Students as victim-survivors: the enduring impacts of gender-based violence for students in higher education

Abstract

Despite the massive global scale of gender-based violence, little attention has been given to its significance in mediating student-victim-survivors’ experiences of higher education. We draw on and extend recent feminist theorizations of trauma as ‘durational’ to consider the significance of gender-based violence as a society-wide problem yet also integral to higher education equity initiatives, where the enduring impacts of gender-based violence for student-survivors is usually absent as an area of concern. In this article we draw on interview data from a qualitative study which explored how university student-victim-survivors of gender-based violence experienced participating in higher education. Participants challenges relating to lasting stress and anxiety, an undermined sense of capability, and difficulties meeting deadlines and academic expectations. These findings show the broader problem of gender-based violence should be viewed as a significant equity issue requiring an expanded approach to current higher education violence prevention efforts (Bacon [2022]. “The Intersubjective Responsibility of Durational Trauma: Contributions of Bergson and Levinas to the Philosophy of Trauma.” Continental Philosophy Review 55 (2): 159–175. doi:10.1007/s11007-021-09556-7).