Mães de meninas vítimas de abuso sexual: aquilo que não se pode dizer.

Abstract

This dissertation had as aims to analyze and to identify possible motivations of mothers who do not believe their daughters had been abused by their partners, whether they are fathers or step-fathers, investigating these mothers’ subjective standing face to the denouncement. In this perspective, aspects regarding the mothers’ previous history and possible connections with the abuse suffered by their daughters were considered. The research was divided in three papers, one theoretical and two empirical. The first one represents a literature review on/about sexual abuse, highlighting psychoanalytical concepts used by Freud and Ferenczi, such as trauma, disavowal and identification with the aggressor. The second paper aimed to investigate possible motivations and the subjective standing of mothers who did not believe their daughters had been abused. The third paper considered elements from these mothers’ previous history that could be associated to their daughters´ sexual abuse and their possible motivations for denying that it happened. The methodology was based in a qualitative approach, considering the saturation principle. Seven mothers who did not believe in the denouncement of sexual abuse committed by their partners against their daughters were interviewed. Data analysis included Minayo´s Content Analysis. Results indicate that these mothers disavow the sexual abuse accusation but, far from being “accomplices,” they may be using a defense mechanism in the attempt to deny such a threatening reality, which is even associated with elements from their own lives. The transgenerational transmission emerged as an important fact, by showing the repetition of the sexual abuse history, present in the lives of the studied mothers.