Liberation and Self-care

Liberation and Self-care

       This week our class worked through Alcoff’s discussion of survivor discourse together and was introduced to the intriguing concept of recuperation. Alcoff states that using language to express things simultaneously “inscribe[s] them into hegemonic structures and produce docile, self-monitoring bodies who willingly submit themselves to (and thus help to create and legitimate) authoritative experts” (Alcoff). For me, and I’m sure many others in the class, this point really complicated the idea of “liberation” through “talking things out.”

       I believe that, in general, it is a widely held belief that speaking out and confession are meant to function as liberatory acts for the person who is carrying the “weight" of a heavy experience. As Professor Nixon mentioned in class today, there is a prevalent discourse around the “freeing” and “liberating” aspect of speaking out as a survivor of sexual assault. As mentioned in class, this was evident in Oprah’s interview with Tyler Perry as he stated that he felt “lighter” after confessing about his own childhood experience of sexual violence on her talk show.  

       I think that it’s important to note that this “liberation” is often connoted as a positive act because it frees the survivor from difficulties such as carrying the burden alone and suppressing the emotions in the aftermath. Confessing is supposed to function as an aid to the healing process by reclamation of voice and control over what has happened. The common narrative around liberation states that confession is good because it is centred on maximizing benefit of the individual who was victimized. However, we know that this statement may not be completely true. As Alcoff explains, there are many ways that bringing sexual assault experiences into discourse result in an undermining of survivors’ agency and voice through recuperation. 

       This lead me to think about the way that “self-care” complicates liberation and feminist trajectories. If speaking out is meant to primarily empower survivors and create visibility, how can we critique the shape that the discourse looks like around someone else’s individual experience? Furthermore, if speaking out truly is survivor centred and intended to help them reclaim power then it is evidently ironic for anyone to dictate what another’s self-care an self-healing is supposed to look and sound like. 

       As many of my classmates have already mentioned, the Chrissie Hynde article from today demonstrates this paradox that many feminists may find themselves in. Hynde, as a survivor of sexual assault, shared her story as well as conclusions about that story to the world and received a great deal of feminist backlash for victim blaming. On one hand, from a more general/theoretical point of view, Hynde’s statements may be viewed as highly problematic because they subscribe to/perpetuate the very rape myths that feminists aim to dismantle. However, on the other hand, Hynde had obviously found a way to come to terms with her own experience and although her self-care may not fit into the ideal feminist framework of healing, it functioned effectively for her personally. I found this very similar to the example from the Campbell article about the woman who pretended to enjoy her rape in order to take care of herself in the moment. 

I’ve actually struggled with this quite a bit and have no clear answer to any of the points I have raised so I would definitely love to hear any of the insights that others may have about this.