Pub Date : 2023-12-29DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000015
A. Ni Shuilleabhain, Craig Skerritt
The issue of sexual harassment of early-career academics in Ireland has recently been brought to the fore through the mainstream media. Little research has been undertaken, however, on highlighting and documenting such experiences, leading to a lack of awareness and dearth of specifically targeted initiatives for this cohort. The authors, themselves early-career academics, attempt to highlight this problem by sharing data generated through focus group interviews with early-career academics, who reported experiences of sexual harassment in the context of challenges they faced in their work environment. The data presented here are shared to highlight these issues as being more common among early-career academics than believed. The authors call for further research to be undertaken focusing on early-career academics in order to raise awareness of such issues and for more resources to be developed to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and violence in higher education in Ireland.
{"title":"‘I’m a troublemaker’: the need to focus on early-career academics’ experiences of sexual harassment in Ireland","authors":"A. Ni Shuilleabhain, Craig Skerritt","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000015","url":null,"abstract":"The issue of sexual harassment of early-career academics in Ireland has recently been brought to the fore through the mainstream media. Little research has been undertaken, however, on highlighting and documenting such experiences, leading to a lack of awareness and dearth of specifically targeted initiatives for this cohort. The authors, themselves early-career academics, attempt to highlight this problem by sharing data generated through focus group interviews with early-career academics, who reported experiences of sexual harassment in the context of challenges they faced in their work environment. The data presented here are shared to highlight these issues as being more common among early-career academics than believed. The authors call for further research to be undertaken focusing on early-career academics in order to raise awareness of such issues and for more resources to be developed to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and violence in higher education in Ireland.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"220 S712","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139145313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-29DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000013
N. Emmerich, Zoe Watkins
While the practice now seems to be relatively uncommon, in the recent past some medical doctors have instructed their students to perform intimate exams on unconscious patients without first securing their informed consent. Concern about the issue has led some American states to introduce legislation explicitly banning such exams. We consider if Australian states should do the same. Noting that there is little substantive evidence suggesting that the practice continues in Australia, we argue that the creation of specific laws lacks justification; such exams already contravene existing health law, which prohibits the conduct of any physical exam without first ensuring the patient’s consent. Furthermore, even if the practice continues, additional legislation will do little to address the more fundamental issue; a culture that considers the practice morally acceptable. We therefore argue that professional bodies, including student organisations, should issue formal position statements that not only reject such exams unequivocally, but also offer guidelines for best practice. Teaching hospitals and medical schools should adopt similar policies on the matter and ensure that these are discussed at relevant junctures in the curricula. Such policies should ensure accountability by setting out clear reporting lines that establish clear sanctions for those who instruct medical students to perform such exams.
{"title":"Should Australian states enact statutes that explicitly ban unconsented intimate exams performed by medical students for educational reasons?","authors":"N. Emmerich, Zoe Watkins","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000013","url":null,"abstract":"While the practice now seems to be relatively uncommon, in the recent past some medical doctors have instructed their students to perform intimate exams on unconscious patients without first securing their informed consent. Concern about the issue has led some American states to introduce legislation explicitly banning such exams. We consider if Australian states should do the same. Noting that there is little substantive evidence suggesting that the practice continues in Australia, we argue that the creation of specific laws lacks justification; such exams already contravene existing health law, which prohibits the conduct of any physical exam without first ensuring the patient’s consent. Furthermore, even if the practice continues, additional legislation will do little to address the more fundamental issue; a culture that considers the practice morally acceptable. We therefore argue that professional bodies, including student organisations, should issue formal position statements that not only reject such exams unequivocally, but also offer guidelines for best practice. Teaching hospitals and medical schools should adopt similar policies on the matter and ensure that these are discussed at relevant junctures in the curricula. Such policies should ensure accountability by setting out clear reporting lines that establish clear sanctions for those who instruct medical students to perform such exams.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"33 S117","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139147033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-26DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000011
Selma Taha, Liz Kelly
Much of the research on COVID-19 and violence against women and girls (VAWG) has focused on the impacts on victim-survivors or on organisations offering support. This qualitative study aimed at documenting the coping strategies of, and the impacts on, support workers, specifically domestic and sexual violence advocates (independent domestic violence advisor [IDVA] and independent sexual violence advisors [ISVA]), in two London based organisations. The findings revealed a double load of supporting others while coping with the impacts of the pandemic on themselves and their families. An unanticipated but revealing finding was that the conjunction of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement made visible and visceral the daily work that Black women do to manage everyday racism, including in the VAWG sector. For these women ‘returning to normal’ was an unwelcome and unacceptable prospect, making anti-racism work in the VAWG sector an urgent priority.
