Physical Harassment Research Articles

Sexual violence experiences among adolescent and young adult males: a review to empower healthcare providers.

Despite 3-17% of adolescent and young adult males (AYAMs) experiencing sexual violence, there is a paucity of information regarding their sexual violence experiences leaving them vulnerable to dangerous and detrimental sequelae. There is underreporting and under-discussion of AYAMs' experiences of sexual violence, with disclosure influenced by societal perceptions of male sexuality, shame, and fear of discrimination. AYAMs experience sexual violence from individuals known to them, with many experiencing physical violence, threats, coercion, and electronic harassment. Intersectionality, previous traumas, inappropriate childhood exposures to sexually explicit situations, select online media consumption, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of sexual violence. AYAMs who experience sexual violence are at increased risk of re-victimization, perpetrating sexual violence, experiencing bodily harm, contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and experiencing internalizing and externalizing symptoms, which can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Research on male-specific protective and resilience factors is scarce and represents an ongoing need. After reviewing AYAMs' experiences of sexual violence, including risk and protective factors, media influences, detrimental sequelae, and resilience factors, we provide a screening framework to empower the healthcare provider (HCP) to champion tailored prevention, screening, intervention, and advocacy efforts to support AYAMs.

SOS Ring: Save Your Soul Ring

Abstract: In today's date, women face physical harassment in public places, schools and at workplaces or while traveling. Most cases of physical harassment take place when women are alone or while traveling.[8] Women safety has been a big concern and it has been the most important duty of every person. Women feel insecure to step outside their house.[8] Many of us make their possible efforts to stop such problem but, they faced some issue. There are so many applications and devices are built to prevent women from assault but unfortunately it is not much enough. There are many android applications for Smartphone's but for those who don't use Smartphone's or those who cannot keep their mobile handy at their workplace;[8] this proposed system will be helpful. The system suggests a smart wearable device for security which contains different modules such as GSM, GPS. The proposed system helps women in emergency situation by activating the modules on clicking the switch and provides emergency self-defense

Gender-based violence during COVID-19 lockdown: case study of a community in Lagos, Nigeria.

Gender-based violence (GBV) has been identified to be one of the ripple effects of the global pandemic. In countries like Nigeria, the situation is hypothesized to be worse because of widespread poverty and gender inequalities. To examine the exposure of females to GBV during the first 3 months of the COVID-19 lockdown. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a low-income community in Lagos. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 130 respondents selected via systematic random sampling. The mean age of the respondents was 26.89 ± 8.67 years. Majority worked informal jobs, while only 50% had attained beyond primary education. Within the period, the respondents had been subjected to sexual (54.6%), physical (52.3%), verbal assault (41.5%), and online sexual harassment (45.4%); of which only 30% reported to the police. Furthermore, respondents subjected to sexual (p=0.004) and physical assault (p=0.032) during the period earned significantly less money than other respondents. The fact that over 1 out of every 2 females was subjected to at least one form of GBV within the short timeframe shows how unsafe girls and women in low-income communities are. This calls for proactive community-level interventions to curb the GBV menace.

Women Safety Patch-Up

In this present world women are less secure and have various issues regarding their security. The National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) states that every third women in India are prone to various physical assaults and harassment, since the age of 15. There are many safetydevices and applications that are in use today, but the usage of flex sensors as their major component limits the usage of those devices and applications. To overcome this disadvantage, it is proposed to develop a module with copper thread, ATMEGA328P, Global System for Mobile communication module, Global Positioning System module, RF Transmitter and RF receiver and Comparator as their major components. In this proposed work, there are two separate modules for transmitter and receiver. The transmitter module consists of a wire (patch-up) which can be stitched along with the dress of the women which are not externally visible to the culprit. There will be a connection flow between these threads which is continuously monitored by the comparator. When the connection flow terminates by breakingthe patch-up, the comparator turns on the GSM and RF transmitter which is fused with the ATMEGA328P microcontroller. The GSM module sends the alert message along with the current location of the victim to the predefined numbers and the RF transmitter sends the signalto the RF receiver. A switch is used to turn on and off the entire transmitter setup. Once the device is activated it remains ON and does not need to be activated every time. On the other hand, the receiver module consists of an RF receiver and buzzer fused with a microcontroller.When the RF receiver receives the signal from the RF transmitter, it turns on the buzzer. Hencethis method ensures emergency call and alert message along with the location of the victim to the predefined numbers through mobile phone. In emergency cases the person themselves canopen the patch or alert the switch to send alert messages.

