The Quality of This Reproduction Is Dependent Upon the Quality of the Copy Submitted
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
This manuscript has been reproduœd from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of compter printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, pnnt bleeâthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a cornplete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduœd by sectionhg the original, beginning at the upper lefbhand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with srnall overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced fom at the back of the book. Photographs induded in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographie prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI direaly to order. Bell & flowell InfOmnation and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 481061346 USA g00-523-0600 'DADDY'S GIRLS,' 'DEGENERATED AUGHTERS': TRACING INTERCONNECTED VIOLENCES WiTHJN WOMEN'S 'SURVIVOR' NARRATIVES Christine Louise Hiller A thesis subrnitted in conformity with the requirernents for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto O Copyright by Christine Louise Hiller (1998) National Library Bibliothbque nationale I*m ofCanada du Canada Acquisiîions and Acquisitions et Bibliogaphic Services seMces bibliographiques 385 Wellington Street 395, nie Wellington CMawa ON K1A ON4 ÛtiewON K1AON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distrifibute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts firom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisaîion. 'Daddy's Girls', 'Degenerate Daughters': Tracing hterco~ectedViolences Within Wornen's 'Survi~or'Narratives Master of Arts, 1998 Christine Louise Hiller Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto This thesis considers the languages through which women articulate expenences of 'incest survival.' First, 1 trace the social and discursive conditions that women-survivors negotiate in narrating 'incest,' noting how these conditions (relproduce normative narratives that elide differences among women. Then, 1 map how feminist theorists dispel 'mythologized' notions of women-survivors as abnormai and blameworthy by re-presenting 'incest' as essentialized gender domination. Next, 1 suggest that notions of 'respectability' and 'degeneracy' might undenmite the conditions that constrain 'survivor speech'. Considering narratives by Liza Potvin and Elly Danica, 1 trace how these women- survivors mobilize codes of race, class, sexuality, and disability to translate their expenences as 'inceste& and 'recovered' subjects. 1argue that while they appropriate experiences of 'others', these narratives also gesture towards interlockhg forms of domination. 1conclude by advocating for articulations of 'incest' and 'incest survival' that Iughlight interconnected violences and render explicit differences among women. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................. v Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 The 'Seductive Pull' of Victim Scripts ...............................................................................7 Chapter One: The Politics of (Re)telling 'Incest' ......................................................................... 26 Narrating and Heding ....................................................................................................... 32 Risky Speech .....................................................................................................................35 Contradictory Effects of Su~vorSpeech ...................................................................... 41 Standardization ................................................................................................................. 48 Normalizing Nanatives and the Erasure of Differences ................................................... 52 Possibilities for a Heterogeneous Consciousness ............................................................. 62 Reading Danica ................................................................................................................ 64 Histoncizing Incest ........................................................................................................... 69 Chapter Two: Unsettling Gender Tales: 'Incest' as a Story of Degeneracy' .............................. 72 'Incest' as (Sexual) Abhonnality ...................................................................................... 75 The Problern(s) of 'Incest' ................................................................................................ 76 Feminist Re-visionings of 'Incest Talk' ............................................................................. 79 Incest as a Gender Story ...................................................................................................86 The Differentiating Taboo ................................................................................................ 88 Sexuai Ablnormality Within an Imperia1 Frame ......................................................... 91 Sliding From Grace ........................................................................................................... 94 'Incest' as a Mark of Degeneracy ...................................................................................... 97 Re-viewing Mythologized Knowledges of 'Tncest' .......................................................... 99 Impossible Abusers. Improbable Victims ....................................................................... 113 The Stniggle for Respectability ........................ .. ......................................................... 115 Chapter Three: Articulating the 'Mark' of 'Incest' ..................................................................... 119 Reading WHITE LIES .................................................................................................... 121 Potvin: Delineating the 'mark' of abnormaiity ................................................................ 127 Potvin: A Story Told in Black and White ....................................................................... 128 Re-reading Don't: A Woman's Word ............................................................................ 134 Chapter Four: Narratives of Healing and the Re-covering of Violences ....................................143 Potvin: Unsettling the 'Mark' of Gender ..................................................................... 144 Potvin: A Black-andWhite Recovery Story .................................................................. 149 Danica: Recovery as a Return to Innocence ................................................................. 157 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................164 Um&àng the 'White Lies' of Respectability ................................................................ 173 Healing as an Un-covenng of htercomected Violences ................................................ 177 References ................................................................................................................................... t80 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For me, the process of vniting often seems to be a very solitary one. But even as 1 write these final words, I am aware of and very thankful for the many people who continue to inspire, inform, and sustain my efforts. My ktacknowledgement, dong with my deep respect, is to the many 'suMvors'- and in particular, to Elly Danica and Liza Potvin - who have had the courage not ody to delve into and to remember theu own expenences of sexual abuse, but to write them dom and to share them publicly. Many of the writings of these women have deeply affected me both personally and politically, and 1 write with thern always at the forefiont of my mind. 1 feel most fortunate for having the opportunity to study with some incredible students and faculty in the Department of Sociology