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Abstract by the authors: Purpose: We intend to identify the links between Covid-19 and domestic violence, expose the potential reasons behind an increase in domestic violence cases due to Covid-19, and argue that rising incidence of domestic violence may lead to economic and social crisis. Method: This is a brief note in which authors rely on various statistics and insights regarding domestic violence since the detection of Covid-19. Based on the available statistics regarding domestic violence prevalence during previous times of uncertainty, the number and nature of domestic violence incidents around the globe, and existing literature, the authors argue that clear links exist between Covid-19 and domestic violence, which also impacts on the economic and social crisis. Results: Countries across the world are battling Covid-19 by enacting measures to reduce the speed of transmission. Multiple reports, however, suggest that such measures are increasing the incidence of domestic violence and not only in number but also in severity. We find that layoffs, loss of income, extended domestic stays, and exposure to habits due to stay-at-home orders are driving up the incidence of domestic violence. Moreover, these domestic violence increases are driving economic and social crises due to the form and severity of the violence, the burden placed on government, a crisis of resources, and decreases in the productivity of workforces. Conclusion: Domestic violence increase resulting from Covid-19 is an indirect driver of economic and social crisis. This brief note proposes certain policy changes and strategies required to reduce domestic violence incidence during this turbulent time.
Abstract by the authors: This article focuses on policy and law concerning violence against women as a public health issue. In Sweden, violence against women is recently recognized as a public health problem; we label this shift “The public health turn on violence against women”. The new framing implies increased demands on the Swedish healthcare sector and its’ ability to recognise violence and deal with it in terms of prevention and interventions. The aim was to describe and discuss the main content and characteristics of Swedish healthcare law, and national public health and gender-equality policies representing the public health turn on violence against women. Through discursive policy analysis, we investigate how the violence is described, what is regarded to be the problem and what solutions and interventions that are suggested in order to solve the problem. Healthcare law articulates violence against women as an ordinary healthcare issue and the problem as shortcomings to provide good healthcare for victims, but without specifying what the problem or the legal obligation for the sector is. The public health problem is rather loosely defined, and suggested interventions are scarce and somewhat vague. The main recommendations for healthcare are to routinely ask patients about violence exposure. Violence against women is usually labelled “violence within close relationships” in the policies, and it is not necessarily described as a gender equality problem. While violence against women in some policy documents is clearly framed as a public health problem, such a framing is absent in others, or is transformed into a gender-neutral problem of violence within close relationships. It is not clearly articulated what the framing should lead to in terms of the healthcare sector’s obligations, interventions and health promotions, apart from an ambivalent discourse on daring to ask about violence.
Abstract by the authors: A common metaphor used to describe heterosexual relationships frames men as predators and women as prey. The present work assessed potential consequences of these metaphoric portrayals. Participants read a heterosexual dating scenario that did or did not metaphorically frame the situation in predator and prey terms. Using a U.S. college undergraduate sample of 120 women and 82 men in Study 1, exposure to these metaphors led to greater rape myth acceptance among men (but not among women). Using a broader sample of 76 women and 72 men via MTurk, Study 2 replicated these results and also found metaphor exposure led to greater rape myth acceptance and rape proclivity. Furthermore, a mediation analysis indicated that men exposed to these metaphors were more likely to accept rape myths, which in turn predicted their self-reported greater rape proclivity. Such results demonstrate the harmful outcomes that can result from describing romantic interactions where men are the predators and women are the prey.
Abstract by the authors: The high prevalence of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in countries with high levels of gender equality has been defined as the “Nordic paradox”. In this study we compared physical and sexual IPVAW prevalence data in two countries exemplifying the Nordic paradox: Sweden (N = 1483) and Spain (N = 1447). Data was drawn from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Survey on violence against women. To ascertain whether differences between these two countries reflect true differences in IPVAW prevalence, and to rule out the possibility of measurement bias, we conducted a set of analyses to ensure measurement equivalence, a precondition for appropriate and valid cross-cultural comparisons. Results showed that in both countries items were measuring two separate constructs, physical and sexual IPVAW, and that these factors had high internal consistency and adequate validity. Measurement equivalence analyses (i.e., differential item functioning, and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis) supported the comparability of data across countries. Latent means comparisons between the Spanish and the Swedish samples showed that scores on both the physical and sexual IPVAW factors were significantly higher in Sweden than in Spain. The effect sizes of these differences were large: 89.1% of the Swedish sample had higher values in the physical IPVAW factor than the Spanish average, and this percentage was 99.4% for the sexual IPVAW factor as compared to the Spanish average. In terms of probability of superiority, there was an 80.7% and 96.1% probability that a Swedish woman would score higher than a Spanish woman in the physical and the sexual IPVAW factors, respectively. Our results showed that the higher prevalence of physical and sexual IPVAW in Sweden than in Spain reflects actual differences and are not the result of measurement bias, supporting the idea of the Nordic paradox.
