Intimate Lives of Male Counsellors Working with Sexual Violence BY Anisha Suresh Kumar
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2024
- The Contagion: Contextualizing the Sexual and Intimate Lives of Male Counsellors Working with Sexual Violence BY Anisha Suresh Kumar
The contagion effect of client trauma upon therapists has been historically well examined and established. Existing research specifically elucidates the experiences of female counsellors who provide sexual violence counselling and illustrates the pervasive impact upon numerous facets of their self-identity and intimate life. This study aims to parallel this excavation and unfold the lived experiences of male (AMAB)counsellors working with sexual violence. Utilizing an idiographic approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis on semi-structured interviews, we aim to uncover the intersectionality of gender, social positioning, identity, beliefs, and values superimposed on intimacy and sexual life. With vicarious trauma being the primary narrative structure overlaying experiences of female counsellors, the questionaries whether the same process infiltrates the lives of male counsellors. Given their positionality in a predominantly female-client environment, a different and unexpected process seems to be emergent from their accounts. Do we re-orient our shared understanding of vicarious trauma or is this a unique experience unto itself?
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Very interesting research. Could you talk more about the sexual scripting theory? How could this play a role in their practice?
- Daniela
Thank you for your question Daniela!
The sexual scripting theory essentially describes how we all get socialized for different areas of life.
A very popular and easy to understand type of socialization is racial socialization. Black children in America get very similar messages from all their parents, and family about how to behave around police for example.
In the same way, men and women get socialized by society about how to engage in asking for consent, how to behave when around a potential partner etc.
Within this study particularly, it was highlighted how men are socialised to always be the person to initiate the idea of sexual engagement. Women are socially demanded to be "gatekeepers" of sex. This puts undue pressure on both parties, given that sometimes men do not want to be the one to ask, and women do not want to bear the responsibility to gatekeep access to sexual partnership.
Essentially both our participants circled quite a bit around how they've come to ask for consent/sex differently now. But they still didn't describe any experience past the "asking". The women in their lives, still playing the role of gatekeepers. At a personal level this was surprising for me initially, since I would expect sexual violence counsellors to have their schemas and scripts shifted significantly due to the work they do.
In terms of their practice, it's definitely worth future research. My initial reflections are that due to their training they will be able to engage effectively with clients who are actively going against the grain of the sexual script society places on them. But it might be difficult for them to think outside the box when neither the therapist nor the clients realise that following the script is impacting the client negatively.
Please feel free to email with further questions!
Best,
Anisha S
Some really interesting findings - the simplistic male constructs around sexual frequency as a marker of quality rather than intimacy is interesting as is men struggling to work through the discomfort around vulnerability and deeper self-reflection regarding vicarious trauma. I believe that there may be unique benefits to men working with female survivors of sexual trauma in terms of modelling, however there seems to be a lot more male counsellors can do to better prepare themselves to work with these clients. In this context, would you recommend specific training or reflective pracises for male counsellors for their own benefit as well as the client?
Thank you Jack!
I particularly found the sexual scripting in combination with the simplistic constructs of sexual frequency as a marker intriguing. If men are asked societally to be the initiators of sexual engagement, then my reasonable conclusion is that it makes sense they see frequency (the number of times they were successful from initiating) as a marker of quality.
Coming from this perspective, I believe specific training is really about consistent challenging throughout ongoing practice. I find the TSS-ACCTT map of reflection by Bager-Charleson particularly helpful here since it provides various contextual lenses to the reflective cycle such as Theory, Self, and Socio-Culture. I see it as providing a focus on different facets for male therapists to consider their work with clients from.
Please feel free to email with further questions!
Best,
Anisha S
Great presentation !
Considering how difficult qualitative studies can be, what made you choose this study with such a sensitive topic too?
Thank you!
I have always been skewed in my preference for qualitative studies! While quantitative studies identify patterns, numbers do not tell me a story. Qualitative studies allow me to ask why multiple times (within ethical boundaries!) without hitting a wall. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis specifically, allowed me to turn the question onto myself and ask: why do I think that?
In terms of the topic, my research interests lie in the intersection of trauma cognition, social psychology, and counselling given the population of clients I engage with. Specifically, I have been interested in how trauma is processed even in my previous publication. With this topic, the dearth of literature and my complete lack of understanding of the male therapist experience led to my choice.
Please feel free to email with further questions!
Best,
Anisha S
Hi Anisha! Fantastic study on a very important topic. How did you keep yourself safe during this study, as it is quite a heavy topic with the potential to impact your own wellbeing?
Thank you Autumn! This was definitely a concern that was flagged during the ethical review owing to which several safeguards were put into place (interview training, secondary interviewer, supervisor on call etc).
It was mostly through our group discussions and triangulation that I feel I remained most safe. Gaining perspective allowed me to stay outside a narrow world-building based on my perception of the data and interviewees alone.
I must mention that given it was only two participants, I was not one of the interviewers. It is worth considering how it might have impacted me had I sat in on one of the interviews.
Please feel free to email with further questions!
Best,
Anisha S