The duty invites you once again to the back roads of university life. A proposal that is both scholarly and intimate, to be picked up all summer long like a postcard. Today, we are interested in the multidisciplinary artistic project Trace the evils.
Childhood sexual assault is a crucial social and public health problem, due to its alarming prevalence and the many harmful impacts that persist. Although denunciation movements such as #MeToo and #WeKnowHaveContributed to the liberation of victims’ speech, this subject remains taboo, particularly among men.
Studies in Quebec, Canada and abroad show that between 8% and 20% of men have experienced sexual assault during their childhood. They reveal that decades generally pass before these men disclose the victimization suffered or seek help. A delay that contributes to maintaining or exacerbating the repercussions of these crimes.
Traditional male socialization, which instills the idea that “a real man” must be strong and cannot be a victim, contributes to this stigma. Recognizing this social issue is essential to breaking down taboos, mobilizing social responses that promote healing for individuals, and ending retraumatization.
Faced with this reality, our team from the National Collective on Male Victimization innovated by developing the multidisciplinary artistic project Trace the evils. This project brings together literary works, graphic works and scientific data and is rooted in the experience of male victims. It aims to raise awareness of sexual violence experienced by men and promote healing.
The power of art
Art has the precious power to open a dialogue with the people who receive the work. Art can humanize scientific data and make information about male sexual assault more accessible and understandable. Art has the power to touch the heart, to arouse empathy and emotional engagement from the public. It allows us to open a window on painful realities that we tend to ignore, in order to approach this sensitive subject with feeling and finesse.
Art also has the power to break taboos and stereotypes by shedding light on neglected or invisible experiences. It allows for contact with information from a different angle. The encounter of art and science offers the possibility of creating impactful and memorable means of awareness, which can generate mobilization and inspire concrete actions to support victims and reduce violence.
Finally, art can allow victims to recognize themselves, to perceive an echo with their experience like a mirror which reflects the troubling importance of their experience, and thus lead towards the path of healing (awareness, a first disclosure, etc.).
Towards a world more sensitive to trauma
Trace the evils combines literary art with visual arts and science. Its traveling exhibition presents texts, accompanied by graphic works and infographics that popularize themes related to sexual violence suffered by men: disclosure, quest for identity, self-esteem, mental health, fatherhood, marital satisfaction, etc.
In “Regards croisés. Correspondance sur la victimisation au masculin”, journalist and essayist Mickaël Bergeron discusses with columnist Kharoll-Ann Souffrant the sexual violence experienced and the impact of internalizing negative stereotypes associated with masculinity. In this regard, our studies show that more than half of the men consulting an organization specializing in helping male victims of sexual abuse had never disclosed the facts experienced before beginning their process.
“The hardest part is talking about it for the first time. With the one who knows you better than you know yourself. With the one who knows everything, but who doesn’t know that. To make her understand why you never hung family photos, next to hers, in the living room.” (Sébastien Bérubé)
Under the pen of Quebec authors Sébastien Bérubé, Denis-Martin Chabot, Steve Gagnon, Christian Girard and Gabriel Robichaud, the artistic project Trace the evils explores trajectories of suffering and healing of male survivors of childhood sexual violence through the prisms of fatherhood, addictions, violence and seeking help. These authors courageously delved into the stories of men interviewed by the research team to create texts touching on various literary forms, rooted in the experiences of the victims.
The response of survivors’ entourage plays a key role in recovery. Our studies show that negative reactions are linked to increased psychological and relational distress in adulthood, while positive reactions promote healing. Recognizing that childhood sexual abuse by men is a social problem that needs to be discussed helps reduce stigma and creates spaces for support and freedom of speech.
“And at some point the words change. / The words find. / It goes further than the bandage, further than thought, and it acts on the stomach, on the ache in the throat, on everything you prevented yourself from believing.” (Gabriel Robichaud)
Trace the evils promotes a trauma-informed approach to empower everyone to play a role in addressing sexual violence and its impacts. When neglected, these can hamper the well-being and health of victims and their loved ones. Trace the evils draws on the power of art to raise awareness of a painful issue, promote supportive responses that draw on felt knowledge and, above all, that instill hope.
Trace the evils is currently available online and will be on tour in fall 2024.