Sexualized alcohol marketing, precarious work and gendered sexual risks: explorations of women beer promoters in Benin City, Nigeria

The alcohol industry in Nigeria uses sophisticated marketing strategies to influence drinking, and alcohol marketing regulations do not exist. This study examined the alcohol industry‘s strategy of using young women to promote beer in Benin City, Nigeria, and how sexualized beer marketing, as precarious employment, creates a context of risk for sexual exploitation. We conducted interviews and focus groups with beer promoters and their patrons and analysed data thematically. Some of the criteria for recruiting beer promoters include confidence, physical beauty, intelligence, and outspokenness. Beer promoters narrated that young women are mainly employed to promote beer as a strategy to convince men to buy more alcohol. Beer promoters cited the relatively high salary as their motivation for accepting to promote beer but highlighted multiple risks associated with this precarious work. First, promoters close late at night, and no provisions are made for their transport to their homes. Second, most male customers perceive beer promoters as sex workers and thus, attempt to persuade them to spend the night with them. Third, promoters also face physical and sexual harassment through unwanted contact and advances and are instructed to condone such behaviours during training. This strategy 'sexualizes' beer marketing and exposes beer promoters to health and social risks because they may be coerced into unwanted relationships as a condition for some men to purchase their brands (or sell more and meet their targets). There is a need to implement alcohol policies in Nigeria and tailor responses to beer promoters‘ unique risks.

PSH‐C: A measure of peer sexual harassment among children

AbstractPeer sexual harassment among adolescents is a widespread problem worldwide, associated with several adverse outcomes. Although retrospective reports indicate that people's first experience of peer sexual harassment occurs before puberty, research in younger ages is still scarce and measures of peer sexual harassment developed for children are lacking. This study explores the possibility of measuring peer sexual harassment in late childhood by evaluating a new scale of developmentally informed items, the Peer Sexual Harassment Scale—Child (PSH‐C), designed to capture peer sexual harassment (i.e., victimization, perpetration, and witnessing) in late childhood (ages 10–12 years) in the school context. Self‐report surveys were distributed to 1007 fourth‐grade students in Sweden (M age = 10.0 years, SD = .3, n = 516 girls). The PSH‐C showed good psychometric properties, supporting the scale's ability to capture peer sexual harassment in late childhood. Exploratory structural equation analyses suggested a two‐factor structure which was confirmed by confirmatory factor analyses: 1) direct verbal sexual aggression, and 2) direct physical sexual harassment, verbal comments and jokes, and visual sexual harassment. The division of the structure contradicts previous studies of adolescents, possibly indicating a difference in the peer sexual harassment construct in relation to development and age.

Understanding Physical and Mental Sexual Harassment of Women In Sub-Saharan Politics: A Comparative Analysis Of Nigeria And Uganda (1999-2019)

