ABSTRACT
According to Harvey, ‘A host of person, event and environmental factors may influence individual posttraumatic response and recovery’. 1 Families are an important environmental factor that can contribute to shaping the long-term effects of rape and sexual violence. Equally, the long-term effects of these crimes can extend to families themselves. The various studies discussed in Chapter 2 were highly illustrative in this regard. Those studies, however, primarily focused on African countries, and especially the DRC. In the context of BiH, existing research on rape and sexual violence has given little attention to the families of survivors. This chapter addresses that gap. If, as Erikson maintains, rape can be described as a ‘blow to the basic tissues of social life that damages the bonds attaching people together and impairing the prevailing sense of community’, 2 the central aim of this chapter is to examine the multiple effects of rape and sexual violence on the ‘basic tissues’ of family life. One of the central themes within the interview data was the ‘unsupportive husband’; female interviewees often spoke about marital problems directly or indirectly related to their war trauma. The first half of this chapter accordingly explores some of the long-term ‘ripple effects’ of rape and sexual violence on marital relations – and on the dynamics within those relations. The second half of the chapter shifts the focus to survivors’ children. More specifically, it addresses the dual themes of transgenerational transmission of trauma and children born of rape.
