Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

This article presents a review of literature describing intimate partner violence (IPV) in same-sex relationships. The authors present definitions and the prevalence of the main forms of violence-physical, sexual, and emotional-that can occur within same-sex intimate partner relationships, an overview of the existing research that examines the dynamics and broader social context of same-sex IPV, and implications for counseling affected individuals.     

Sexual Transformations and Intimate Behaviors in Romantic Relationships

To understand the association between sexual transformations (i.e., changes in sexual behavior for the partner), intimate behaviors, and relationship quality among couples in romantic relationships, this study used Actor Partner Interdependence Models to examine frequency of sexual transformations, feelings about sexual transformations, and intimate behaviors as predictors of relationship satisfaction among 96 couples (N = 192). Sexual transformations were also examined as a moderator of the association between intimate behavior and relationship satisfaction. Results indicated that relationship satisfaction was positively associated with partners’ frequent sexual transformations, actors’ positive feelings about sexual transformations, and intimate behavior from the partner. Further, in less intimate relationships, relationship satisfaction was greater when partners reported making more sexual transformations.     

Abuse of disabled children in Ghana

Even though disabled children are targets of various forms of abuse, such issues remain mostly undocumented open secrets in many countries including Ghana. The article is based on a qualitative data provided by three key informants. Six stories emerged from the data and are discussed in terms of four main forms of abuse. Labelling theories are employed to strengthen the discussions. The article is aimed at increasing awareness on the various forms of abuse experienced by disabled children in Ghana. The study is also meant to capture the attentions of stakeholders that have the responsibility to end abusive practices against disabled children in Ghana.     

Disabled persons’ job interview experiences: stories of discrimination,uncertainty and recognition

This paper explores disabled persons’ narrated experiences from job interviews. Based on interviews with employed disabled persons in the United States and Norway, the analysis investigates how the informants understand and deal with employers’ interpretations of disability. Three kinds of stories are identified: discrimination, uncertainty and recognition. In the first two stories, informants portrayed employers who used a non-inclusive discourse of disability. In the story of recognition, informants perceived employers to be primarily interested in their competence, and disability was dealt with in an inclusive manner. The comparison between American and Norwegian accounts reveals striking similarities in disabled persons’ narratives.     

“I Am Tired But If I Don't Try to Have Sex,My Wife Will Think I've Been Fooling around in the City”: Work,Migration, and Sex Among Vietnamese Migrant Laborers

Mostly operating from a risk and risk-reduction paradigm, existing research on migrants in Vietnam tends to conceptualize sex and risky sexual behaviors as isolated life domains. This study begins to develop a contextually rich understanding of migrants’ sex lives by examining the relationships among sex, work, and the constant pendulum-like migrating movements of 23 Vietnamese married migrants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Using data from in-depth interviews, it was found that most participants had no sex in the city; this was followed by visits to the home village, where they had sex with their spouses as often as possible to make up for the “long drought” in the city. Within this sexual schema, sex came secondary, and even peripherally, to migrants’ working lives; thus, exhaustion from work was cited by migrants as the overwhelming factor leading to their sexual problems. This study suggests that migrants’ intimate lives are more strongly linked to their working lives than has previously been recognized, and that their sexual behaviors should be viewed in tandem with the hardships of their working lives.     

From Methodological Stumbles to Substantive Insights: Gaining Ethnographic Access in Queer Communities

This article demonstrates precisely how issues of access—in this case differential access to informants and the scenes that they populate in three sites—can reveal substantive findings. In the case it features, a comparative study of small cities with growing populations of lesbian couples, actors’ disparate and place-specific sexual identities produced disparate and place-specific responses to research. Integrationist sexual identities impeded access, whereas identity-politics orientations facilitated it. The paper identifies three mechanisms via which sexual identities influenced access: directly, by shaping informants’ orientations to the research topic, and, indirectly, by influencing local networks and institutions that emerge from and reinforce local identities. By explicating one ethnographer’s path from methodological trouble to substantive insight, the article traces the utility of an expansive and flexible reflexivity that begins with but extends beyond the researcher’s identity and role. This reflexivity, the article proposes, encourages identification of substantive findings and the development of social theory, and can advance a comparative sociology of ethnographic access.     