Recent studies have shown that violence against women politicians in sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly recognized globally as a key impediment to their participation in politics. This follows the troubling increase in documented cases of abuse, threat, harassment and intimidation aimed at women politicians on the continent. Consequently, bias toward women occupying political positions originates from the structural, cultural and symbolic violence, which differentiates this practice from other forms of political violence. This study provides an extensive understanding of the physical and mental sexual harassment of women in sub-Saharan African politics. It draws attention comparatively to this conundrum by drawing on the experience of women in Nigeria and Uganda. While it is a known that sexual harassment pervades the Nigerian and Ugandan political space, available data are very slim since cases are often underreported and when they do, are not pursued to a logical conclusion. A major impact of this is that women are reluctant to participate and be involved in the political and decision-making framework of their respective countries. In this study, primary and secondary sources were adopted and critically examined and analysed. The methodology adopted is based on content analysis of the sources used. Part of the results of the study shows that sexual harassment is associated with sexuality, patriarchy and gender power differences which is a huge factor that helps to perpetuate the conduct in sub-Saharan Africa. Secondly, gender-based violence against women has become normalised accounting for why women are often the victims of the conduct. Keyword: Sexual harassment, Nigeria/Uganda, Gender-based violence, Women in politics, Sub-Saharan Africa DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/80-07 Publication date: July 31 st 2022

PREVALENCE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS OF A PUBLIC COLLEGE AT BHARATPUR, NEPAL

Background: Sexual harassment in public transportation has been recognized as a worldwide serious problem, particularly among women. However, the exact figure of the sexual harassment in transit places is still unknown. Therefore, this study aims to identify the prevalence of sexual harassment in public transportation among the female students of a public college at Bharatpur. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study consisted of 196 female students who studied in the 12th standard of various academic streams of Saptagandaki Multiple Campus of Bharatpur. Stratified proportionate random sampling technique was used for selection of the desired sample. Structured questionnaire was used and data was collected from 2076/ 03/15 B.S to 2076/03/27 B.S through web - based survey. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20 for window using descriptive statistics. Results: Majority, i.e. 82.1% of the respondents experienced sexual harassment in public transportation of which 85.1% experienced verbal harassment followed by physical harassment (80.1%) and non- verbal harassment (70.8%). Male passengers were the main perpetrators involved in physical (82.8%), verbal (75.2%) and non- verbal harassment (81.6%). Furthermore, the study revealed that the highest (96.3%) of the participants did not file the complaint because of fear. Conclusions: Sexual harassment in public transportation was found to be significantly higher in female students. Therefore, government and concerned authorities need to adopt zero tolerance rules, regulation ad policies towards any form of sexual harassment in public spaces.

Sexual harassment experiences and their consequences for the private lives of Chinese women

Sexual harassment is a global issue threatening individuals’ safety and rights, especially for women. Previous studies mainly focused on the negative impact of sexual harassment on women's health, work, and education. Using data from the Chinese Private Life Survey, this article examines the effect of sexual harassment in both physical and non-physical forms and probes the effect of the perpetrator's relationship to the victim on women's sexual behaviors, sexual and marital well-being, and desires for marriage and childbearing. The results indicate that both physical and non-physical sexual harassment lowered married or cohabitating women's sexual satisfaction and functioning. Sexual harassment by a family member/relative, an intimate partner or an acquaintance produced a larger negative effect on women's sexual well-being than that by others. Married women's marital satisfaction and stability were also undermined if they experienced sexual harassment. A family member/relative, an intimate partner and a stranger as the perpetrator had a larger effect on women's marital well-being than other perpetrators. For unmarried women, sexual harassment was not associated with the desire for marriage. However, those who were physically harassed by an acquaintance were unlikely to have a desire for childbearing. Comparing with non-physical sexual harassment, physical sexual harassment was found to have a larger negative impact on women's private lives.

Sexual violence among male sexual minority college students in Guangdong, China: a cross-sectional study

