Abuse Of Women Research Articles

Between the personal and the political-Arab (Israeli) women talk about incest: A psychoanalytic perspective of qualitative study.

To describe the experiences of Arab Israeli women who have survived incest. Ten Arab-Israeli women who were subjected to incest, were interviewed, using an in-depth semistructure interview. The interviews were analyzed using a qualitative-thematic analysis. Qualitative-thematic analysis of both explicit and implicit contents was applied to reveal linguistic structures the authors identify as related to the women's life experiences. The findings point to the experience of multiple exiles-from their mother's tongue, bodies, and subjectivity. The authors have identified the following themes: (a) usage of the plural first-body voice; (b) referring to one's self in a masculine voice; and (c) shifting between three languages (Arabic, Hebrew, and English. These themes are discussed in light of psychoanalytic literature and that which is concerned with sexual and psychic trauma. Arab-Israeli women seem to lead life as double victims-of both the patriarchal hegemony of men, within the Arab community, and as a minority within the Israeli society. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender-Based Violence and Patriarchy: Nigeria’s Experience

Gender-based violence, which is mostly a physical, psychological, structural and/or cultural abuse of women by the male folk, has been a social malaise militating against women across Africa, and this is largely believed to be so because of the perceived complicity of Africa’s cultures which advertently or inadvertently favour patriarchy – a cultural belief and practice that places higher premiums on the male child over and above the female child. The recent upsurge in gender-based violence, particularly rape in Nigeria has raised serious concerns among scholars and concerned stakeholders as to whether the female folk have now become sub-human before the male folk. This paper, was therefore, aimed at interrogating the issue of violence against women, with a focus on exploring recent incidences of gender-based violence, particularly rape in Nigeria. Secondary sources of data (i.e. published articles, textbooks, the internet, etc.) were used. Findings revealed gender-based violence in Nigeria to be largely influenced by the age-long patriarchal practices. It was therefore, concluded that with a lack of severe punishment for the perpetrators of gender-based violence, coupled with a gross lack of cultural re-orientation to see women as having coordinate status as men, the issue of men-dominated gender-based violence will go on unabated in Nigeria. The paper equally offered germane recommendations.

Is this already violence? Defining violence and domestic violence and its impact on awareness of the problem

Violence, including domestic violence, is ubiquitous phenomena and it is present in every country, cultural circle, and geographical location. Their commonness and scale put them in the center of interest of researchers from various scientific disciplines, politics, and media, and they also become the subject of everyday conversations and reflections. This article attempts to unify the existing definitions of violence and domestic violence, as well as it is an attempt to answer the question whether defining violence in a specific way by a particular person, family, group of people, followers of a specific religion or by particular country can affect the protection of victims of violence and domestic violence, and above all, whether it may make such protection more difficult. The dynamic changes in the global world make many thinkers believe that traditional society is beginning to live in disorder. History teaches that conflicts, changes and civilization processes occur in every society. The period of these changes may be quick, for example because of a revolution, or slow done in the evolution form. These changes may have more or less severe consequences for society and for the individual. Many of the problems currently visible in Poland reflect processes taking place in many parts of the world. These problems also include negative phenomena, such as abuse of women and children, as well as other forms of crime. In recent years, Poland, Europe, and the world have been shaken by political, economic, and financial crises, wars, and pandemics, which directly or indirectly changed the reality of our everyday life and also it had a negative impact on existing interpersonal relationships.

Class Distinction and the Objectification of Women’s Body in Lucy Kirkwood’s NSFW

Throughout history, some problems have never been solved, and gender discrimination is one of them. While this problem is extremely serious and does not allow women to breathe in some parts of the world, it is also a reality that gender discrimination still continues in developed countries. It cannot be denied that European women had to struggle for equal payment and circumstances even in the 1980s. The cooperation between the capitalist world order and the patriarchal system results in many troubles in women’s social and economic life. Social class primarily creates a big gap with regard to the quality of women’s lives and it results in inequality. In that regard, women in the lower class not only have to endure hard living and working conditions but they also get degenerated and betray their sisters. They are also abused in various ways and the objectification of their bodies is one of the most common forms of abuse they are exposed to. In NSFW, written by Lucy Kirkwood in 2012, these problems and more are brought to attention and dealt with. This study aims to explore class distinction and the objectification of women’s body in different ways from the abuse of women’s bodies to the established and imposed standards for bodily perfection under the influence of the class system in the capitalist economic order.

