Is It Love or Sexual Abuse? Young Adults' Perceptions of Statutory Rape

Adults under age 25 comprise the majority of statutory rape perpetrators, yet we know little about their perceptions of statutory relationships. We assessed 210 (50% male) young adults’ perceptions of statutory rape involving a 15-year-old female adolescent and a male who was either 2, 4, or 6 years older. Across all age gaps, 73.7% of participants felt the relationship should not be a crime. Participants who read about a 4- or 6-year (versus 2-year) age gap perceived the relationship as significantly more of a crime and the older partner as more responsible and in need of legal intervention. Effects were partially mediated by perceptions of the relationship as exploitive. Results suggest a need to educate young adults about statutory rape.     

Censorship in the US or Fear and Loathing of the Arts

Artists, especially those who also teach, once felt protected by the first amendment and by ‘academic freedom’. It has become painfully obvious that such protections no longer exist. Artists, like everyone else, are vulnerable to the inconsistencies, misunderstandings and deliberate legal manipulations of language and the interpretation of images, especially anything having to do with sex. Everyone from artists to institutions of higher learning and the art world (museums, galleries, public and private granting agencies) now engage in a process of self-censorship to avoid the incongruous logic of a corrupt and conservative political system. In this essay the author addresses the changing social climate and the impact it has had on the now heretical and somehow unpatriotic notion of the freedom of speech. She also reflects on her personal history as both an artist and an academic who makes and writes about sexually explicit imagery, who deliberately involves herself in ethical dilemmas, and who is tired of ‘political correctness’.     

Remembering Norma (In Memory of Norma C. Lang, 1927–2012)

This tribute to Norma Lang, who died on June 26, 2012, recognizes her contributions to the field of social work and, especially, to social work with groups. Although Lang was a very private person who would not have approved of a tribute, she would have been pleased that a group effort contributed to this article. The group, dubbed the “Toronto Five” by coauthor Patricia Moffat, describes Dr. Norma C. Lang as a matriarch in the social work profession—a complex, strong, capable, and independent pillar with an incredible way of caring for us.     

Complex Families and Late‐Life Outcomes Among Elderly Persons: Disability,Institutionalization, and Longevity

The authors examined the effects of marital status and family structure on disability, institutionalization, and longevity for a nationally representative sample of elderly persons using Gompertz duration models applied to longitudinal data from 3 cohorts of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 11,481). They found that parents with only stepchildren have worse outcomes than parents with only biological children. Elderly mothers with only stepchildren become disabled and institutionalized sooner, and elderly men with only stepchildren have shorter longevity relative to their counterparts with only biological children. The effect of membership in a blended family differs by gender. Relative to those with only biological children, women in blended families have greater longevity and become disabled later, whereas men in blended families have reduced longevity. The findings indicate that changing marital patterns and increased complexity in family life have adverse effects on late‐life health outcomes.     

Reactions of Heterosexual African American Men to Women's Condom Negotiation Strategies

This study describes responses of 172 single heterosexual African American men, ages 18 to 35, to condom negotiation attempts. Strategies used included reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, referent, and informational strategies, based on Raven's (1992 Raven , B. H. ( 1992 ). A Power/Interaction Model of interpersonal influence: French and Raven thirty years later . Journal of Social Behavior and Personality , 7 , 217 – 244 . [Google Scholar]) influence model. The purpose was (a) to identify strategies influencing participant acquiescence to request and (b) to identify predictors of participant compliance/refusal to comply with negotiation attempts. Participants viewed six videotape segments showing an actress, portrayed in silhouette, speaking to the viewer as a “steady partner.” After each segment, participants completed measures of request compliance, positive and negative affect, and attributions concerning the model and themselves. No significant differences were found in men's ratings across all vignettes. However, differences in response existed across subgroups of individuals, suggesting that, although the strategy used had little impact on participant response, the act of suggesting condom use produced responses that differed across participant subgroups. Subgroups differed on levels of AIDS risk knowledge, sexually transmitted disease history, and experience with sexual coercion. Also, the “least willing to use” subgroup was highest in anger–rejection and least likely to make attributions of caring for partner. Effective negotiation of condom use with a male sexual partner may not be determined as much by specific strategy used as by partner characteristics.     

Why Joanna Baptista Sold Herself into Slavery: Indian Women in Portuguese Amazonia, 1755–1798

In 1780, in Belém, Brazil, Joanna Baptista sold herself into slavery. This article probes Joanna's motives and situates her actions not only in the milieu of slaveholding Brazil, but also in the more specific context of Portuguese Amazonia during the Directorate (1758–1798). Indians, especially former slaves and their descendants, faced forced resettlement and increased labor demands. Joanna's case and contemporary petitions demonstrate how women of Indian and mixed descent, especially single women, widows and orphans, used legal means to defend their autonomy.     

Maternal Health Policies in Countries in Transition: Poland and Kyrgyzstan, 1990–2006

ABSTRACT

Starting with the initiation of democratic and market economic transitions, unsupportive policies concerning women's reproductive health were implemented in Kyrgyzstan and Poland in the period 1990–2006. These policies were expressed by (1) political decisions limiting available funding to support medical practices protecting women's reproductive health, (2) diminishing or restricted dissemination of knowledge about family planning, and (3) the implementation of new contraception and abortion policies. Could these changes be perceived as combat between democratic liberalism, cosmopolitanism, and tolerance versus traditionalism, insularism, and fundamentalism? We use analyses of policies concerning women's reproductive and maternal health to manifest rivalry between economic crisis and the push toward modernity and between traditionalism and liberalism. We demonstrate that the return to traditional gender roles and gender policies, and their practical application expressed in maternal health policies, illustrates cultural backlash toward diffusing Western liberalism in countries in political and economic transition.     

Strategies for Preventing Neighborhood Violence: Toward Bringing Collective Efficacy into Social Work Practice

Neighborhood violence has profound effects on issues associated with social work practice, such as health, safety, and the positive development of children, youth, and families. This article brings together the literatures in criminology and public health that examine violence and social work's history in community practice to develop violence prevention strategies. One important concept from the criminology and public health literatures is collective efficacy, defined as neighbors having shared values, trust, and a willingness to intervene in neighborhood problems. By building on the community practice literature and studies from peacemaking criminology, the article provides examples of ways that collective efficacy can be built and implemented in low income neighborhoods. Strategies include awareness of collective efficacy, relationship building, bystander education, and restorative justice.     

Parent Perspectives on Intensive Intervention for Child Maltreatment

Multi-level intervention, based on an ecological perspective, has been promoted at the preferred model of providing parenting support to high-risk families. However, parent views regarding such interventions have not been determined. Focus groups consisting of 24 parents who had recently completed an intensive parenting program yielded results supporting multi-level interventions but highlighting processes rather than content within such programs as well as the reciprocal effect of particular level interventions. Processes identified at intervention levels included Affirming Parent Self-Worth, Non-Directive Instruction, Promoting Social Connections, and Empowering Communication. Increased understanding of and attending to processes in intensive intervention with high-risk families is indicated.