Always begin with a story: memoirs of Mary Lewis

Competing discourses have always figured prominently in policy debates about violence against women and children. Legislation and services to address it have largely been developed from theory and empirical knowledge of domestic violence occurring in intimate relationships. Knowledge from an Indigenous perspective about family violence, embedded in a context of colonisation and involving a broader range of relationships, has been less influential. One of the consequences of this is that when Indigenous communities identify solutions to address family violence holistically, these solutions are difficult to implement. Research with a remote South Australian Aboriginal community, looking for ways to reduce the level of family violence, resulted in new understandings of it. Linking issues of economic deprivation, dispossession and the breaking down of culture, the community devised a holistic community development approach to reduce family violence. This paper identifies the waves of understanding about family violence and argues that community-initiated solutions must be supported by policy and funding options based on an Indigenous understanding of family violence.     

二元家庭暴力证明标准初探

传统严苛的家庭暴力证明标准和立法改革中过于宽松的家庭暴力证明标准尚有缺失存在,而要在家庭暴力民事认定上实现"受害人"与"施暴人"在利益上的衡平,建议采用二元家暴证明标准。依据二元家暴证明标准,对于作为离婚理由的家庭暴力认定采用相对宽松的证明标准,而对于作为离婚损害赔偿理由的家庭暴力认定则采用相对严格的证明标准。     

“They Are All Good Boys”

This paper analyzes the construction of incidents of gang rape in Israeli newspapers between the years 2000 and 2010. The study examines the differences between the news media framing of gang rape and individual rape. Results indicate that the coverage of gang rape significantly differs from that of individual rape. Newspaper coverage over-emphasizes instances of gang rape in relation to individual occurrences of rape by means of sensational headlines and “yellow” journalism. Moreover, the construction of gang rape reflects a convergence of gender, race, and class oppression through the blaming and marginalizing of victims, criminalizing rapists from socially marginal groups, and absolving offenders most closely associated with the upper middle class. These findings suggest that the Israeli media play a key role in perpetuating patriarchal hegemony and social inequality.     

Intimate Partner Violence Survivors’ Unmet Social Service Needs

ABSTRACT

Women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization are at risk for physical and mental health problems, as well as social and economic challenges. In this cross-sectional study, 173 adult, English-speaking women who had experienced police response to IPV completed a self-report questionnaire about their use of, interest in, and need for various social services and whether or not each type of service helped (or would help) them to feel safer. More than three quarters of the participants reported a current need for health and economic support services. There was less interest in traditional IPV resources: law enforcement and domestic violence counseling or shelter. Expanding services to meet survivors’ needs for health care and economic independence may facilitate long-term safety. Recommendations for further research in this area are provided.     

Psychological Abuse in Young Couples: Risk Factors

ABSTRACT

In a study conducted at a major university in Spain, 648 university students between the ages of 17 and 23 years were assessed to identify the manifestations of psychological abuse prior to the consolidation of marital status (e.g., matrimony, start of cohabitation). To evaluate psychological abuse in the students’ intimate relationships, the authors created a Questionnaire on Psychological Abuse. Results show coercive patterns of interaction in the students’ dating relationships. Significant differences were found between men and women, with behavioral factors such as hostility, blaming, and abusive insistence. Future research is suggested that would permit changes in attitude and behavior to be introduced into dating relations.     

Exploring the Relationship between Exposure to Violence,Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety,and Children's Adaptive Functioning: Clinical and Community Implications

This study explored the relationship of exposure to violence and children's perceptions of neighborhood safety and children's adaptive functioning. It used a cross-sectional quadi-experimental design of 300 inner-city children and a bttery of standardized measures, which included the Child Maltreatment Classification Scheme, Exposure to Community Violence Scale, the Domains of Safety Subscale for Neighborhood, and the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher's Report form. Hierarchal regression analysis revealed that child maltreatment history and perceptions of neighborhood safety were significantly related to children's overall adaptive functioning. Social workers can help by engaging in efforts to increase neighborhood safety and reinforcing positive adaptive psychosocial functioning of children at risk or exposed to violence.     

Life Course Analysis—The Courage to Search for Something More

Abstract

In this paper we discuss middle-to-late life issues of the transgender and intersex communities. We demonstrate that these mid-to-late life issues are richly complex, full of courage, coping, risk, and resilience, and are grounded in a socio-ecological landscape of systemic actual and perceived violence and abuse. We examine how this socio-ecological environment affects the “normative” mid-life cycle processes. Practical examples are drawn from the author's field interviews and survey research over the past decade. We close by examining the effects of such a landscape on the middle-age life stage and examine its potential ramifications for old age as well.     

Cultural Definitions of Elder Maltreatment in Portugal

ABSTRACT

A small convenience sample of 34 participants (17 males, 17 females) from the Portuguese islands of the Azores and Madeira were asked to provide examples of how extreme, moderate, and mild maltreatment towards an elder would be defined in their culture and society. Neglect, especially psychological neglect, physical maltreatment, and psychological maltreatment were the most frequently reported types of maltreatment. References to neglect and physical maltreatment appeared most often as examples of extreme maltreatment. In general, men were somewhat more likely than women to provide examples of physical aggression in their examples of maltreatment. As examples of extreme maltreatment, females provided significantly more examples of abandonment than males. Although interpretations of the findings must be cautious because of the small sample size and limited statistical power, the study illustrates a procedure for assessing constructs of elder mistreatment in a way that attends to respondents' own constructions of the phenomenon.