I am a survivor: Experiences, impacts and coping mechanisms of Fiipino victims of sexual violence

• Main Author: Quing, Karen Anne C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Sexual abuse victims—Philippines—Psychology; Sex crimes—Philippines; Clinical Psychology; Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6920
• Institution: De La Salle University

Sexual violence is a catastrophic phenomenon that most women encounter worldwide. However, the stigma surrounding the victims of sexual violence often leads to culture of silence, causing the numbers of such cases to be underreported leading to limited sexual violence – related studies. With this, the goal of this study is to contribute additional information on the experiences of Filipino victims with sexual violence, its impacts, and their coping mechanisms. Ten Filipino women, who were victims of sexual violence, were interviewed in this study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the gathered data. Themes on their experiences, the effects of sexual violence and their coping mechanisms were formulated and presented in this study. Results of the study showed that the most common type of sexual violence experienced by the participants was rape. They also reported feelings of fear during and after the abuse. Feelings of shame and guilt were also experienced which kept them silent about their negative experiences. Experiencing sexual violence can have negative impacts to an individual’s total well – being. To cope with these adverse experiences, they sought support from their families and friends, some confronted their problems and even employed positive reappraisal while some used avoidance coping.