4 The Continuum of Sexual

Violence
Liz Kelly

This chapter discusses the application of the concept of the continuum

of sexual violence to research on, and discussion of, the issue of sexual
violence. Two of the original aims of the research were to explore the
links between the different forms of sexual violence and to investigate
the idea, which arose whilst working in a refuge for battered women,
that most women have experience of sexual violence in their lifetime. 1
Whilst analysing the in-depth interviews carried out with women, I begin
to use the concept of a continuum of sexual violence to describe the findings
in the two areas.

METHODOLOGY

The research data consists of in-depth interviews with sixty women and
follow-up interviews with forty-eight after they read a transcript of
their original interview. The first interview covered childhood,
adolescence and adulthood, in order that experiences of sexual
violence were discussed within the context of each woman's life. Every
woman was asked if she had experienced any of a number of forms of
sexual violence, and each self-defined experience of rape, incest or
domestic violence and its effects was discussed in depth. The follow-up
interview was included to assess the effect of the first interview on the
women. It also functioned as an internal validity test, enabling further
discussion of areas that were unclear in the original interview. It also
resulted in the recording of incidents of sexual violence which the
women forgot to mention initially, remembered between the two interviews
or decided to divulge as a result of the first interview.
Women volunteered to take part in the project. It was considered
crucial that the women chose to discuss, in depth, what might well have
been distressing memories. Moreover, one of the research aims was to
interview a wider spectrum of women than merely those who could be
contacted through official agencies (the police, courts, social services,
therapists), or voluntary agencies (refuges for battered women, rape

46
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© British Sociological Association 1987
 Liz Kelly 47

crisis centres, self-help groups). Much of the available research to date

has drawn samples only from such sources. Given the suggestion that
the incidence of sexual violence is underestimated in official statistics
and in victimisation studies (the recent British Crime Survey
documented only one case of attempted rape from interviews in 11 000
households), it is important to reach women who do not officially
report their experiences. A number of methods were used to contact
women including letters and articles in newspapers and magazines and
a local radio appearance. The most successful method of contact was
through talks given to a wide range of local community women's
groups and students.
Given the research aims it was essential that the various forms of
sexual violence were adequately covered within the interviews. The
sample was, therefore, split into two groups of thirty. Initially, women
were asked to volunteer only if they had experienced rape, incest or
domestic violence (samples of ten were selected for each type of
assault). When these samples were nearly complete, women were
asked to volunteer irrespective of any particular experience (this
produced a further group of thirty).
The sample consisted predominantly of white women, with only two
non-white women, both of mixed race. The sample was varied in other
respects, however. It included women from different socio-economic
backgrounds with varied experiences of employment and who had
made different decisions regarding marriage, motherhood and
sexuality. The proportion of women in the sample who had been or
were at that time still in further education was higher than within the
population generally, although a number of these women came from
working-class backgrounds and/or went into further education as
mature students. Whilst not representative, the sample drew on the
experience of a group of predominantly white women seldom recorded
in other research: those who do not report their experiences to welfare
agencies, women from middle-class backgrounds, and women holding
professional jobs.

THE CONCEPT OF A CONTINUUM

As the interviews were transcribed and analysed it became clear that

most women had experienced sexual violence in their lives. It was also
clear that there was a range of possible experiences within each form of
sexual violence discussed in the interviews. It was in response to these