This study aims to provide an estimate of lifetime sexual violence (SV) among male sexual minority college students with differing sexual orientations and contribute to the evidence base on the association between SV experience, stress, and depressive symptoms. The data stemmed from the 2019 Internet Survey on HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health in Colleges and Universities in Guangdong province, China. Lifetime SV victimisation (including non-sexual harassment, physical contact sexual harassment, and rape), level of stress, and depressive symptoms were examined among 1441 male sexual minority students from 37 colleges and universities in Guangdong province. Linear regression analyses were adopted to examine associations between independent variables and depressive symptoms. 23.4% (337/1441) of the participants reported lifetime non-contact harassment, while 8.8% (127/1441) and 2.4% (35/1441) of the participants reported physical contact sexual harassment and rape, respectively. Homosexual students reported the most physical contact sexual harassment (48/127, 37.8%) and bisexual students reported the most non-contact sexual harassment (102/337, 30.3%) and rape (10/35, 28.6%) among sexual minority participants; 85.6% participants reported high levels of stress. The experience of SV and the level of stress were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, and stress completely mediated the path from SV experiences to depressive symptoms. This study specifically showcases SV as a pervasive problem affecting Chinese male sexual minority college students and highlighting the severity of stress and depressive symptoms among this population. These findings emphasise the urgency of implementing effective practices and policies to address SV and depressive symptoms among male sexual minority college students in China.

Women Safety - Safest Route Using Machine Learning

Victimization of sensible phones has increased in today's world, and thus sensible phones can be used quickly for private security. A number of new apps have been developed to provide girls with a security system via their phones. According to World Health Organization NCRB Social Government Organization reports, one-third of all girls worldwide are subjected to dishounarable physical harassment in public places such as railways, buses, and on roads. We've analyzed various existing systems on women's security in this paper. We've seen a decline in the demand for advanced girls security systems to ensure their safety in public places as well as when travelling alone on public transportation such as college buses, company vehicles, and so on. This paper proposed a completely new model for women’s security publicly places.

Understanding, Experience, and Response Strategies to Sexual Harassment Among Chinese College Students.

Sexual harassment is a serious problem, and with a growing population of college students in China, the phenomenon is becoming prevalent. Using the 2010 data from the Third Survey on Chinese Women's Social Status, we examined relationships between understanding of sexual harassment and experience/response among Chinese college students. The results show that college students understand physical sexual harassment better (88%; unwanted sexual requests: 92%) than verbal and visual sexual harassment (54% and 70%, respectively). Understanding is higher among females than males, with a margin between eight to 21%. At a prevalence of 30%, the experience of verbal sexual harassment is the highest compared to other forms of harassment. Males were more likely to experience verbal and visual sexual harassment, while females were more likely to experience physical sexual harassment. In any event of sexual harassment, expressing dissatisfaction and stopping it is the response strategy that most resonates with respondents. It varied between 62% and 70% across forms of sexual harassment. Reporting to teachers or school authorities resonates least, varying between 0.30% and 2.28%. Understanding sexual harassment was strongly associated with a reduced likelihood of harassment. The equivalent odds ratios varied between 0.41 and 0.33 (p < .001), or 59-67% reduced likelihood across the forms of sexual harassment. Understanding sexual harassment was also strongly associated with an increased likelihood of not reacting passively or staying silent. Odds ratio varied between 1.99 and 3.86 (p < .001), about a minimum of twofold increased likelihood. Parents should strive to involve in their children's sex and sexual rights education, particularly during adolescence, to help them inculcate values against sexual harassment. Also, colleges and universities can bolster their curriculum with elective courses on sex education and regularly organize symposiums on sexual harassment to create a better understanding and awareness among students.

Secure Complaint Management System against Women Harassment at Workplace Using Blockchain Technology

Since the Industrial era, women are playing a significant role in the workforce to move the world forward. Their increasing contribution in various fields has earned a fortune for the global economy. Despite that, women constantly face more obstacles than men in the workplace. When half of the population are mistreated because of gender inequality, the economy of any nation is supposed to collapse. One of the biggest barriers for women in their careers is workplace harassment. Workplace harassment may include physical, verbal or nonverbal harassment that not only have an adverse effect on a woman's career, mental health and physical health but also organizational reputation. A common way to make a complaint in most organizations is to fill up a complaint form, email or go directly to the competent authority and complain. But victims often hesitate to complain because their identity might get revealed or their documentary evidence might be tampered. As a result, most of the harassers get through very easily. To resolve this problem, this paper presents a blockchain-based anonymous, transparent and secure platform where women can easily complain against their harassers. To keep the platform secure and reliable, a two-level hierarchical model is introduced, where level-1 is the Human Resources (HR) and level-2 is the Higher Authority. In level-1, victims can anonymously complain to HR and in Level-2, victims can complain with their identity revealed to higher authority. This way, the proposed platform ensures women of a healthy work environment and provides all necessary support to stand up against injustice in the workplace.

Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Queer, and Asexual Youth: Differential Impacts of Sexual Orientation, Verbal, Physical, or Sexual Harassment or Assault, Conversion Practices, Family or Household Religiosity, and School Experience.

Purpose: This article examines factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in the past 12 months among lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, queer, asexual, or other non-heterosexual identifying youth (LGBQA+). Methods: A national Australian cross-sectional online survey was conducted involving 4370 cisgender LGBQA+ participants aged 14-21 years from September to October 2019. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to examine significant factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in the past 12 months. Research ethics approval for the WTI4 study was granted by the La Trobe University Human Research Ethics Committee and the ACON Research Ethics Review Committee. Results: Overall, 56.4% of participants reported suicidal ideation and 8.9% a suicide attempt in the past 12 months. Multivariable regression results show that participants aged younger than 18 years, lesbian (compared with gay) identifying, those living in rural or remote locations (compared with inner city), those reporting any verbal, physical, or sexual harassment or assault based on sexual orientation or gender identity, or who had a religious family or household, or had experienced conversion practices in the past 12 months reported higher levels of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts. Those who reported feeling part of their school reported lower levels of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Conclusion: High levels of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among young LGBQA+ people in Australia highlight a need for the ongoing inclusion of LGBQA+ youth as a priority population for suicide prevention. The findings illustrate key factors associated with a greater risk of suicidality among young LGBQA+ people. These findings can be used to inform the provision of tailored support services, including culturally safe suicide prevention programs and efforts to address stigma, discrimination, and conversion practices.

The Olympic Movement and Safeguarding Athletes: Exploring South Korea’s Journey to Protect Athletes

This article explores South Korea’s journey to protect athletes from physical abuse and sexual harassment in response to the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic movement initiative to safeguard athletes’ human rights. The paper critically reviews a series of campaigns to protect athletes, providing an academic opportunity to understand how Olympic movement initiatives have been accepted and developed by the National Olympic Committees through a case study of South Korea. The analysis of these cases indicates that violations of human rights against South Korean athletes were mainly due to unequal balances of power within the structural hierarchy of the Korean sports apparatuses. Our conclusion of structural inequality within elite sports and a lack of individual human rights awareness proves consistent with previous discussions demonstrating an absence of ethical understanding fostered by a win at all costs mentality. Although the Korean government and the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee have failed to promote a safe sports environment for athletes over the past 15 years, they have made institutional reforms to safeguard athletes through numerous trials and errors.

A global cautionary tale: discrimination and violence against trans women worsen despite investments in public resources and improvements in health insurance access and utilization of health care

BackgroundTo determine if improvements in social determinants of health for trans women and decreases in transphobic discrimination and violence occurred over three study periods during which extensive local programs were implemented to specifically address longstanding inequities suffered by the transgender community.MethodsInterviewer-administered surveys from repeated cross-sectional Transwomen Empowered to Advance Community Health (TEACH) studies in 2010, 2013 and 2016-2017 in San Francisco collected experiences with transphobia violence and discrimination. Respondent-driven sampling was used to obtain a sample of participants who identified as a trans woman.ResultsViolence due to gender identity was prevalent; in each study period, verbal abuse or harassment was reported by over 83% of participants, and physical abuse or harassment was reported by over 56%. Adverse social determinants of health including homelessness, living below the poverty limit, methamphetamine use, depression, PTSD, and anxiety all significantly increased from 2010 to 2016. When testing for trends, housing discrimination and physical violence were both more likely in 2016-2017 compared to the two earlier study periods. Housing discrimination (aOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.00-1.98) and physical violence due to gender identity/presentation (aOR 1.39, 95% CI 1.00-1.92) both significantly increased from 2010 to 2016.ConclusionOur findings are particularly alarming during a period when significant public health resources and community-based initiatives specifically for trans women were implemented and could have reasonably led us to expect improvements. Despite these efforts, physical violence and housing discrimination among trans women worsened during the study periods. To ensure future improvements, research and interventions need to shift the focus and burden from trans people to cisgender people who are the perpetuators of anti-trans sentiment, stigma, discrimination and victimization.

