have keep these experiences to themselves for a long period of time. They only then dare

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reveal what had happened to them after they had left their family home and were thus no longer directly threatened by the family and/or father. The interviews we carried out for this survey show that the victims mothers - from their daughters vantage point - usually do not play a very positive role, as in the case of Ms. Sylvia T., who was, during a period of ten years (7-17), raped by her father several times each day. He tried everything out on her, leaving out no form of abnormality. In all these years Ms. Sylvia T. confided her experiences to nobody, keeping them to herself. She was afraid of her violence prone father who had threatened to kill her. She did not tell her mother because she did not want to hurt her and she would not have believed me anyway. When these female victims did inform someone of the violence they had experienced and had named the offender this did not necessarily mean that this would have consequences for him. Rape continues to be dealt with under the auspices of male norms and legal thinking. Discriminatory male jurisprudence becomes even more obvious when dealing with women with disabilities whose social position is even lower than that of women in general. The lack of success in bringing rape cases to trail is demonstrated by the data collected by this survey. 54 of the 74 women reporting having experienced sexual violence confided in someone. This led to countermeasures in only 22 cases; in ten of which the administration (only) had a serious talk with the offender, in four cases the offender was reported to the authorities and convicted, in three cases the case was closed, in the few remaining cases the offender was either transferred or received a similar reprimand. In those cases in which the offender is a home resident, the administration usually has a serious talk with him in which they warn him to cease harassing his fellow residents. Experience has shown that this method only improves the situation for a very short period of time. The harassment then begins again and in most cases is repeated many times. The fact that most institutions have no contingency plans for dealing with male residents as sexual offenders demonstrates that they still do not appreciate the seriousness of the situation and are totally overwhelmed when it does occur. Individual cases have been documented in the past in which staff members who have used sexual violence are merely transferred, sometimes to other institutions for people with disabilities that have no knowledge of the offenders record. In one of the cases included in this survey the offender remained in the same institution and in another nobody believed the female victim. Many women have let us know that the respective administrations consider the homes reputation more important than the welfare of its residents.

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Concluding Observations
The explorative study presented here is groundbreaking in several ways. An extensive data base in this area was gathered for the first time on both women with learning and mental disabilities. Until now women with mental disabilities had been almost completely ignored. Furthermore, this survey was carried out in those institutions in which people with disabilities lived. This approach expands the understanding of experiences with violence by imbedding the experience individual women have had with violence into the organizational and functional environment of the specific institutions involved in this field. We were unable to demonstrate an interrelationship between the structural violence used in such institutions and the level and frequency of sexual violence in these institutions. We were, however, able to isolate many indications that structural violence does exist (e.g., the lack of respect for the intimate sphere). The central research results can be summed up within the following three spheres, which distinctly illuminate the ways in which the self-understanding and mode of operation within these institutions effects the phenomenon studied here. Firstly, a significant interrelationship exists between the level of sex education and the degree of exposure to sexual violence, however in a correlation that we did not expect, i.e., the better the level of sexual understanding the higher the tendency to have experienced sexual violence. Secondly, 64% of the women interviewed had experienced sexual violence once or more often in their lifetime, i.e., that is more than half of all participants. This means that women with disabilities demonstrate a higher exposure rate to sexual violence than women without disabilities. Thirdly, the third largest offender group is made up of the male residents of the homes for people with disabilities. Until now this fact has not been reflected in the scientific literature on the subject. The future prevention and reduction of sexual violence against women with disabilities depends on a set of interlocking factors, including legal measures, institutional reforms, and social and individual variables. This study, at the very least, has added further significant data to the effort towards increasing public awareness and understanding for this importance of the subject at hand.

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graph 1: level of sex education

educational aspects yes no no answer or "I dont know"5 9.2 13.0 21.6 15.4 16.1 20.2 20.0 25.4

difference woman-man menstruation male ejaculation sexual intercourse pregnancy contraception birth sexual violence

64.6 48.5 32.3 47.7 51.5 43.1 46.9 46.2

26.2 38.5 46.2 36.9 32.3 36.2 33.1 28.5

graph 2: degree of impact

sexual harassment absolute yes no total 71 43 114 percent 62.3 37.7 100.0 74 42 116 sexual violence absolute percent 63.8 36.2 100.0

graph 3: forms of sexual harassment (in percentage)

sexual harassment stupid comments about body to undress with the eyes obscene jokes to caress the hair yes 33.8 15.4 21.5 24.6 no 53.1 50.0 60.8 60.0 no answer or "I dont know" 13.0 34.6 17.7 15.4

The women interviewed either did not respond specifically or said I dont know.

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graph 4: forms of sexual violence (in percentage)

form of violence - Did someone shock you by showing you his/her genitals? - Did someone force you, against your will, to touch his/her genitals? - Did someone, against your will, touch your breasts in an unpleasant way or touch your genitals, or even try to do this? - Did someone hug you or kiss you in a way that made you feel sexually threatened? - Did anyone have or try to have any form of sexual intercourse with you whatsoever against your will? - Did anyone force you to watch sexual acts against your will? - Did anyone ever force you to undress in front of him/her? - Did anyone ever force you to watch pornographic films? yes 9.2 19.2 44.6 no 72.3 63.1 41.5 no answer "I dont know" 18.5 17.6 13.8

29.2 26.2 7.7 12.3 6.2

53.1 53.1 65.7 70.8 66.9

17.7 20.8 27.0 17.0 27.0

graph 5: frequency of women with disabilities exposure to sexual violence

absolute experience with violence none once twice three times four times five times six times total 42 27 11 14 8 6 8 116 36.1 23.3 9.5 12.1 6.9 5.2 6.9 100.0 percent

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graph 6: categories of offenders

offenders other - known other - unknown fellow resident foster / stepfather father taxi-bus driver female staff member male staff member uncle doctor not going to tell brother therapist total absolute 77 45 26 12 6 6 6 4 4 3 3 2 1 195 percent 39.4 23.1 13.3 6.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 2.1 2.1 1.5 1.5 1.0 0.5 100.0

graph 7: distribution of violence according to environment (in percentage)

violent environments institution outside of institution at home workplace everywhere school total absolute 52 52 33 9 2 1 149 percent 34.9 34.9 22.2 6.0 1.3 0.7 100.0

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graph 8: Who have women confided in?

contact person female staff mother, aunt male staff administra-tion, director friend others total absolute 23 7 6 4 4 2 46 percent 50.0 15.3 13.0 8.7 8.7 4.3 100.0

graph 9 Which measures were taken?

type of measure administration spoke with offender report to authorities, conviction report to authorities - case closed victim not believed offender suspended offender transferred offender still in institution others total absolute 10 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 22 Percent 45.5 18.2 13.6 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 100.0

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About the authors

Aiha Zemp. Ph.D., Switzerland/Ecuador GenderLink, Network for Social Research [email protected] Erika Pircher. Ph.D., Austria GenderLink, Network for Social Research Christine Neubauer. Ph.D. Ass. Prof., Austria GenderLink, Network for Social Research
Translation: Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, Ph.D. Austria/Lebanon

All at: Mirabellplatz 9, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria-EU t: 0043-662-886635-13, f: 886623-9, e-mail: [email protected], www.diversitycentre.org

index
contraception disability offender power rape sex education sexuality sexual exploitation sexual harassment sexual violence sterilization structural violence

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bibliography
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