Abstract by the authors: Through the analysis of the fans’ forum of a popular Spanish teen series, Física o Química (2008–2011), this study explores what meanings audiences give to the series’ representation of gender violence, focusing on how they deal with the representation of male aggression towards women and how audiences reflect on gender stereotypes and unequal romantic and sexual adolescent relationships. This qualitative analysis has been carried out inductively, according to the principles of grounded theory. The analysis revealed that adolescents have internalized a series of stereotypes and myths of romantic love that can be very dangerous because they justify violence of men towards women. However, it is the actual representations in this series that lead viewers to question the myths, and thus, to talk about gender-based violence among adolescents, to reflect on it and the dangers of romantic idealization. This happens because the series takes the risk of presenting controversial and provocative representations that brings dilemmas out in the open, without trying to be moralizing with audiences, letting them discuss these representations among themselves in the fan forum.
Abstract by the authors: The World Health Organization encourages a “gender transformative” paradigm for preventing violence against women and girls. Gender transformative interventions engage men and boys to reflect critically on—and then to challenge and change—gender-inequitable attitudes and behaviors. To interpret the mixed findings of research evaluating such programs, we review the “social norms” model that informs the paradigm. We bolster the paradigmatic conceptualization of social norms through insights about how exposure to trauma shapes gendered patterns of victimization and perpetration, about gendered violence from research on homophobic bullying, and about transforming local regimes of gender accountability.
Abstract by the authors: Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is investigated mostly at the individual level, which ignores the role of macrosocial variables and possible interactions between them. We explored how two ideological gender-related macrosocial factors (traditional gender role beliefs and attitudes toward gender equality) and one structural gender-related macrosocial factor (the economic Gender Equality Index) are associated with physical, psychological, and sexual IPVAW in Europe. We examined their interactions with individual-level factors in predicting IPVAW. Secondary analysis (N = 30,284 heterosexual women) of the 2015 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ Violence Against Women survey revealed that 26.1% of women in Europe reported at least one act of physical, psychological, or sexual violence. Generalized linear mixed models analysis revealed that individual-level factors (women’s education, childhood victimization, equal say about income, partner’s alcohol consumption, and an aggressive partner) were associated with IPVAW. Adding the Eurobarometer of Gender Equality (N = 28 countries) and the Gender Equality Index (N = 28 countries), attitudes more favorable to gender equality were related to lower rates of psychological victimization; more traditional gender role beliefs predicted higher rates of sexual victimization. Ideological gender-related macrofactors played an important role in cross-level interactions with individual-level factors. To reduce the rates of IPVAW victimization, clinicians, educators, and policy makers need to focus on individual predictors and macrofactors to promote societal attitudes toward equality and change traditional gender role socialization.
Abstract by the authors: This article examines how the marginality of Muslim communities in India and the UK intersects with gender based violence (GBV) in Muslim communities. We briefly outline the socio-economic positioning of Muslims and then move on to (i) discuss communalism in India and radicalisation in the UK and (ii) consider personal laws in India and the call to Sharia law in the UK to elucidate the ways in which these wider policies, legislation and discourses impact on Muslim women experiencing GBV in both contexts. We conclude that there is a continuum between state responses and community responses, and personal and criminal law in entrenching GBV at a structural and interpersonal level in both India and the UK and that the current socio-political context further limits public spaces available to Muslim women to access support for GBV.
Abstract by the authors: Little is known regarding the types of interventions most effective in supporting wellness and recovery of victims of gender-based violence, particularly those simultaneously experiencing homelessness. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 18 young women experiencing gender-based violence and homelessness who participated in a community-based, trauma-informed group intervention in Toronto, Canada. Participants completed audio-recorded and transcribed semi-structured interviews, analyzed using thematic content analysis. Participants described valuing the safe, women-only space, shared lived experiences, and tailored psychoeducation and resulting improvements in confidence, coping, health, relationships, and future directedness. Findings suggest community-based, trauma-informed group interventions can facilitate wellness and recovery in this population.