Вплив вживання психоактивних речовин та інфекцій, що передаються статевим шляхом, на цитологічний стан шийки матки

The introduction addresses the societal stigma surrounding psychoactive substance abuse and its implications for women’s health, particularly concerning cervical health. It sets the context for the study by highlighting the need to understand the impact of substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on cervical health. Purpose - to investigate the effects of psychoactive substance abuse and concurrent STIs on the health of the cervix in women. The study seeks to identify correlations between substance abuse, STIs, and cervical pathologies, providing valuable insights for healthcare strategies. Materials and methods. The study involved a sample of 160 women divided into groups based on their use of psychoactive substances and the presence of STIs. Cervical cytological smears were collected and analysed using Romanowsky-Giemsa and Papanicolaou staining methods. This approach aimed to detect and categorize any cellular abnormalities in the cervical epithelium. Results. The findings revealed a significant correlation between the abuse of psychoactive substances and the frequency of squamous cell abnormalities in the cervix, especially in those with concurrent STIs. Conditions like koilocytosis and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) were notably prevalent among substance abusers, indicating an increased risk for cervical dysplasia and potential progression to cervical cancer. Conclusions. The study concludes that psychoactive substance abuse, particularly in combination with STIs, significantly increases the risk of cervical pathologies in women. This underscores the necessity for enhanced cervical cancer screening and prevention strategies targeted at women who abuse psychoactive substances. The findings highlight the importance of addressing substance abuse and STIs in women’s health programs and public health initiatives, especially in high-risk groups. The study protocol was approved by the Local ethics committees of the institutions mentioned in the paper. An informed parental consent was obtained for the study in women. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.

Health providers readiness in managing intimate partner violence in public health institutions, Ethiopia.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a worldwide public health problem and major human and legal rights abuses of women. It affects the physical, sexual, and psychological aspects of the victims therefore, it requires complex and multifaceted interventions. Health providers are responsible for providing essential healthcare services for IPV victims. However, there is a lack of detailed information on whether or not health providers are ready to identify and manage IPV. Therefore, this study aimed to assess health providers' readiness and associated factors in managing IPV in public health institutions at Hawassa, Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted through a simple random sample of 424 health providers. Data was collected with an anonymous questioners using physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey (PREMIS) tool. Linear regression analysis was used to examine relationships among variables. The strength of association was assessed by using unstandardized β with 95% CI. The mean score of perceived provider's readiness in managing IPV was 26.18± 6.69. Higher providers age and providers perceived knowledge had positive association with provider perceived readiness in managing IPV. Whereas not had IPV training, absence of a protocol for dealing with IPV management, and provider attitude had a negative association with provider perceived readiness in managing IPV. This study reviled that health providers had limited perceived readiness to manage IPV. Provision of training for providers and develop protocol for IPV managements have an important role to improve providers readiness in the managements of IPV.

Hyperarousal PTSD and Alcohol Abuse: Inequitable Treatment and Impact of Substance Use Among African American Women

Throughout history Black women have consistently been underrepresented in almost every aspect of society. This article examines the intersection of race, class, gender, and social systems as they relate to hyperarousal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol abuse. Although there is an abundance of literature regarding substance abuse in America, it has been reiterated in previous research that substance abuse in the African American community is severely understudied, with special regard to the misunderstanding of substance use among Black women. Drawing on the Angry Black Woman (ABW) archetype, I analyze historical and current social structures that render Black women especially susceptible to an underdeveloped window of tolerance for stress. The aim of this article is not only to contribute to the lacking body of research for this group, but also to suggest that hyperarousal PTSD serves as a direct determinant for alcohol abuse in African American women.

