Sexual Violence, the Law of Silence and Building of Identity Process in the Adolescence. Psycho Affective Analysis of Two Real Life Rape Experiences in Cameroon

Abstract

This contribution lies on the tracks and consequences of sexual violence situations and attack on the feminine identity directly went through and undergone by adolescents. If rape as an intrusion opens questions in suspense, revives enfolded wounds in the hope and necessity to make meaning emerge from it, it can also make other emergencies emerge, invent other landmarks to reinvent life, catch a glimpse of other horizons. Well, (re)build the self is not a matter of social engineering; it is before all, taking into account what makes link. The article is interested in the incidence of silence “accomplice” of the community on the victim of rape at the moment of realisation of developmental tasks. Some clinical semi directive talks carried out on two adolescents of RENETA (an NGO based in Yaounde, which receives and accompanies adolescent victims of rape) enabled us to obtain information on their personal story. The thematic analysis of verbatim revealed that silence around rape and the community’s tendency on muzzling of the victim exacerbates trauma and  particularly perturbs the unrolling of the identity process .The quest of feminine identity is “short - circuited” and the adolescent victim of social cruelty sticks in  the realisation of developmental tasks.

Keywords: Rape, Accomplice silence, Identity narcissist suffering, developmental tasks

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-28-10

Publication date:October 31^st 2020