Abstract by the authors: Background: In Europe, it is estimated that one third of women had experienced at least one physical or sexual violence after their 15.Taking into account the severe health consequences, the Emergency Department (ED), may offer an opportunity to recognize when an aggression is part of the spectrum of violence. This study applies Social Network analysis (SNA) to ED data in the Lazio region with the objective to identify patterns of diagnoses, within all the ED accesses of women experiencing an aggression, that are signals for gender-based violence against women. We aim to develop a risk assessment tool for ED professionals in order to strength their ability to manage victims of violence. Methods: A cohort of 124,691 women aged 15–70 with an ED visit for aggression between 2003 and 2015 was selected and, for each woman, the ED history of diagnoses and traumas was reconstructed. SNA was applied on all these diagnoses and traumas, including also 9 specific violence diagnoses. SNA community detection algorithms and network centrality measures were used to detect diagnostic patterns more strongly associated to violence. A logistic model was developed to validate the capability of these patterns to predict the odds for a woman of having an history of violence. Model results were summed up into a risk chart. Results: Among women experiencing an aggression, SNA identified four communities representing specific violencerelated patterns of diagnoses. Diagnoses having a central role in the violence network were alcohol or substance abuse, pregnancy-related conditions and psychoses. These high-risk violence related patterns accounted for at most 20% of our cohort. The logistic model had good predictive accuracy and predictive power confirming that diagnosis patterns identified through the SNA are meaningful in the violence recognition.Conclusions: Routine ED data, analyzed using SNA, can be a first-line warning to recognize when an aggression related access is part of the spectrum of gender-based violence against women. Increasing the available number of predictors, such procedures may be proven to support ED staff in identifying early signs of violence to adequately support the victims and mitigate the harms.
Abstract by the authors: The aim of the study was to identify the prevalence and perceived helpfulness of a variety of protective strategies that were used by female survivors of domestic abuse and to explore factors that may have influenced strategy usage. Forty participants were recruited from a voluntary sector domestic abuse service, commissioned by an outer London local authority in the United Kingdom, in early 2014. The measurement tools used were the Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index (IPVSI) and the Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) Domestic Abuse, Stalking and “Honour”-Based Violence (DASH) Risk Assessment Checklist. The average age was 33 years (SD = 7.9, range = 20-57); half reported to be of Asian ethnicity, 37.5% White, and 12.5% Black or Mixed ethnicity. The average DASH score was 9.8 (SD = 13.2, range = 0-18), and an average of 18 (SD = 6.7, range = 1-29) protective strategies were utilized by each participant. All of the most commonly used strategies were from the placating category. Although safety planning strategies were rated as the most helpful by all participants, placating strategies were also rated as helpful by two thirds of participants. Stepwise multiple regression showed that placating was the only significant predictor of DASH score (β = .375, p < .05) and accounted for 14% of the variance of DASH score. Findings showed that women utilized a diverse range of protective strategies with placating strategies being most intensely used and rated as helpful. However, placating strategy usage could be a risk factor as opposed to a protective factor. This study has also demonstrated that greater placating strategies were used by White than South Asian women, and women who were employed used more formal strategies. This research has extended the knowledge base of protective strategies that professionals can draw from to underpin decisions and interventions when working with domestic abuse survivors.
Abstract by the authors: Previous research has shown that there is higher tolerance of violence against women in cultures with salient gender‐specific honor norms, especially when the violence occurs in intimate relationships and in response to threat to male honor. The present cross‐cultural study (N = 398) extended these findings to sexual aggression (i.e., marital rape) by comparing participants from a culture that emphasizes honor (Turkey) and participants from cultures without strong honor traditions (Germany and Britain). Turkish participants blamed the victim and exonerated the perpetrator more than did German and British participants. In all cultural groups, participants blamed the victim and exonerated the perpetrator more when the husband's reputation was threatened than in the absence of such threat, and in all cultural groups, men blamed the victim and exonerated the perpetrator more than women. Yet, the effect of masculine reputation threat and this pattern of gender differences were somewhat more pronounced among Turkish than German or British participants. Results exploring the predictive role of honor norms at the individual level beyond rape myth acceptance and traditional gender role attitudes revealed that honor norms were the primary predictor of rape perceptions and blame attributions in Turkey (an honor culture), but not in Germany and Britain (dignity cultures) where rape myth acceptance was the strongest predictor. These results provide insights into the cultural factors influencing marital rape judgments in ways that may undermine victim's well‐being and fair handling of rape cases, and highlight the domains most urgently in need of potential intervention.