Increased domestic violence during the COVID‐19 pandemic: India's response

AbstractMotivationDomestic abuse of women, despite being illegal, is common in India: on average, every 4.4 minutes a woman suffers abuse. During the pandemic, owing to curfew and lockdowns, women had additional caring responsibilities, but they lacked social support. A legal system made lethargic by lockdowns, lack of safety protocols for dealing with cases of domestic violence during the pandemic, extended delays in processing cases, and limited protection for victims—all combined to increase domestic violence nationwide.PurposeWhat was the response of the Indian government to domestic violence during the COVID‐19 pandemic? We evaluate policies and interventions through the lens of intersectional feminism and social equity.Methods and approachWe review publicly available documents and scholarly journals published between 2018 and 2022. We identify the national anti‐domestic violence and state‐specific programmes offered to women in India. We critically evaluate the country's anti‐domestic violence campaign. The policy analysis draws on the cultural knowledge and professional expertise of the authors.FindingsThe government's efforts to address domestic violence during the pandemic were limited. Pre‐existing vulnerabilities such as economic hardship, the gender‐based digital divide, and strict gender roles were exacerbated by the pandemic. Although the government tried to address domestic violence, through helplines, keeping shelters open and offering virtual court sessions, it also released convicted abusers from prison, increasing women's vulnerability. Government and non‐governmental organization interventions were not scaled up to meet demand. Many programmes had little oversight and quality control, resulting in differential results that often further victimized victims of domestic violence among vulnerable populations.Policy implicationsOur findings highlight the importance of services and policies on domestic violence being explicit and sensitive to the culture and context in disaster preparedness and public health emergency planning.

Surviving child sexual abuse in women's artistic gymnastics: ‘It's beautiful, because had I stayed in the past, I wouldn’t have evolved as a person’

The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal raised global awareness about child sexual abuse (CSA) in women's artistic gymnastics. The ensuing media coverage also centre-staged victims’ survivorship stories, a process that for many moved from dissociating, recognising and disclosing CSA to feeling comfort when connecting with survivors and accepting CSA as part of their life history. However, scholarship on what survivorship from CSA in sport entails, and importantly, what it means to athletes, is limited. In this article, we frame the survival of CSA using Arthur Frank’s socio-narratological conceptualisation of people being able to process the devastating consequences of a life-threatening and/or a life-altering event, and present the survivorship stories of two former gymnasts, Maria and Lucia (pseudonyms). For these two women, survivorship was facilitated by hearing others’ stories of sexual abuse, purposefully facing their CSA experiences and connecting with one another later in life to raise awareness about sexual abuse in sport. Thus, in addition to presenting Maria and Lucia's stories for the purpose of providing CSA victims with a survivorship narrative, we outline and reflect on the role hearing and telling stories have in CSA survivorship.

A qualitative study understanding immigrant Latinas, violence, and available mental health care.

Women from Latin American countries experience high levels of psychological and physical abuse and violence. Immigrant Latina women are often subjected to a patriarchal system in both family and government, which has resulted in a variety of complex and far-reaching outcomes. This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of immigrant Latina women who were exposed to violence, as well as their access to mental health care. This study used 20 interviews with immigrant Latina women from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico who had accessed mental health services in California. The primary themes that emerged from analysis of the data included motivating factors for seeking services (e.g., motherhood, community, hope, and mental health needs), barriers to accessing services (e.g., fatalism, marianismo, stigma, finances, language barriers, threats, abuse, and systemic insensitivity), and treatment and solutions (e.g., empathy, advocacy, and community approaches). These results appeared to be indicative of the importance of addressing sociopolitical, historical, and cultural trauma as an imperative component of effective treatment. In this context, the authors explore liberation psychology, a concept and approach that promotes social justice values and emphasizes the empowerment of immigrant Latina women in clinical practice. It is recommended that the historical sociocultural abuse of immigrant Latina women be thoughtfully considered and discussed in the therapeutic process to create lasting psychological change. Future research, policy efforts, and program development, including psychotherapeutic treatment modalities, should focus specifically on marginalized groups facing barriers to mental health care in order to increase access and effectiveness of treatment.

