“It’s in Our Nature as Daughters to Protect Our Familias… You Know?”:The Privacy Rules of Concealing and Revealing Latina Child Sexual Abuse Experiences

ABSTRACT

This study uses communication privacy management theory to offer an examination of the rule criteria that Latina survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) utilize to manage disclosure and privacy. Seven Latina women told their stories of CSA through the Indigenous methodology of testimonio. Their stories grant insight into the matrix of domination and underlying power structures within Latinx culture that impact their CSA disclosure. Latinas’ testimonios demonstrate the centering of the family when choosing to reveal and/or conceal their instances of CSA. Specifically, the study’s results indicate that in order to protect markers of identity and to avoid feeling familial shame, survivors choose to keep silent. Moreover, findings indicate that certain patriarchal principles encourage Latinas to uphold particular gender roles such as docility and purity which also impacts disclosure.

Notes

1. Latinx is a gender-neutral term used instead of Latina or Latino. Its plural form is Latinxs.

2. The word Chicana is an ethnic identity term for American women of Mexican ancestry and is used instead of Mexican-American. Chicana incorporates a politicized ethnic identity and the acknowledgment of the experiences of native-born Americans of Mexican descent.

3. Per IRB, participants were not allowed to physically sign informed consent forms with their real name in order to further protect their identity.

4. As an additional level of security, IRB recommended that I transcribe the testimonios myself.

5. Many of the themes could belong within the cultural and gendered rule criteria categories and in fact, they were incredibly difficult to pull apart from one another which speaks to the importance of inviting intersectionality into family communication research.

6. Women chose their own pseudonym at the beginning of the interview.

7. This term is slang for mi hija (my daughter). Older Latina women use this when speaking to younger Latina women. In this case, Elena kept calling me mija instead of my name. Often times, the use of this word indicates the presence of trust.