Sexual Trauma and Therapeutic Sexuality in the Works of Lydia Kwa

Abstract

<p>This thesis examines sexual trauma in Lydia Kwa’s <em>This Place Called Absence</em> (2000), <em>Pulse</em> (2010), and <em>The Walking Boy</em> (2005), and establishes how the domain of sexuality becomes operative in post-trauma healing. This project engages not only the traditional, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder model of trauma, but, using Laura Brown and Maria Root, expands the definition of trauma by drawing attention to the insidious, everyday trauma that affects minority groups and sexual minorities. Kwa’s novels reveal the dynamics and complexities of sexual trauma, which encompasses acts of sexual violence such as rape and abuse, but also what is rarely acknowledged – the trauma that queer individuals face in a heteronormative society. This thesis also investigates the possibility of healing sexual trauma and locates viable modes of therapy in the area of sexuality, including sexual intimacy, sexual practices such as erotic bondage, and the formation of queer communities. This project seeks to illuminate the connections between queerness and trauma, and, via Kwa’s fiction, considers alternative avenues of healing and therapy beyond the medical field.</p>