Cultural adaptation to Spanish and psychometric analysis of the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) in Peruvian adult women

BACKGROUND: Partner violence is a public health problem. In Peru, women with spouses are vulnerable to suffering it. The Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) is a widely recommended instrument for the early identification of these cases. Therefore, our objective was to adapt and analyse the psychometric properties of the WAST scale in adult Peruvian women. METHODOLOGY: This was an instrumental study, with a sample of 628 women who were in a marital condition of cohabitation or married at the time of the study. The mean age was 35 years (M = 35.58; SD = 10.92) and on average they were living with their partner for 9 years (M = 9.93; SD = 8.41). This sample was selected by non-probabilistic snowball sampling. The Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used. The validity of the internal structure was verified with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergent validity by correlation coefficients between the WAST, GAD-7 and PHQ-9, while reliability was verified using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Omega coefficient. RESULTS: Factorial analysis indicated that the one-dimensional model showed adequate goodness-of-fit indices (CFI = 0.998; TLI=0.991; RMSEA=0.103; SRMR=0.075), and reliability coefficients (α = 0.899 and ω = 0.916) were optimal. Additionally, the WAST showed strong external validity based on the relationship with the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores (Rho > 0.50). CONCLUSIONS: The Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) scale demonstrated solid evidence of internal and external validity and optimal reliability in adult Peruvian women. Its use will benefit the early identification of victims of intimate partner violence in primary health care and further research.

Factor structure and measurement invariance of the Weight-Related Abuse Questionnaire (WRAQ)

Weight-related abuse is defined as verbal or physical maltreatment specific to one's weight. The Weight-Related Abuse Questionnaire (WRAQ) is an instrument specifically designed to measure weight-related abuse. The main goal of this research was to study the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Spanish version of the WRAQ in a non-clinical and a clinical sample. The clinical sample included 150 participants with obesity (60 % women) from the Hospital de Valme (Sevilla, Spain). The non-clinical sample included 301 students (79 % women) from the Spanish Open University (UNED). Scales to measure weight self-stigma and fear of gaining weight were used to analyze the convergent validity of the WRAQ. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor model (verbal and physical abuse) was an acceptable fit for the data in both the clinical and non-clinical samples. Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed scalar measurement invariance by sample and gender. Cronbach's alpha coefficients and composite reliability for both samples were found to be good, with values ranging from 0.83 to 0.96. Fear of gaining weight was correlated to verbal (r = 0.36, p < .01) and physical (r = 0.12, p < .05) abuse, and weight self-stigma was also related to physical (r = 0.21, p < .01) and verbal (r = 0.41, p < .01) abuse. These results suggest that the WRAQ can be used in clinical and non-clinical samples to assess verbal and physical abuse in both men and women.

Should we embrace “Big Sister”? Smart speakers as a means to combat intimate partner violence

It is estimated that one in three women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) across the course of their life. The popular uptake of “smart speakers” powered by sophisticated AI means that surveillance of the domestic environment is increasingly possible. Correspondingly, there are various proposals to use smart speakers to detect or report IPV. In this paper, we clarify what might be possible when it comes to combatting IPV using existing or near-term technology and also begin the project of evaluating this project both ethically and politically. We argue that the ethical landscape looks different depending on whether one is considering the decision to develop the technology or the decision to use it once it has been developed. If activists and governments wish to avoid the privatisation of responses to IPV, ubiquitous surveillance of domestic spaces, increasing the risk posed to members of minority communities by police responses to IPV, and the danger that more powerful smart speakers will be co-opted by men to control and abuse women, then they should resist the development of this technology rather than wait until these systems are developed. If it is judged that the moral urgency of IPV justifies exploring what might be possible by developing this technology, even in the face of these risks, then it will be imperative that victim-survivors from a range of demographics, as well as government and non-government stakeholders, are engaged in shaping this technology and the legislation and policies needed to regulate it.