Abstract by the authors: Witchcraft-related violence (WRV), in particular directed towards women and children, has become a source of increasing concern for human rights organizations in the current century. Yet for those fleeing WRV, this heightened attention has not translated across into refugee status. This research examines how claims of WRV were addressed in all available asylum decisions in English, drawn from five jurisdictions. We argue that WRV is a manifestation of gender-related harm; one which exposes major failings in the application of refugee jurisprudence. Inattention to the religious and organizational elements of witchcraft practices, combined with gender insensitivity in analysis, meant that claims were frequently reconfigured by decision makers as personal grudges, or family or community disputes, such that they were not cognizable harms within the terms of the Refugee Convention; or they were simply disbelieved as far-fetched. The success rate of claims was low, compared to available averages, and, when successful, claims were universally accepted on some basis other than the witchcraft element of the case. This article focuses in particular upon cases where the applicant feared harm as an accused witch, while a second related article addresses those fearing persecution from witches or through the medium of witchcraft.
Abstract by the authors: Despite decades of research identifying the myriad causes and consequences, young women continue to be exposed to a variety of abuses in their dating relationships. Those who experience such violence often feel shame and isolation and hesitate to reach out for support for fear that their stories will not be heard, respected, or garner appropriate responses. Such abuse often results in grave consequences to well-being and quality of life, with the risk of exposure to one incident of abuse potentially leading to a cycle where young women may be repeatedly drawn to abusive relationships. Finding new ways to expose and disrupt this cycle of abuse in intimate relationships is critical. This article highlights the methods used, specifically an adapted version of digital storytelling as a potential empowerment research methodology with a small group of young women exposed to dating violence. Implementation of this methodology occurred in four phases: providing methodological context, preparing (setting the stage), implementing (constructing and sharing digital stories), and evaluating (experience and impact). Each phase of the methodology is described along with lessons learned to advance the innovative use of digital storytelling in anti-violence research.
Abstract by the authors: Objective: Women from different backgrounds and cultures are at risk of domestic violence. Disclosing the abusive experience and seeking help is not straightforward and easy and might be a complicated and long-term process. Muslim women, like other groups of women, may face various barriers to disclose abusive relationships and for seeking help. Some of the barriers may be common for the majority of Muslim women in different contexts, while others might be related to women’s situations and the wider society they live. To identify these barriers and make recommendations for future studies, this article reviews related papers conducted in both Muslim-majority and non-Muslim-majority countries. Method: A critical systematic review of the literature was conducted for identifying Muslim women’s barriers in disclosing abuse and seeking help. Results: Twenty-one studies met the inclusion criteria. The main identified barriers are discussed into under four themes: social context, family context, individual factors, and expectations of service providers. Conclusions: Although the researchers tried to investigate various barriers in seeking help, many of them have not focused on structural obstacles. Besides, in many Muslim-majority countries, the issue has not been explored. Therefore, the results of the current article will not apply to those countries. Recommendation for future research comprises more qualitative research compatible with the women’s cultures and backgrounds in different societies, focusing more on structural and cultural factors to explore and find women’s barriers to seek help.
Abstract by the authors: In this article, the authors apply response-based practice to highlight the ways in which victims are blamed in cases of violence. They problematize and explore the misrepresentation of violence across academic disciplines and institutional systems, including the social sciences, the helping professions, and the justice system. Fast and Richardson discuss the linguistic operations that serve to conceal violence and also to obscure the resistance of the victim, which tends to reflect the level and brutality of the violent acts. In order to demonstrate the processes of shifting blame and responsibility from the perpetrator to the victim, the authors also discuss particular Indigenous examples relating to the issue of attacks on and kidnappings of Indigenous women, and to the connections between violence, resource exploitation, and land dispossession.
