This article argues that sexual violation can take both ‘chronic’ and ‘acute’ forms. The latter, encapsulated by the offences of rape and sexual assault, refers to a discrete incident in which a victim’s sexual autonomy is violated. By contrast, the article articulates an original concept of ‘chronic sexual violation’, in which the victim’s autonomy is gradually eroded over a longer period of time, for example in an abusive relationship. In such a case it may be difficult to identify specific sexual encounters as non-consensual, and yet the victim is left with little or no control over whether and on what terms they engage in sexual activity. This conceptualisation builds on Evan Stark’s theory of coercive control, and is grounded in survivor accounts of the lived experience of sexual violation within ongoing relationships drawn from existing studies of abusive relationships, my own empirical interview data, and case law. The article contends that the limitations of law and policy responses to sexual violation within relationships can be partly explained by the illegibility of chronic sexual violation within a legal framework premised on the notion that a crime is a discrete incident. The concept of chronic sexual violation offers a way forward for crafting legal responses to this specific and pervasive form of harm, while resisting hierarchical constructions of sexual violation within intimate relationships as less serious than ‘real rape’.

中文翻译：

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只见树木不见森林：慢性性侵犯与刑法

本文认为性侵犯可以采取“慢性”和“急性”两种形式。后者包含在强奸和性侵犯罪行中，是指受害者的性自主权受到侵犯的离散事件。相比之下，该文章阐述了“慢性性侵犯”的原始概念，其中受害者的自主权在更长的时间内逐渐受到侵蚀，例如在虐待关系中。在这种情况下，可能很难将特定的性接触确定为非双方同意的，但受害者几乎无法或无法控制他们是否以及以何种条件进行性活动。这种概念化建立在 Evan Stark 的强制控制理论之上，并且基于幸存者对持续关系中性侵犯的生活经历的描述，这些经历来自对虐待关系的现有研究，我自己的经验访谈数据和判例法。文章认为，法律和政策对关系中性侵犯的限制可以部分解释为在以犯罪是离散事件为前提的法律框架内慢性性侵犯的难以辨认。慢性性侵犯的概念提供了一种前进的道路，可以针对这种特定且普遍的伤害形式制定法律回应，同时抵制亲密关系中性侵犯的等级结构，其严重程度不如“真正的强奸”。文章认为，法律和政策对关系中性侵犯的限制可以部分解释为在以犯罪是离散事件为前提的法律框架内慢性性侵犯的难以辨认。慢性性侵犯的概念提供了一种前进的道路，可以针对这种特定且普遍的伤害形式制定法律回应，同时抵制亲密关系中性侵犯的等级结构，其严重程度不如“真正的强奸”。文章认为，法律和政策对关系中性侵犯的限制可以部分解释为在以犯罪是离散事件为前提的法律框架内慢性性侵犯的难以辨认。慢性性侵犯的概念提供了一种前进的道路，可以针对这种特定且普遍的伤害形式制定法律回应，同时抵制亲密关系中性侵犯的等级结构，其严重程度不如“真正的强奸”。