{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T09:19:21Z","timestamp":1787649561743,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785110400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"name":"CIASE"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Violence Against Women"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sexual violence by Catholic clergy against adults remains largely overlooked in public debate and Church communications. Drawing on the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) in France, this article analyzes 22 in-depth interviews with Catholic nuns and lay women who reported sexual violence or other abuses of power by male clerics. Our findings show how community rules of enclosure, poverty, and obedience, combined with a gendered hierarchy between priests and nuns, organize dependence, isolation, and silence. We argue that sexual violence against nuns is better understood as a product of institutional power relations than of individual deviance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/10778012261471523","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]],"date-time":"2026-07-27T13:23:37Z","timestamp":1785158617000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Institutional Power and Sexual Violence Against Nuns in the Catholic Church"],"prefix":"10.1177","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4195-3492","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julie","family":"Ancian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"INSERM, Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Enjeux Sociaux (UMR 8156 CNRS \u2013 EHESS \u2013 U997 INSERM)"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8073-9056","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nathalie","family":"Bajos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"INSERM, Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Enjeux Sociaux (UMR 8156 CNRS \u2013 EHESS \u2013 U997 INSERM)"},{"name":"Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5590\/JSWGC.2025.9.1068"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","unstructured":"Allen J. L. Schaeffer P. (2001 16 March). Reports of abuse. Aids exacerbate sexual exploitation of nuns reports allege. National Catholic Reporter.https:\/\/natcath.org\/NCR_Online\/archives2\/2001a\/031601\/031601a.htm"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7764\/TyV\/623\/2\/357-388"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-soc-073117-041410"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_1","unstructured":"Bajos N. Ancian J. Tricou J. Valendru A. (2021). Sociologie des violences sexuelles dans l\u2019Eglise catholique en France 1950\u20131970 Rapport de recherche INSERM-IRIS-EHESS. https:\/\/www.ciase.fr\/medias\/Ciase-Rapport-5-octobre-2021-Annexe-AN27-Rapport-Inserm-EHESS.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/08862605221124263"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10538712.2014.929607"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_9_1","volume-title":"Violences et rapports de genre : Enqu\u00eate sur les violences de genre en France","author":"Brown E.","year":"2021","unstructured":"Brown E., Debauche A., Hamel C., Mazuy M. (Eds.). (2021). Violences et rapports de genre : Enqu\u00eate sur les violences de genre en France. INED, Collection Grandes Enqu\u00eates. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4000\/books.ined.14719"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3512299"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_11_1","unstructured":"Code of Canon Law. (1983). Code Latin. Canon 668. 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Minnesota, The Liturgical Press."},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_4_14_1","first-page":"129","article-title":"Clergy sexual misconduct against adults in the Roman Catholic Church: The misuse of professional and spiritual power in the sexual abuse of adults","volume":"30","author":"De Weger S. E.","year":"2017","unstructured":"De Weger S. E., Death J. (2017). Clergy sexual misconduct against adults in the Roman Catholic Church: The misuse of professional and spiritual power in the sexual abuse of adults. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 30(2), 129\u2013159. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1558\/jasr.32747","journal-title":"Journal for the Academic Study of Religion"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1363461512467769"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-018-5571-x"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_17_1","unstructured":"Figueroa R. Tombs D. (2020). Seeing His innocence I see my innocence: Responses from abused nuns to Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse. Discussion Paper 4. Dunedin: Centre for Theology and Public Issues University of Otago."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_18_1","first-page":"45","volume-title":"Sexualisierte Gewalt in kirchlichen Kontexten: Neue interdisziplin\u00e4re Perspektiven","author":"Figueroa R.","year":"2022","unstructured":"Figueroa R., Tombs D. (2022). Living in obedience and suffering in silence: The shattered faith of nuns abused by priests. In Wirth M., Noth I., Schroer S. (Eds.), Sexualisierte Gewalt in kirchlichen Kontexten: Neue interdisziplin\u00e4re Perspektiven [Sexual violence in the context of the Church: New interdisciplinary perspectives] (pp. 45\u201374). De Gruyter. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1515\/9783110699203-004"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Figueroa R. Tombs D. (2023). Obeying God\u2019s plan? The spiritual abuse of nuns. 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