{"title":"At whose cost? Racialised differences in how domestic violence and sexual violence advocates adapted to COVID-19","authors":"Selma Taha, Liz Kelly","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000011","url":null,"abstract":"Much of the research on COVID-19 and violence against women and girls (VAWG) has focused on the impacts on victim-survivors or on organisations offering support. This qualitative study aimed at documenting the coping strategies of, and the impacts on, support workers, specifically domestic and sexual violence advocates (independent domestic violence advisor [IDVA] and independent sexual violence advisors [ISVA]), in two London based organisations. The findings revealed a double load of supporting others while coping with the impacts of the pandemic on themselves and their families. An unanticipated but revealing finding was that the conjunction of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement made visible and visceral the daily work that Black women do to manage everyday racism, including in the VAWG sector. For these women ‘returning to normal’ was an unwelcome and unacceptable prospect, making anti-racism work in the VAWG sector an urgent priority.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"1 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139155640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-18DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000005
Nicola Roberts, Lauren Doyle, Mark Roberts
In a society pre-occupied with managing risks, individuals are responsibilised to ensure their own safety. In the context of higher education, this might seem useful advice because young university students are at risk of violent victimisation, and they migrate to cities with which they are unfamiliar. However, using Foucauldian discourse analysis, we analysed text about personal safety on all UK universities’ websites to draw out the underlying discourse embedded in the safety advice. We find that students are advised where to walk, when to walk, how to walk or not to walk, and with whom. In seeking to control the movements of potential victims to avoid victimisation, a victim-blaming discourse is evident. The offender is rarely mentioned. Such overt safety advice often impacts upon women more than men. It is argued that given the duplication of such advice across university websites as well as its dated nature, it is likely that universities have given little thought to how they advise their students to keep safe and what the impact of this is. We provide recommendations on how universities can update their personal safety advice to students to be more empowering.
{"title":"Deconstructing dangerous discourse: an analysis of personal safety advice to students on UK universities’ websites","authors":"Nicola Roberts, Lauren Doyle, Mark Roberts","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000005","url":null,"abstract":"In a society pre-occupied with managing risks, individuals are responsibilised to ensure their own safety. In the context of higher education, this might seem useful advice because young university students are at risk of violent victimisation, and they migrate to cities with which they are unfamiliar. However, using Foucauldian discourse analysis, we analysed text about personal safety on all UK universities’ websites to draw out the underlying discourse embedded in the safety advice. We find that students are advised where to walk, when to walk, how to walk or not to walk, and with whom. In seeking to control the movements of potential victims to avoid victimisation, a victim-blaming discourse is evident. The offender is rarely mentioned. Such overt safety advice often impacts upon women more than men. It is argued that given the duplication of such advice across university websites as well as its dated nature, it is likely that universities have given little thought to how they advise their students to keep safe and what the impact of this is. We provide recommendations on how universities can update their personal safety advice to students to be more empowering.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"19 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139173102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000004
Leanne M. Nunn, Romy Winter, Ronald Frey, N. Asquith
Rates of reported intimate partner abuse (IPA) have not reduced over the last ten years, despite increased research, policy attention and funding. To inform the development of effective prevention strategies, this study investigated the earliest warning signs of IPA. Interviews were conducted with 13 female victim-survivors of IPA in heterosexual relationships. The participants revealed negative internal reactions to some of their partner’s early behaviours, but did not recognise them as signs of abuse. The most salient themes arising from this research were: 1) participants compromised their own reactions to the abusive behaviours; 2) the early stages of the relationship involved controlling behaviours that placed limits on the participants that were dismissive of their beliefs and decisions; and 3) their male partners consistently demonstrated exceptional charm and intense pursuit of the participants. Gender inequity has been identified as the main driver of IPA through men’s socialisation. The socialisation of women creates a context that increases the effectiveness of the strategies used by men to control. Primary prevention programmes need to include the narratives of lived experience of IPA and to enhance the ability of women to listen and respond to their own values and needs over those of their partner’s.
