SAY Women
Impacts of Stigma – SAY Women
This project aimed to engage young women who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sexual violence and recent homelessness. A ten-week art project was facilitated by Dr Nic Dickson, an experienced Artist-Researcher who has an established working relationship with the Glasgow-based charity, SAY Women. Nic worked with a group of service users to produce a Public Information Comic to explore, map and illustrate the difficulties faced by survivors of sexual abuse in relation to mental health stigma and discrimination.
An image of a poster created as part of the zine
Nic observed discussion and process was as important as the outcomes from the project. “Creating the comic enabled us to talk about the different forms of stigma. The stories generated helped create the text and imagery for the comic.” The comic featured examples of how the survivors experienced stigma in its many forms. Interestingly, structural stigma was identified by many, and the diagnosis of EUPD influenced how they saw themselves, and how others saw and treated them. “This was an unexpected theme, which ran through the comic and highlighted the hidden ways stigma can affect women in our society”.
