Project Background

Breaking the Silence: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Preventing and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse and Incest

In 2008, the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS), The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine campus embarked on the action-research project: “Breaking the Silence (BTS): Child Sexual Abuse and Incest: A Multi-Sectoral Approach”. The IGDS undertook the BTS) project from 2008 to 2012. A fundamental driver of this project was the need to challenge prevailing attitudes and perceptions of CSA within Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to exploring attitudes and perceptions of CSA, the limited amount of existing data on child sexual abuse in Trinidad and Tobago, and by extension, the Caribbean, were important in shaping this action research initiative. This research project endeavoured to break the silence on the taboo subject of CSA and childhood incest in Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, it sought to examine the attitudes and perceptions of CSA and: understand ethnographically the socio-cultural meanings associated with CSA within sexual cultures in Trinidad and Tobago and its diverse character in different ethnic, religious, class, and geographical contexts (Reid et al. 2014, 258.)

It was initiated in response to concerns expressed by a wide range of stakeholders throughout Trinidad and Tobago who acknowledged CSA’s taboo character and diverse beliefs about it across local communities. The project noted the inaction and assumed tolerance of CSA and demanded that the situation be researched and unearthed. In conjunction with the action research project, the BTS Campaign established a campaign symbol, a blue teddy with a plaster on its heart representing healing. The teddy has become a relatable symbol across all backgrounds within society and has been made available for use by communities specifcally for this cause.