Memory Matters: Contexts for Understanding Sexual Abuse Recollections, edited by J. Haaken and P. Reavey
For those of us who were caught up in the “memory wars” of more than a decade ago, this book reminds us that even though the conflict about memories of sexual abuse has fallen from our public consciousness, it has not been resolved. It further reminds us of the continuing importance of the controversy, which can be seen as “symptomatic of broader crises in the Western world over sexuality, gender, and authority” (p. 3).
The book points out that there are some areas of agreement over the past decade. Researchers and clinicians alike are realizing that memory is not so much something that the individual mind does but a socially structured human activity open to the power dynamics and social contexts of identity politics. Furthermore, there is widening agreement about the ethical aspects of bearing witness to those who have suffered such trauma and preserving their accounts.
There are two sections of the book. The first is titled “Looking Back on the Recovered Memory Debate: Claims and Counter-Claims.” This section reexamines the debates of the 1990s from the point of view of retractors, child witnesses, and the media. The second is title “Widening the Lens: Cultural Context for Remembering Child Sexual Abuse.” It looks at current aspects of the debate and the role of truth and narrative in the stories of abuse survivors.
The first section begins with two chapters about discourse analysis of the stories of “retractors.” Ashmore and Brown (“On Changing One's Mind Twice”) see the stories of retractors not as extraordinary evidence of false memories but as situated social activities and moral accountings of the self. Ost and Nunkoosing see the memories of retractors as “effort after meaning”—that we need to ask about the purpose the remembering (and re-remembering) served as well as what needs are met. Kitzinger's chapter examines the role of the media in memory and the language that it gave to survivors. Before 1980, there was little in the media, and survivors were isolated and silenced by “abusers' monopoly over definitions of reality” (p. 88). Media attention gave these women an opening for both private reflection and public discussion.
A problematic chapter for me was that of Woodiwiss, “‘Alternative Memories’ and the Construction of a Sexual Abuse Narrative.” Alternative memories are described as “imagistic memory, body memory, feeling memory and acting-out memory” (p. 105). Her conclusions are that these “memories” need not necessarily be indications of abuse, but abuse stories are not the only stories that can be told about these so-called memories. Although this is true, it is puzzling why this chapter is included in the book at all, as it does not add to the arguments of the book overall and adds a disturbing flavor of the leading therapist–vulnerable woman dynamic that the book is seeking to overcome.
The second section of the book begins with “The Spaces of Memory” by Reavey, which encourages us to look at spatial elements of memories recounted by sex abuse survivors. On the basis of interviews with survivors, Reavey shows how the material contexts of the memories can be used symbolically to understand relationships. This chapter is followed by “‘Truth,’ Memory and Narrative in Memoirs of Child Sexual Abuse,” which examines published memoirs of survivors with the view that memory may be thought of as narrative with multiple interpretations. Fyson and Cromby's chapter on “learning disabled” victims of sexual abuse examines how the memories of these people (who can also be thought of as developmentally disabled) can be misinterpreted as “challenging behavior” rather than as a rational response to a hostile world. This chapter stands in opposition to the chapter by Woodiwiss, which basically argues that such “memories” should not be seen as indicators of abuse.
The heart of the book can be found in the chapter by Campbell: “Memory, Truth, and the Search for an Authentic Past.” It is too easy to begin to think that memories are merely metaphoric or (as Haaken states in the last chapter) “transformative.” Here, Campbell reminds us of the important point that we must believe that those who are oppressed are trying to get at the truth of their experience. She argues that we must not give up a search for the truth or bury it in notions of narrative construction or sloppy relativism.
The book concludes with two chapters on clinical work. Burman (“Therapy as Memory-Work”) reminds us that there is a fine line between reflection and suggestion and that we must always remain attentive to the power relations between therapist and client. Haaken gives a psychodynamic account of a therapy containing memories of sexual abuse. She points out how the “therapist's readiness to impose an interpretation or particular moral cast on the events inhibits exploration or other potential meanings, including how the patient may be making use of a particular memory” (p. 222).
Overall the book is a reminder to us all that there is much more to be learned about memory and that individual forensic accounts are not adequate for understanding all of the political and social nuances of interpretation of memory. We must be willing to look at a larger picture that challenges our traditional view of memory and situates us all as interpreters and participants in our culture's framing of what constitutes truth and ethics. It is a good summary of where we are now with this difficult topic.
However, the book stresses content at the expense of process. As Haaken states, “Focusing on the narrative structure of memory and the social uses of stories, rather than on their veridical truth content, does run the risk of downplaying the importance of factual claims” (p. 228). It is important to realize that as therapists we cannot not lead our clients! We are participants in the construction of memory for our clients and our culture. A discussion of this process, both clinically and culturally, would have been helpful.
Pamela Birrell, PhD
University of Oregon
Department of Psychology
Eugene, OR 97403