Support worker’s experiences of self-disclosure within domestic abuse support services and women’s voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organizations: a qualitative enquiry

ABSTRACT This article examines the experiences of self-disclosure of women’s support workers within domestic abuse support organizations in England. This research considers the voice of women support workers from a feminist epistemological perspective using thematic analysis , and invites the consideration of who decides readiness to work in the sector, and the appropriateness of organizations making this decision for women who wish to work in the milieu of domestic abuse support work. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were held with twelve women support workers who identified their lived experience of surviving domestic abuse. Three key themes were generated through thematic analysis (ibid.): women’s choice in making a disclosure regarding lived experience, the impact of non-disclosure policies of women’s organizations on practitioners and the sense of hope emanating from practitioners with lived experience of domestic abuse. The findings from this study make a useful contribution to an under-researched and overlooked area within research on violence against women, that of the women who undertake such vital work in the sector.

Ethnic Conflict And The Vulnerability Of Women

It is widely accepted that ethnicity is a sort of affiliation to a group, a type of distinctiveness involving an array of characteristics or attributes such as a shared culture that may be seen in their shared history, and language that serve as the basis for this affiliation. Does it satisfy any vital need of individuals, given how fiercely people cling to their ethnic identities? Clinging to an ethnic identity is often seen to provide certain personal or societal benefits. Ethnicity is perceived by many scholars as an expression of individual or group agendas as well as political scheming. Therefore, it is not unlikely for other forms of allegiances such as that of class, to override ethnic allegiance. Owing to the worldwide gender inequality, women due to their shared experience of oppression and subordination, both economic and social, may be categorized as a distinct class in itself. It is difficult to fathom the extent to which women are subjected to atrocities during times of conflict, given how vulnerable their existence is during ordinary circumstances. This paper seeks to investigate how the patriarchal grasp on ethnicity is reinforced by designating women's bodies as symbols of ethnic purity and employing them as boundary markers. Abuse of women to portray a masculine display of power over a rival community becomes a method of warfare. As their quality of life and chances of survival seem to deteriorate during such conflicts, women tend to transcend ethnic allegiances and push for conflict resolution.

Emotion regulation and cognitive function as mediating factors for the association between lifetime abuse and risky behaviors in women of color.

The relationship between lifetime abuse (i.e., childhood abuse, intimate partner violence) and risky behaviors is well established. One proposed mechanism is poor emotion regulation and executive functioning, as a potential mechanism that may explain the relationship between lifetime abuse and risky behaviors. However, research on executive functioning and emotion regulation as mediators of this relationship has been limited. In the present study, we examined this association. We hypothesized that lifetime abuse would be significantly associated with executive function and emotion regulation which in turn would be associated with greater alcohol use and risky sex. This cross-sectional study included 150 women with a history of lifetime abuse who were assessed for hazardous alcohol use using the AUDIT Score; emotion regulation was measured using the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS); risky sex was measured using the question: "in the last 90 days, how many people did you have anal or vaginal sex without using a condom? Executive function was assessed using the NIH Toolbox. The mediation model followed the self-regulation theory, which proposes executive function as the higher-order cognitive process. Results showed that executive function deficit and poor emotion regulation significantly mediated the relationship between lifetime abuse and hazardous alcohol use (indirect effect = .097, SE .031, 95% CI = .035 to .158). Our findings suggest a higher-order cognitive process with executive function promoting emotion regulation as a potential mechanism for alcohol problems in women of color who experienced lifetime abuse.