Abstract by the authors: Faculty have played an important role in the ongoing efforts to confront gender-based violence on college campuses, as teachers, researchers, advocates, and policy advisors. Nevertheless, few institutions have welcomed faculty activism on this issue, especially when it took the form of vocal support for survivor-led efforts to transform campus policies and culture. This article examines the nature and scope of faculty involvement in confronting gender-based violence on college campuses across North America between 2014 and 2018. Our analysis of the range of roles and responsibilities faculty have assumed and the challenges and obstacles they have faced is informed by our own involvement with the U.S.-based group, Faculty Against Rape (FAR), which is dedicated to supporting faculty involvement in confronting gender-based violence on campus. Informed by the context of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements on one hand, and the changes in Federal and State protections for student survivors in the Trump–DeVos era on the other, the article concludes with a list of best practices for faculty involvement.
Abstract by the author: The article reviews the research conducted in Italy on the issue of gender-based violence and in particular on femicide, a phenomenon that has become increasingly important in the media agenda in the last decade. The research is mainly aimed at detecting the magnitude of the phenomenon from a quantitative point of view. In Italy, in line with other European countries, one in three women claims to have been the victim of physical and/or sexual violence, especially by current or ex-husbands and partners, in the course of her lifetime. In addition, a femicide occurs every 2/3 days. The paper highlights some methodological questions related to the construction of the research system, starting from pre-established aims. In particular, it focuses on the interpretative paradigms and definitions of “gender-based violence” and “femicide” used, which guide the choice of corpus and categories of research analysis, ranging from feminist and sociological approaches to citizens’ safety and a psycho-individualistic paradigm. These different approaches make it difficult to compare data at both national and international level.
Abstract by the authors: The naming of violence in feminist political campaigns and in the context of feminist theory has rhetorical and political effects. Feminist contention about the scope and meaning of ‘Violence against Women' (VAW) and ‘Sex and Gender-Based Violence' (SGBV), and about the concepts of gender and of violence itself, are fundamentally debates about the politics of feminist contestation, and the goals, strategies and tactics of feminist organisation, campaigns and action. This article examines the propulsion since the late twentieth century of the problems of VAW and SGBV on to global and national political agendas. The feminist theory that underpins the uptake of this new agenda is contested by opponents of feminism. More significantly for the article it is also contested within feminism, in disputes about how feminist political aims should be furthered, through what institutions and with what strategic goals in view. The article aims to show that theoretical and philosophical controversy about the concepts of violence, and sex and gender, are always political, both in the sense that they are an aspect of feminist competition about how feminist politics should proceed, and in the sense that the political implications of concepts and theory must always be a significant factor in their salience for feminist action.
Abstract by the authors: The authors convey their thoughts on the importance of a gendered approach in responding and preventing alcohol-related violence against women. Topics mentioned include sex differences in the impacts of alcohol use on men and women, the link between men's alcohol use and sexual aggression and violence, and the need for public health policy around alcohol and violence to engage with gender in theory and practice.
Abstract by the authors: En 2014, la France ratifie la Convention du Conseil de l’Europe sur la prévention et la lutte contre la violence à l’égard des femmes et la violence domestique (dite Convention d’Istanbul) et adopte dans la foulée la loi pour l’égalité réelle entre les femmes et les hommes afin de mettre en conformité la législation française. Cette loi place la lutte contre les violences faites aux femmes dans un contexte de lutte contre les inégalités de genre. Si cela est loin d’être une nouveauté à l’échelle internationale, cela l’est en France. Lorsque les conceptions structurelles et transformatrices des violences faites aux femmes présentes dans les textes internationaux sont traduites à l’échelle nationale en lois, documents d’orientation et mesures de mise en œuvre sur le terrain, elles peuvent alors remettre en question des idées largement répandues sur les rapports de genre, ou au contraire être édulcorées afin d’aboutir à un consensus. Dans quelle mesure la politique de la France relative aux violences faites aux femmes s’est-elle alignée sur les initiatives de l’ONU et du Conseil de l’Europe qui présentent ce type de violences comme étant à la fois une cause et une conséquence des rapports de force liés au genre ? Le genre et la violence fondée sur le genre, qui sont des concepts internationalement reconnus, ont-ils été intégrés dans les débats politiques français, et si oui, de quelle manière ? Quelles en sont les implications le cas échéant sur la poursuite, en France et ailleurs, de la lutte pour éliminer les violences faites aux femmes ?
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