Women's Studies International Forum
Volume 14, Issue 1-2, 1991, Pages 37-47

The gender-specific terror of El Salvador and Guatemala. Post-traumatic stress disorder in Central American refugee women (Article)

Aron A.* , Corne S. , Fursland A. , Zelwer B.
  • a Committee for Health Rights in Central America (CHRICA), 347 Dolores St., #210, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
  • b Committee for Health Rights in Central America (CHRICA), 347 Dolores St., #210, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
  • c Committee for Health Rights in Central America (CHRICA), 347 Dolores St., #210, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
  • d Committee for Health Rights in Central America (CHRICA), 347 Dolores St., #210, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States

Abstract

A taxonomy of three broad categories describes the forms of sexual abuse commonly found in El Salvador and Guatemala, where gender-specific political repression traumatizes people and gives rise to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD). If the psychological problems of Central American women refugees are to be addressed meaningfully, we must attend not only to the special characteristics of the assaults they have endured, but also to features of the pre-trauma environment in which they lived, and the post-trauma experience of exile. Of particular importance is the distinction between institutionalized and noninstitutionalized sexual assault; that is, assault sanctioned by the government as a normative act of social control versus assault which is considered deviant, criminal, and punishable by law. A case study of a Central American refugee woman suffering from PSTD is presented, to illustrate the psychological symptoms attendant to trauma and the use of sexual abuse as a form of political repression. © 1991.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0001865227&doi=10.1016%2f0277-5395%2891%2990082-S&partnerID=40&md5=ad052b89f05de9ec10f508d9c1f0af6f
DOI: 10.1016/0277-5395(91)90082-S
ISSN: 02775395
Cited by: 45
Original Language: English