{"title":"The role of the socialisation of women in recognising and responding to the earliest warning signs of intimate partner abuse","authors":"Leanne M. Nunn, Romy Winter, Ronald Frey, N. Asquith","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000004","url":null,"abstract":"Rates of reported intimate partner abuse (IPA) have not reduced over the last ten years, despite increased research, policy attention and funding. To inform the development of effective prevention strategies, this study investigated the earliest warning signs of IPA. Interviews were conducted with 13 female victim-survivors of IPA in heterosexual relationships. The participants revealed negative internal reactions to some of their partner’s early behaviours, but did not recognise them as signs of abuse. The most salient themes arising from this research were: 1) participants compromised their own reactions to the abusive behaviours; 2) the early stages of the relationship involved controlling behaviours that placed limits on the participants that were dismissive of their beliefs and decisions; and 3) their male partners consistently demonstrated exceptional charm and intense pursuit of the participants. Gender inequity has been identified as the main driver of IPA through men’s socialisation. The socialisation of women creates a context that increases the effectiveness of the strategies used by men to control. Primary prevention programmes need to include the narratives of lived experience of IPA and to enhance the ability of women to listen and respond to their own values and needs over those of their partner’s.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139002494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000010
David Gadd, Laura Watt, Maria Pampaka, Filippo Varese, Cath White, R. Majeed‐Ariss
This article outlines a feasibility study to investigate the potential of measuring the support needs of adult service users of a sexual assault referral centre (SARC). A self-completion questionnaire was designed with the aim of capturing these needs, as well as how they change over time and with support provided. The questionnaire underwent revisions following consultations with organisations representing survivors. Survivors of sexual assault who attended Saint Mary’s SARC were invited to complete a questionnaire at three-month intervals after their first visit to the SARC. The process of recruitment was necessarily complex, potentially compounding the issue of low response: only 18 participants completed the questionnaire at the first time point, and only nine of those completed a follow-up questionnaire three months later. The responses demonstrated the value of connecting information gathered by forensic physicians with a social survey. This study design reduced the potential of re-traumatisation by avoiding the need for participants to revisit any details of the alleged assault. More work is required to understand what methods will help establish an enduring commitment to completing follow-up questionnaires from a population dealing with the aftermath of trauma.
{"title":"Measuring the long-term support needs of adult service-users at Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre","authors":"David Gadd, Laura Watt, Maria Pampaka, Filippo Varese, Cath White, R. Majeed‐Ariss","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000010","url":null,"abstract":"This article outlines a feasibility study to investigate the potential of measuring the support needs of adult service users of a sexual assault referral centre (SARC). A self-completion questionnaire was designed with the aim of capturing these needs, as well as how they change over time and with support provided. The questionnaire underwent revisions following consultations with organisations representing survivors. Survivors of sexual assault who attended Saint Mary’s SARC were invited to complete a questionnaire at three-month intervals after their first visit to the SARC. The process of recruitment was necessarily complex, potentially compounding the issue of low response: only 18 participants completed the questionnaire at the first time point, and only nine of those completed a follow-up questionnaire three months later. The responses demonstrated the value of connecting information gathered by forensic physicians with a social survey. This study design reduced the potential of re-traumatisation by avoiding the need for participants to revisit any details of the alleged assault. More work is required to understand what methods will help establish an enduring commitment to completing follow-up questionnaires from a population dealing with the aftermath of trauma.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"2 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138971079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000009
Holly Taylor-Dunn, Lis Bates, Dominic Reed, Anna Hopkins, Shona Morrison
There has been increased awareness of the unique challenges faced by those researching gender-based violence (GBV) in recent years. While much of the literature has rightly focused on the needs of participants (as victim/survivors), less has been written around the needs of researchers. Yet we know that researching GBV can have both positive and negative impacts on researchers (Nikischer, 2019) and it has recently been recommended that researchers have access to clinical supervision when regularly exposed to traumatic material (Williamson et al, 2020). This article draws on reflections from research carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the reasons why victims of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence may withdraw from the criminal justice process. The research team were provided with independent clinical supervision by a qualified therapist with expertise in interpersonal abuse throughout the duration of the project. Analysis of the researchers’ reflections suggest that while the move to remote research during the pandemic created opportunities in terms of flexibility there were additional emotional challenges to those experienced pre-pandemic. Importantly, this exploratory article shares reflections on the value of clinical supervision for addressing these challenges and recommends that all GBV researchers have access to this vital resource.
