Drohende Finger, dunkle Schatten und trostspendende Kuscheltiere: Zur Visualisierung sexualisierter Gewalt im Bilderbuch

This article outlines a range of visual imageries employed in picturebooks explicitly addressing sexual violence against children and primarily employed for the usage in secondary and tertiary prevention. It takes as its point of departure Jens Thiele’s question whether the picturebook has a repertoire of symbolic material to depict the sensitive topic of sexual violence and contributes to the picturebook research on the subject that has not seen significant contributions in the last decade. Specifically investigating the picturebooks’ visual texts, I delineate that common imageries are the usage of spatial relations and sizes as well as fingers and hands, shadows, and the employment of cuddly toys and dolls. While the verbal text oftentimes describes the assault more explicitly, the visual texts, by means of these imageries, rather highlights the power imbalance between the child and perpetrator and the latter’s abuse of said power by intimidating and threatening the child through usage of their body (parts).