A phenomenological understanding of acquaintance rape and the subsequent trauma as experienced by young South African women

D.Litt.et Phil. (Psychology)With the prevalence of rape in South Africa being the highest in the world, it is important for there to be a sound understanding of how the rape experience impacts the individual victim. A majority of rapes in the South African context are perpetrated by someone known to the victim, making acquaintance rape the most prevalent of all rape types in this country. The current understanding of the impact of all types of rape on a victim predominantly emerges from international studies which for the most part, considers the presence of traumatic distress in the victim. These studies are essential to the understanding of the impact of rape, although they are predominatly obtained through quantitative research. A qualitative understanding of the lived experience of the victim after her rape enhances and deepens the already substantive quantitative data regarding rape trauma. The practical implication is that clinicians can have a better understanding of the factors that are present in the rape experience and the complex interaction of those factors with the victim and the resulting rape trauma. As this study explores the lived experience of acquaintance rape of South African female rape victims, a qualitative methodology is utilised. Phenomenology lends itself best to the exploration of lived experience as it describes the meaning of the lived experience of individuals as that meaning pertains to a particular phenomenon. In this case the study phenomenologically explores the lived experience of being raped by an acquaintance as it applies to two young South African women who were raped by someone that they know. Through various phases of explication, the data, which is obtained through interviews with the participants, is transformed from a holistic description of the lived experience of the participants into profiles, which are essential descriptions of the raw data, and then into categories of meaning clusters. These categories are then used to achieve an extended description of the phenomenon of acquaintance rape as experienced by the participants of the study. The phenomenon of being raped by an acquaintance as experienced by the participants of this study emerge as the following themes: the specific meaning of being raped by someone that you know to those victims, the life changes which occur after the rape, the reactions of others, culpability attributed to the rape incident, the mixed emotional reactions of the victims, dealing with possible HIV infection, disruptions in interpersonal trust, social support received or not received regarding the rape and the meaning that is made of the rape experience. Each of these aspects is relevant when considered in relation to the existing body of knowledge regarding rape experiences. Certain aspects are seen to be specific in the South African context, such as the increased possibility of HIV infection. Although the small sample size means that the conclusions of the study cannot be generalised to the greater population of South African acquaintance rape victims, the observations do give readers a deeper understanding of the concept that each rape experience is unique and yet at the same time can be understood when considered in relation to the existing body of knowledge. It is recommended that future South African studies explore the phenomenon of acquaintance rape by interviewing more participants, as well as interviewing them in their mother tongue, as this would allow for an enhancement of the depth of the descriptions obtained. It is also recommended that future research takes into account the prevalence of traumatic experiences in South Africa and explores the impact of previous traumas on the recovery experience of rape victims