Yet another minority issue or good news for all? Approaching LGBT issues in European social work education

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the questions of why to include and how to approach LGBT issues in the context of European social work education. Referring to social work’s commitment to LGBT people, the article points out its ongoing relevance as questions of marginalisation and discrimination point far beyond formal equality in legislation and normalisation of homosexuality within existing societal institutions. Furthermore, new questions and dynamics in rapidly changing and highly diverse societal contexts bring about new challenges in addressing LGBT issues. Against this background, the article discusses problems of representation and knowledge and underlines the potential of a queer approach. A queer perspective questions taken-for-granted assumptions about sexual orientation, gender identity and intimate relationships. It challenges normalising categories of sex, gender and desire and brings out possibilities existing beyond the heteronormative order. This way, it offers social work education a powerful theoretical lens to address issues on sexual orientation and gender identity not only as yet another minority issue, but as transversal matter and as good news for all. In this article, we use the acronym LGBT to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. LGBT is meant to include and at the same time emphasise the differences between people who do not (exclusively) define themselves as heterosexual and who cannot or do not want to match or identify with binarities of sex, gender and desire. We do not use the acronym LGBTI because we find it problematic to include intersex people without taking explicitly into account their specific situations and needs. Making a plea for a queer approach, we share – of course – a critical view on categorisations and identity labels.     

The politics of sexual citizenship: commercial sex and disability

This paper breaks a long silence by bringing together two areas of literature that have generally been considered separately: that of sexuality and disability with findings from studies on sex work. Presenting empirical findings from two studies, one with sex workers who work from indoor sex markets and the other with men who buy sex, this paper exposes the existing relationships and practices between men with physical and sensory impairments who seek out commercial sexual services from female sex workers. In the discussion the politics surrounding sexual rights and commercial sex will be addressed. In the context of commercial sex, quality of life issues, complex power dynamics and the common ground between disabled people and sex workers rights are discussed. This paper considers the negative aspects of promoting commercial sex for people with impairments, as well as the positive aspects regarding the wider campaign for sexual citizenship. Finally, I set out recommendations and a new research and policy agenda that investigates the complexities of commercial and facilitated sex.     

‘Now I’d like to sleep with Rachael’ – researching sexuality support in a service agency group home

Many intellectually disabled people living in agency services require significant forms of support to live safe and satisfying sexual lives. Research reveals that despite support personnel working in service systems now holding largely positive attitudes towards sexuality assistance, proactive practice is rarely initiated. This article probes what might lie within this attitude/assistance gap. This investigation reveals a complex picture of practices that rely on intellectually disabled people showing conformation to a ‘couple doing normal’ ideal, so as to be judged capable of being supported. It examines how wider social locations of meaning related to ‘intellectual disability’ and ‘sexuality’ might substantiate these judgement calls. The degree to which it can be said that worker’s own attitudes and values underpin their reluctance to provide support is then explored. Finally, why researchers and practitioners might need to reappraise the complex interactions that shape worker’s practice in this area is discussed.     

‘Some people are not allowed to love’: intimate citizenship in the lives of people labelled with intellectual disabilities

Disability helps us think differently about the ‘ideal’ neoliberal-able citizen who may not equate to ideas of productive, sexual, ‘normal’. Intimate citizenship – our rights and access to intimacy – is often ignored by those working with people labelled with intellectual disabilities and in research. In this article, we discuss the outcome of a dialogue between self-advocates labelled with intellectual disabilities, academics, service providers, Aboriginal leaders, students and artists about intimate citizenship through love, intimate work and consumption.     

