Beyond Silence
What’s this project about?
This project is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC). It aims to understand women’s experiences of sexual violence perpetrated by an intimate partner, identify their help-seeking needs, and explore the use of the internet as a means of support.
Despite the fact that one in ten Australian women have experienced sexual violence by a male partner, with severe effects on wellbeing and quality of life, sexually abusive behaviours such as rape, assault, coercion and threats within relationships are poorly understood and shrouded in silence.
What can we expect to come out of this project?
This project will provide women with an evidence-based, trauma-informed website that will help them name the abuse, provide initial support, and promote help-seeking to improve their safety, quality of life and connection to the community.
What has this project achieved so far?
Five peer-reviewed publications exploring different aspects of IPSV. These qualitative papers draw on data from 38 interviews with women victim/survivors.
A digital storytelling workshop with 7 victim/survivors. The digital stories illustrate the diversity and complexity of IPSV and highlight the womens' journeys towards healing.
A trauma-informed, publicly-available website to help women victim/survivors of IPSV to name the abuse and seek support. The Beyond Silence website was launched in August 2022 and is available here.
Related publication
Tarzia, L. (2020) Toward an Ecological Understanding of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence J. Interpers. Violence.
Tarzia, L. (2020) Women’s Emotion Work in the Context of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence. Journal of Family Violence.
Tarzia, L. (2020) "It went to the very heart of who I was as a woman”: The invisible impacts of intimate partner sexual violence. Qualitative Health Research.
Tarzia, L. & Tyler, M (2020). Recognising connections between intimate partner sexual violence and pornography. Violence Against Women.
Tarzia, L. & Hegarty, K. (2022) “He’d tell me I was frigid and ugly and force me to have sex with him anyway”: Women’s experiences of co-occurring sexual and psychological abuse in heterosexual relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.