From abuse to forgiveness: some reflections from an expert case

Abstract

This contribution is inspired by the expert case of a person who first becomes the victim of a sexual crime, then commits the same type of crime himself and, finally, after having forgiven his executioner, asks to be forgiven by his own victim.

The aim is to reflect on some moments of the journey that leads from early experiences of sexual victimization, initially to the reiteration and subsequently to overcoming them. This is a process that brings into play the complex relationships between gender identity and destructive eroticism, in which the moments and mechanisms involved in the metabolization of trauma can clarify the meaning of a crime first suffered, then acted upon and finally elaborated by connecting a concession to a request for forgiveness.