Misogyy As Violence In Gender Perspective

Misogyny is the behavior of someone hating women, both from men and fellow women. This behavior often places and views women as the cause of blame in a problem, even for something that is not really a problem. Misogyny causes a person tends to hate, look down on, blame, label and discriminate against women. This behavior is often associated with male privilege, patriarchal customs, and gender discrimination. In practice, this behavior will place men in a superior position, while women in an inferior position. In certain cases, misogynism can even increase the risk of physical, psychological and sexual harassment of women. There are two problems discussed in this study: 1) misogyny in the perspective of gender-based violence and 2) the relationship between misogyny and violence against women. This research is normative juridical research supported by empirical data on gender-based violence against women. Primary and secondary legal materials were collected through literature study. The research approach used is the statutory regulation, the legal concept, and the legal argumentation approach. Analysis of the collected data was carried out qualitatively.

Proposal for a short version of an international questionnaire to detect bullying: adaptation to Argentine Spanish language and exploratory factor analysis.

Bullying encompasses intentional intimidation, abuse, and physical or psychological harassment behaviors by a student (bully) against another student (victim) repeatedly. It includes physical and verbal abuse, social exclusion, and cyberbullying. Victims miss school more often and have a higher risk for somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Although the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (APRI) is a bullying screening questionnaire (19 items) validated in Spain in 2016, there was no validated instrument available in Argentina. To obtain a short version adapted to Argentine Spanish of the APRI. The APRI, a questionnaire to screen for bullying among adolescents, was cross-culturally adapted to Argentine Spanish language and then questionnaire items were reduced by a mathematical process (exploratory factor analysis) and a conceptual process (expert committee). Participants were adolescents aged 13-17 years who were attending secondary public schools in the city of Boulogne Sur Mer, San Isidro, province of Buenos Aires. A short questionnaire version made up of 14 items divided into 2 dimensions (physical abuse and social and verbal victimization) was obtained. The resulting short questionnaire is semantically equivalent to the original version and also has adequate apparent and content validity.

Effects of second responder programs on repeat incidents of family abuse:An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Effects of second responder programs on repeat incidents of family abuse:An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Women’s Awareness of the Cyberbullying Risk in Digital Media During the Enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO)

Malaysia is the 9th country to record the most active social media usage worldwide, which is attributed to almost 80 % of its total population. The enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) following the threat of COVID-19 pandemic since 18 March 2020 has introduced Malaysians to the new norms, including the use of digital media and online applications for various purposes and needs. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) reported a sharp increase in demand for broadband and internet traffic flow since the implementation of MCO due to business activities, learning, conferences, meetings and so on, which are conducted from home. In the meantime, a total of 3,075 cyber security incidents were reported only in the period of between March 18 and July 31 in 2020 with 109.4% increase over the same period in the previous year. Based on statistics, almost 60% of the cyberbullying victims are reported to be women. Thus, this study aims to analyse the exposure of women to the risk of cyberbullying in digital media during the enforcement of MCO. The study was quantitatively conducted using a survey design in which a set of online questionnaires (Google Form) was distributed to 296 respondents in Melaka, all of them are women. It is summarised from the study findings that the types of cyber harassment experienced by respondents include taunting and humiliating remarks in digital media (40.2%), digital accounts were hacked (28.3%), sexual harassment (32.4%), and physical harassment (16.5%). Therefore, awareness of the rights and responsibilities of digital media users shall be enhanced to establish a harmonious and safe digital ecosystem in society.