‘I myself had a sweetie …’: re‐thinking female same‐sex intimacy beyond the institution of marriage and identity politics

This article is understood as an intervention into current debates around the question of rights in relation to sexuality and in particular to issues of same‐sex marriages and alternative family structures. As the interpretation of rights in relation to sexuality generally focuses on gay identities, this article reflects on the effects of these discourses on non‐normative modes of sexuality and intimacy. More specifically the article focuses on interviews conducted in Johannesburg on ‘mummy–baby’ relationships. By contextualising these relationships in the historical and cultural framework of sexual cultures and cultures of intimacy, this article argues that the South African history and cultures provided and provide a space which accommodates forms of female same‐sex intimacy that are not necessarily linked to metropolitan sexual cultures. The article discusses the tensions between non‐lesbian same‐sex intimacy and metropolitan lesbianism by focusing on homosociality as a gender theory. The article questions the regulatory functions of identity and problematises the practice of ‘coming out’ as always being a liberating moment.     

Friendships with benefits? Examining the role of friendship in semi-structured interviews within music research

This article explores the ‘methodology of friendship’ and its wider potential within music research. Drawing on two research examples that made use of ‘friendship’ in distinct fashions – one that explores music listening practices in everyday life and the other, music as a site for racialisation – the article discusses how friendship can be incorporated within semi-structured interviews. The case studies act as examples of how to negotiate alterity in music research and how friendship represents a potential for gathering more detailed data. The notion of ‘alterity’, at the core of research relationships is critical to shift the conversation to an informal tone and improve the depth of the discourses gathered from informants. Consequently, this article addresses debates within qualitative (music) sociology by reconsidering friendship as an axis of power and examines the nature of the data gathered in semi-structured interviews through the methodology of friendship.     

Disability and sex work: developing affinities through decriminalization

This article argues that strong policy frameworks are required to support the health and well-being of sex workers, disabled people, and disabled sex workers. Through an examination of the context of sex work in Canada, we articulate the flaws of sex work criminalization and the persistent barriers that criminalization creates. Our analysis of the intersection of disabled sexuality and access to sexual services identifies how the sex industry can aid in the flourishing of the erotic lives of disabled people. The article culminates in a discussion of the benefits of sex work decriminalization for sex workers, disabled people, and disabled sex workers.     

Images across Europe: The sending and receiving of sexual images and associations with interpersonal violence in young people's relationships

This article explores young people's experiences of sending and receiving sexual images and text messages (sexting) within their interpersonal relationships and the contexts in which this occurs. The article uses data from a recent Daphne funded project ‘Safeguarding teenagers' intimate relationships’ (STIR) involving a survey with 4564 young people aged between 14 and 17 in a number of schools across five countries in Europe. Findings reveal that experiences of sexting vary by country and gender. The study also found that young people who reported victimisation in their relationships were more likely to have sent a sext message than those who had not. The article points to the need for a more nuanced understanding of the varied contexts and experiences around sexting in order to better develop policy, practice and education in this area.     

Explanatory models for disability: perspectives of health providers working in Malawi

Health providers’ understanding of disability determines how disabled people are treated, and hence it is imperative to address conceptualisations of disability, as this will contribute to better opportunities and realisation of human rights for disabled people. This article will use data from a qualitative study exploring conceptualisations of disability by 22 health service providers from the total health care system in Malawi, including the professional sector (e.g. medical doctors and nurses) and the folk sector (healers and indigenous practices). We will discuss how these perceptions influence the lives of disabled people, using the case of a health service user with physical and speech impairment as an example. Our data show that health providers largely conceptualise disability according to the medical model for disability, contributing to the exclusion of disabled people. The bio-psycho-social model for disability, largely absent as an explanatory model for disability among our informants, is the most inclusive and rights based.     

