Sexual Violence and Compulsory Heterosexuality

Abstract

This study examines psychological theorizing about the impact of childhood sexual abuse on women's sexuality. I argue that the psychological definitions of, and treatments for, `sexual dysfunction' are instruments of oppression designed to enforce heterosexuality and obscure feminist questions about the links between sexual violence and `normal' sexual relationships. We urgently need to reclaim a radical feminist way of understanding experience that rejects compulsory heterosexuality and demands social revolution, instead of simply promoting individual adaptation.