性侵受害者的能動轉向──改變認同群體的關係法意識

Rape Victims’ Agency Redefined: Identity and Emotion in Legal Consciousness

臺灣既有的女性主義對於性侵受害者之研究，大多為靜態的結構分析，著重於性侵害的結構與傷害之「原因－－結果」，指出受害者不去法院提告、無法MeToo發聲的原因，但下一步仍需要深究受害者開展能動性的社會過程。本文透過嫁接英美學界關係法意識與情感認同之經驗研究與理論剖析，將受害者「理想被害人」的社會標籤與污名，定位為法意識之文化圖式的多重制約力量，並聚焦在受害者的自我認同以探問其法意識的轉變。作為一個理論發展的嘗試，本文以前瞻的角度指出，轉化性侵受害者能動性的契機在於，受害者的自我敘事協助其重構關係、歸屬與社會接納，在斷裂的流變自我中開啟情感的能動力量。本文主張，受害者法意識之能動轉向的關鍵在於改變認同群體，在與其他受害者或者廣大社會相互協作之情感連結之下，啟動與前不同的法意識，從而開展新的生命歷程。

Why do rape victims keep silent? What would make them go to court to report? Present legal feminist studies have found that rape victims are stuck in the “ideal victim” imagination which makes them be labeled and blamed by themselves, their family members, their friends, and even by the whole society. Past studies have revealed the structural factors making rape victims unable to talk about their experiences. But what does it link to the structure and the beliefs/actions of rape victims? To find this link, this paper analyzes the social process of legal consciousness that is shaped by the victim’s identity and vice versa. Based on the idea of distributed self of identity formation in legal consciousness, we find that the process, that constructs the interpretation of the event and the identity of rape victims, is not still, but keeps changing. With the fluid self, rape victims may be able to transform their agency from silence to more positive and future-forwarding, through narrating their life stories, changing their relationship with the social group, and then getting a sense of belonging. By taking the theoretical trends of emotional turn, this paper explores the way that rape victims may engage in resisting the “ideal victim” stucture, while redefining their agency. It holds that the change of emotional identity of recognition and acceptance by a group is the key to enhancing rape victims’ agency, which may help them not blaming themselves anymore, but constructing a new sense of emotional identity belonging to various, plural, and fluid group. By constructing a new sense of self-admiring, rape victims may continue to practice their agency toward a new direction and at the same time compose their positive life journey.