Repositioning mothers: mothers,disabled children and disability studies

In this article we set out to review the ways in which mothers of disabled children have been portrayed within disability studies and the more broader academic literature. We argue that within disability studies mothers of disabled children occupy a liminal position because they are often not disabled and yet they can experience forms of disablism. Their experiences can differ markedly from the experiences of mothers of non‐disabled children and yet the consequences and outcomes of these experiences, such as developing a ‘special competence’ is largely overlooked. Mothers can work to effect change on behalf of their children and, in some cases, for disabled people more generally, however, this role of activist mother is largely undervalued. The review of literature presented here leads us to conclude that further research needs to be undertaken exploring and highlighting the ways in which mothers of disabled children negotiate, manage and approach their daily lives, operating within what are described by feminist scholars as oppressive mothering ideologies and disabling environments.     

Cohabiting couples: rethinking money in the household at the beginning of the twenty first century

This paper assesses the implications of existing research on the intra‐household economy for current debates about the emergence of new forms of radically democratic intimate relationships in ‘late modern’ or ‘world risk’ society. The different ways in which couples organise money are particularly important in evaluating these debates because as Pahl (1989 , 1997 , 1999 ) argues, money can be seen as a tracer for other aspects of a couples’ lives together, especially the power relationship between them. One of the groups currently thought to be in the vanguard of shifts to new forms of egalitarian and radically democratic intimate relationships are heterosexual cohabiting couples. So far however, there has been little, if any, research on the ways in which cohabiting couples organise money, particularly in Britain. This paper therefore assesses the possible implications of existing research on the intra‐household economy amongst heterosexual couples in the UK and elsewhere, for the ways in which cohabiting couples may possibly be organising household money in Britain today, and what light this sheds on current debates about shifts towards greater equality in new forms of intimate relationships. One of the main questions underlying the discussion concerns the extent to which trends towards individualisation in intimate relationships are coming to be associated with greater sharing and equality in the distribution of financial resources, as Giddens’ (1992 ) thesis would lead us to expect, or whether as Pahl (1999 ) and others ( Jamieson, 1999 ) have suggested, an increasing proportion of couples may now be coming to use individualised or privatised systems of money management which while enhancing individual control over finances, may nevertheless still be associated with the maintenance and reproduction of some very traditional gender inequalities between male and female partners, albeit in a new and apparently impersonal, ‘marketised’ form.     

Sexual transformations and intimate behaviors in romantic relationships

To understand the association between sexual transformations (i.e., changes in sexual behavior for the partner), intimate behaviors, and relationship quality among couples in romantic relationships, this study used Actor Partner Interdependence Models to examine frequency of sexual transformations, feelings about sexual transformations, and intimate behaviors as predictors of relationship satisfaction among 96 couples (N?=?192). Sexual transformations were also examined as a moderator of the association between intimate behavior and relationship satisfaction. Results indicated that relationship satisfaction was positively associated with partners' frequent sexual transformations, actors' positive feelings about sexual transformations, and intimate behavior from the partner. Further, in less intimate relationships, relationship satisfaction was greater when partners reported making more sexual transformations.     

The dairymaid and the prince: race,memory, and the story of Benjamin Banneker’s grandmother

The list of white Englishwomen, who formed intimate relationships with African men between 1680 and 1750 in Maryland, is impressive, more so because by 1664, Maryland laws made interracial marriages between white women and African men illegal. Court records exist documenting the punishment of women both for ‘fornicating’ with men of African descent and for having children by them, though how rigorously early colonial Maryland marriage laws were enforced remains unknown. What is known and what increasingly stringent marriage laws in Maryland suggest is that after 1664 white English women continued to choose black partners (both slave and free), regardless of serious social consequences that included social exclusion, lengthened indenture service, forced servitude of their children and of their sexual partners, and public physical punishment including whipping. By 1715, it became illegal in Maryland for black women to engage in intimate relationships with men. Mixed-race women, commonly called ‘mulatto’ in early records, found themselves with few choices in their sexual partners, since legally they were not allowed to engage in intimate relationships with either white or black men. One of these women, Molly Welsh, serves as a reminder of the unusual and unique position for women during the seventeenth century as servants, slave owners, property owners, and as partners in interracial relationships.