{"title":"Researching gender-based violence remotely during a pandemic: challenges, opportunities and methodological implications","authors":"Holly Taylor-Dunn, Lis Bates, Dominic Reed, Anna Hopkins, Shona Morrison","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000009","url":null,"abstract":"There has been increased awareness of the unique challenges faced by those researching gender-based violence (GBV) in recent years. While much of the literature has rightly focused on the needs of participants (as victim/survivors), less has been written around the needs of researchers. Yet we know that researching GBV can have both positive and negative impacts on researchers (Nikischer, 2019) and it has recently been recommended that researchers have access to clinical supervision when regularly exposed to traumatic material (Williamson et al, 2020). This article draws on reflections from research carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the reasons why victims of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence may withdraw from the criminal justice process. The research team were provided with independent clinical supervision by a qualified therapist with expertise in interpersonal abuse throughout the duration of the project. Analysis of the researchers’ reflections suggest that while the move to remote research during the pandemic created opportunities in terms of flexibility there were additional emotional challenges to those experienced pre-pandemic. Importantly, this exploratory article shares reflections on the value of clinical supervision for addressing these challenges and recommends that all GBV researchers have access to this vital resource.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138972099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000006
Cathy Humphreys, Helen Richardson-Foster, Michele Robinson, Jennifer Sijnja, Gemma McKibbin, Nicky Stanley
A crisis creates a time when normal problem-solving mechanisms are thrown into disarray. The COVID-19 pandemic plunged individuals and service systems into crisis. While recognising the destructive impact on health and well-being for those involved, the aim of this study was to explore opportunities for change created during a crisis, addressing the question: What has been learnt under COVID-19 about delivering domestic abuse services to perpetrators in the UK and Australia? Documentary analysis (31 documents reviewed in Australia, and 180 searched and analysed in the UK) and interviews (24 interviews with practitioners and policy and practice leads in the UK, and 11 interviews, and one focus group in Australia) were used to explore innovations in responses to perpetrators. Two key shifts in the delivery of services to men who use violence were identified: the pivot to remote delivery; and the emergence of interventions to provide accommodation and support for perpetrators. The study demonstrated that the policy window could open at a time of crisis to support innovative developments. Early evaluations highlighted positive developments. However, further research is needed to understand more fully the implications for safety and accountability.
{"title":"Never waste a crisis: initiatives responding to men who use violence during COVID-19","authors":"Cathy Humphreys, Helen Richardson-Foster, Michele Robinson, Jennifer Sijnja, Gemma McKibbin, Nicky Stanley","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000006","url":null,"abstract":"A crisis creates a time when normal problem-solving mechanisms are thrown into disarray. The COVID-19 pandemic plunged individuals and service systems into crisis. While recognising the destructive impact on health and well-being for those involved, the aim of this study was to explore opportunities for change created during a crisis, addressing the question: What has been learnt under COVID-19 about delivering domestic abuse services to perpetrators in the UK and Australia? Documentary analysis (31 documents reviewed in Australia, and 180 searched and analysed in the UK) and interviews (24 interviews with practitioners and policy and practice leads in the UK, and 11 interviews, and one focus group in Australia) were used to explore innovations in responses to perpetrators. Two key shifts in the delivery of services to men who use violence were identified: the pivot to remote delivery; and the emergence of interventions to provide accommodation and support for perpetrators. The study demonstrated that the policy window could open at a time of crisis to support innovative developments. Early evaluations highlighted positive developments. However, further research is needed to understand more fully the implications for safety and accountability.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"13 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139001325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000007
Naomi Pfitzner, Jasmine McGowan
As COVID-19 traversed the world, public health control measures introduced to reduce the spread of the virus restricted people’s movements and confined many victim-survivors to homes with their abusers. These restrictions raised challenges for services providing support to victims of domestic and family violence (DFV) leading many to rapidly pivot to remote service delivery models. Much of the existing knowledge about victim-survivor service use during COVID-19 is based on the reflections and observations of practitioners and service providers. This article centres on the experiences and expertise of victim-survivors, using findings from an Australian study that investigated victim-survivors’ use of DFV services during lockdowns. Our exploratory survey data revealed that lockdowns created conditions in homes that made it challenging to receive support remotely with concerns about privacy looming large. At the same time, several victim-survivors reported that the widescale shift to remote service provision during lockdowns improved the accessibility of support services. Positive experiences of remote service provision during COVID-19 provide support for the retention of hybrid service models in the future to cater for diverse victim-survivor needs and communities.
