Citation

Gnaim-Mwassi N, Avieli H, Band-Winterstein T. J. Elder Abuse Negl. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08946566.2024.2331503

PMID

38566491

Abstract

The present study uses the life-course and intersectionality perspectives to explore the meaning that aging Arab women attribute to their lived experiences of life-long sexual abuse in the shadow of engaging in prostitution. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the narratives of 10 older Arab women in Israel who were engaged in prostitution. Four themes emerged: experiencing childhood in the shadow of sexual abuse, becoming a prostitute, being entrapped in prostitution, and settling accounts with the native culture. Women aging in prostitution experience a harsh reality of abuse and loss. The present study points to multiple channels of abuse throughout the life course, from childhood until old age.

Language: en

Keywords

Arab society; intersectionality perspective; life-course perspective; older women; prostitution; sexual abuse