Empowerment and access to opportunities in South Africa: can gender equality be achieved?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the unequal and inadequate access to opportunities by both men and women in South Africa, as well as the progress made in achieving gender equality and promoting women's empowerment, which are embedded in the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals, respectively. The paper is virtuously theoretical and relies upon literature to present its arguments, soliciting information from published journals, reports, and previous studies. Access is primarily a gendered phenomenon worldwide, pertaining to the subsets of, inter alia, access to information, rights, land, money, education, skills, political participation, and opinion. Gender equity and equality are high on the developmental agenda of women in almost every country. South Africa, being part of international treaties and conventions on gender equity, is obliged to advance the empowerment of women and eliminate all forms of gender discrimination. The development of women, their access to essential resources, and their participation in important positions of decision-making are still challenges in most countries. It is commonly known that everywhere in the world, women face constraints that limit their capacity to contribute to production, well-being, decision-making, growth, and most importantly, empowerment, which in turn promotes independence. Women face discrimination in access to productive resources such as land; they face wage inequality in rural labor markets; and they are also more likely to work part-time, seasonal, and/or low-paying jobs when engaged in wage employment. Despite the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 and the inauguration of the Annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children by the South African government, which are aimed at fighting the perpetual inequalities and abuse of women and children, gender inequality, women's disempowerment, and unequal access to opportunities are still predominant in the country.

Religion, Women, and Girls’ Rights in Zimbabwe: the Case of Zimbabwe’s Johanne Marange Apostolic Church

AbstractThe study sought to understand the position of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church on women and girls’ rights in Zimbabwe. Engaging in this study came out of the realization that women and girls’ rights are compromised in religious settings and the issue goes on unreported. Deploying a qualitative research methodology framework buttressed by the gendered human rights–based theoretical approach, the study collected empirical evidence through semi-structured in-depth interviews as well as participant observation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty participants — fifteen young women and five males. All the twenty participants were members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church. Snowball sampling was used in selecting the participants. It was established that the church doctrine within the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church provides a conducive environment for the abuse of women and the girl child under the guise of ‘sacredness’ of the religious sect. This has been and is still going on unchecked. The study concluded that abuse cases through forced and teen marriages to older men are facilitated by both adult men and women and is highly safeguarded within religious cultism. The study recommends that the government and non-state actors need to enhance child protection services and programmes in religious settings for the purpose of protecting and removing the vulnerabilities of girls within the church by prosecuting perpetrators.

Factors associated with disrespect and abuse of women during labour and birth in health facilities in low-and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Disrespect and abuse by health providers during birth is a traumatic experience that jeaporadises women’s mental and physical health, lowers satisfaction with care and results in lower willingness to use health services. Objective: We aimed to assess the factors associated with disrespect and abuse of women during birth in low- and middle-income countries, in order to understand which women are more at risk of abuse, and to inform strategies for health service improvement. Method: The systematic review and meta-analysis followed PRISMA guidelines. Three databases were searched for articles published between 2018-2022. Of the 57 articles retrieved, nine met the inclusion criteria. Result: Women were more likely to experience disrespect and abuse if they had no formal education (aOR 5.92), gave birth in a public facility (aOR 4.34), had birth complications (aOR= 3.72), an instrumental vaginal birth (aOR 2.35) or lived in a rural area (aOR 2.03). Conclusion: Women who are already disadvantaged in terms of lack of education, rural residence and expieriencing birth complications are also the ones more likely to be mistreated by health providers during birth. The widespread discrimination and compounding intersections of inequality faced by women within birthing services deserves urgent attention. Future research and action should seek to understand the models of maternity care that underpin respectful client-practioner engagment, and the health system requirements to support these models.

Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Qualitative Study of the Long-Term Consequences of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Adult Women’s Mental Health

Childhood sexual harassment is, unfortunately, a common experience for many girls, and the issue’s prevalence is alarming. Studies indicate that a significant percentage of girls are victims of some form of sexual abuse before they reach adulthood. It can have profound and long-lasting effects on a victim’s life, leading to behavioral changes that can continue into adulthood, including anxiety, depression, trust issues, difficulty forming relationships, and more. The issue has significant social and cultural implications, particularly in societies that highly value modesty, virginity, and family honor. The stigma associated with being a victim of sexual abuse can prevent girls from speaking out or seeking help. Research on the long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse in adult women’s mental health is essential for understanding this issue’s prevalence and long-term effects, and developing effective interventions and prevention strategies. As such, it has chosen to investigate the long-term impact of childhood sexual harassment on adult women’s mental health.