{"title":"Locked out or let in? Learning from victim-survivors’ remote help-seeking experiences during COVID-19","authors":"Naomi Pfitzner, Jasmine McGowan","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000007","url":null,"abstract":"As COVID-19 traversed the world, public health control measures introduced to reduce the spread of the virus restricted people’s movements and confined many victim-survivors to homes with their abusers. These restrictions raised challenges for services providing support to victims of domestic and family violence (DFV) leading many to rapidly pivot to remote service delivery models. Much of the existing knowledge about victim-survivor service use during COVID-19 is based on the reflections and observations of practitioners and service providers. This article centres on the experiences and expertise of victim-survivors, using findings from an Australian study that investigated victim-survivors’ use of DFV services during lockdowns. Our exploratory survey data revealed that lockdowns created conditions in homes that made it challenging to receive support remotely with concerns about privacy looming large. At the same time, several victim-survivors reported that the widescale shift to remote service provision during lockdowns improved the accessibility of support services. Positive experiences of remote service provision during COVID-19 provide support for the retention of hybrid service models in the future to cater for diverse victim-survivor needs and communities.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"9 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138974689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-07DOI: 10.1332/23986808y2023d000000008
Robert Bolton, Claire Edwards, Máire Leane, Fiachra Ó Súilleabháin
This article reports on how young people (aged 18–24) and stakeholders working in the area of violence against women (VAW) in Ireland, perceive young men’s role in addressing VAW. We find that men are considered well positioned to intervene as active bystanders and to engage in feminist allyship. However, several barriers to men’s active bystanding and engagement with the issue of VAW, as well as ethical, theoretical and practice issues, need to be considered. These include: the privileging of men’s willingness to listen to other men, thereby devaluing women’s perspectives; pluralistic ignorance where men feel other men do not share their discomfort of violence-supportive practices; and a tendency for men to default to confrontational modes of active bystanding. We highlight how these issues are even more pertinent to address given the presence of political forces that seek to stymie men’s support for feminist activism and causes related to gender politics.
{"title":"‘I would love to do something about it’: young men’s role in addressing violence against women in Ireland","authors":"Robert Bolton, Claire Edwards, Máire Leane, Fiachra Ó Súilleabháin","doi":"10.1332/23986808y2023d000000008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1332/23986808y2023d000000008","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports on how young people (aged 18–24) and stakeholders working in the area of violence against women (VAW) in Ireland, perceive young men’s role in addressing VAW. We find that men are considered well positioned to intervene as active bystanders and to engage in feminist allyship. However, several barriers to men’s active bystanding and engagement with the issue of VAW, as well as ethical, theoretical and practice issues, need to be considered. These include: the privileging of men’s willingness to listen to other men, thereby devaluing women’s perspectives; pluralistic ignorance where men feel other men do not share their discomfort of violence-supportive practices; and a tendency for men to default to confrontational modes of active bystanding. We highlight how these issues are even more pertinent to address given the presence of political forces that seek to stymie men’s support for feminist activism and causes related to gender politics.","PeriodicalId":42166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Gender-Based Violence","volume":"7 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138590197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}