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 Women’s 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
their environment is indeed offender friendly. The testimony of rape victims with

1
This article is a translation (Sensenig) of a German article originally published in: Amann, Gabriele et
al (1997). Sexueller Mißbrauch, Tübingen
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
Belästigung/Gewalt an Frauen mit Behinderung oder in der Nacht kommt der Mann ohne Gesicht
wieder). Organized by the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Vienna.
 2

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-à-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 individual’s 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
that gestures of this nature are manifest expressions of the power relationship between
3
based on Sgroi 1982, 13.
 3

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.
 4

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
 5

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
 6

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
“österreich 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
 7

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 women’s 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 Rosenhügel
Hospital for Children and Youths in Vienna.
 8

will someday no longer have them, that they’ve 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.
 9

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 woman’s
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
 10

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; they’re 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, I’m afraid of the publicity, I don’t 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 institution’s 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
 11

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 don’t care where to. We’ve 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 don’t 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
what’s 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
 12

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 daughter’s 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 home’s reputation more important than the welfare of its
residents.
 13

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.
 14

graph 1: level of sex education

educational aspects yes no no answer or

"I don’t know"5
difference woman-man 64.6 26.2 9.2
menstruation 48.5 38.5 13.0
male ejaculation 32.3 46.2 21.6
sexual intercourse 47.7 36.9 15.4
pregnancy 51.5 32.3 16.1
contraception 43.1 36.2 20.2
birth 46.9 33.1 20.0
sexual violence 46.2 28.5 25.4

graph 2: degree of impact

sexual harassment sexual violence

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

graph 3: forms of sexual harassment (in percentage)

sexual harassment yes no no answer or "I

don’t know"
stupid comments about body 33.8 53.1 13.0
to “undress with the eyes” 15.4 50.0 34.6
obscene jokes 21.5 60.8 17.7
to caress the hair 24.6 60.0 15.4

5
The women interviewed either did not respond specifically or said “I don’t know.
 15

graph 4: forms of sexual violence (in percentage)

form of violence yes no no answer "I

don’t know"
- Did someone shock you by showing you his/her 9.2 72.3 18.5
genitals?
- Did someone force you, against your will, to touch 19.2 63.1 17.6
his/her genitals?
- Did someone, against your will, touch your breasts 44.6 41.5 13.8
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 29.2 53.1 17.7
you feel sexually threatened?
- Did anyone have or try to have any form of sexual 26.2 53.1 20.8
intercourse with you whatsoever against your will?
- Did anyone force you to watch sexual acts against 7.7 65.7 27.0
your will?
- Did anyone ever force you to undress in front of 12.3 70.8 17.0
him/her?
- Did anyone ever force you to watch pornographic 6.2 66.9 27.0
films?

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

absolute percent
experience with violence
none 42 36.1
once 27 23.3
twice 11 9.5
three times 14 12.1
four times 8 6.9
five times 6 5.2
six times 8 6.9
total 116 100.0
 16

graph 6: categories of offenders

offenders absolute percent

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

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

violent environments absolute percent

institution 52 34.9
outside of institution 52 34.9
at home 33 22.2
workplace 9 6.0
everywhere 2 1.3
school 1 0.7
total 149 100.0
 17

graph 8: Who have women confided in?

contact person absolute percent

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

graph 9 Which measures were taken?

type of measure absolute Percent

administration spoke with offender 10 45.5
report to authorities, conviction 4 18.2
report to authorities - case closed 3 13.6
victim not believed 1 4.5
offender suspended 1 4.5
offender transferred 1 4.5
offender still in institution 1 4.5
others 1 4.5
total 22 100.0
 18

About the authors

Aiha Zemp. Ph.D., Switzerland/Ecuador
GenderLink, Network for Social Research
aihazemp@hotmail.com

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, Ph.D. Austria/Lebanon

All at: Mirabellplatz 9, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria-EU

t: 0043-662-886635-13, f: 886623-9, e-mail: office@genderlink.com,
www.diversitycentre.org

index

contraception
disability
offender
power
rape
sex education
sexuality
sexual exploitation
sexual harassment
sexual violence
sterilization
structural violence
 19

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