Belonging and Otherness: The Violability and Complicity of Settler Colonial Sexual Violence

Abstract

Abstract In this article, I problematize sexual violence as a gendered and raced tool of colonial dominance. Though the theoretical framework of settler colonialism, I demonstrate how colonialism in the United States influences current discourse and policy around sexual violence. First, I explore the ways that colonialism positions women as victims and chattel of men. Secondly, I consider why White women who are positioned thusly lean into the male dominance which disenfranchises them, thereby further disenfranchising other-embodied persons. Moving between a historical and contemporary review, I merge empirical and anecdotal evidence to make clear that sexual violence is the rule, not the exception. To conclude, liberation focused therapy and digital feminism is discussed for therapists who wish to confront the colonial forces that obfuscate the conditions under which sexual violence is produced.