Stories of Mothering: Autoethnography of Generational Sexual Abuse

Authors

Karen D. Barley Dr, karen.barley@monash.eduFollow

Abstract

Being a mother is both rewarding and challenging and most women seek to be the best mother that they can be. Despite best intentions, many find their ability to ‘mother’ has been tempered by their own mothering. This autoethnography encapsulates a series of vignettes describing poignant and melodic memories of my mother; and explores her neglect and inability to protect me because of sexual abuse in her life. Within my family heritage there has been a craven cycle of abuse that has perpetuated a lineage of multigenerational family sexual violence. This cycle has affected the mothers in my family’s ability to “mother” and speaks to the wider impact of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) on women in society.

Keywords

autoethnography, childhood sexual abuse, epiphany, mothering, motherhood, intergenerational abuse and trauma

Author Bio(s)

Karen Barley Ph.D. is an Associate Teacher in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Karen has completed a Diploma in Teaching, a Graduate Diploma of Education (Professional Studies), and a Master of Education (Special & Inclusive Education) and completed her Ph.D. at the end of 2019. Karen has worked in elementary and special education settings where she developed a zeal for providing inclusive and equitable opportunities for diverse students. Karen began writing professional development for teachers in 2013 and provides face-to-face and online courses in Australia and the United States. To complete her doctoral studies, Karen wrote five autoethnographic articles reflecting on her life, her challenging childhood and evolution as an educator. She rediscovered her love of writing via the autoethnography, so much so that she successfully wrote her entire thesis as a meta-autoethnographic work. Her passion for the topics of inclusive and equitable education for all students, especially those affected by childhood trauma, was manifested on the page through the connected and interconnected writing within her Ph.D. Please direct correspondence to karen.barley@monash.edu

Acknowledgements

To my children and grandchildren, I have never had any doubt about my love for you all. Thank you. Always Mum.

Publication Date

12-8-2024

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7179

Recommended APA Citation

Barley, K. D. (2024). Stories of mothering: Autoethnography of generational sexual abuse. The Qualitative Report, 29(10), 2809-2825. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7179

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6794-5170