Sexual Assault Survivors’ Own Words: Memoirs and Pelvic Exam Experiences

Abstract: Sexual assault survivor memoirs offer invaluable insight into patient experiences of sexual and reproductive health care examinations. Memoirs, often in both blunt and beautiful fashion, detail the survivor’s unique perspective to what would otherwise be generalized as routine and normal care. These accountings reveal individual experiences of trauma activation, empowerment and disempowerment, parallels between assault and care, and each patient’s memories of the acute and lasting impact of their care team. This presentation will highlight the history of centering sexual assault survivor voices in changing consent and care practices, in what is now known as trauma-informed care, and then examine excerpts from three memoirs written by sexual assault survivors who discuss pelvic examinations in detail. Each excerpt will spotlight a different aspect of care: an otherwise normal genital exam, a forensic examination after an assault, and a pelvic procedure. These narratives will show similarities and differences across clinical and ethical specialties, and focus on distinctions between bodily and decisional autonomy, Applying feminist ethics, queer theory, and introducing survivor knowledge as a distinct facet of trauma-informed care, this presentation will conclude with practical suggestions for clinical and ethical applications of lessons learned from these excerpts and recent research.

Keywords: Trauma-Informed Care, Feminist Ethics, Pelvic Examinations