Understanding Of Sexual Violence Research Articles

Seeking Substantive Justice: The Progressive Spirit of Law on Sexual Violence Crimes

Sexual violence is a massive phenomenon that occurs in society. Sexual violence occurs in various places in Indonesia, including educational institutions. Massive sexual violence made the government and the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or DPR) pass the Law on Sexual Violence Crimes (Indonesian: Undang-Undang Tindak Pidana Kekerasan Seksual, abbreviated as TPKS Law). The TPKS Law is oriented as an effort to prevent and overcome criminal acts of sexual harassment. This study aims to analyze the progressive orientation of the TPKS Law, including how the TPKS Law can provide and present substantive justice in society. This research is normative legal research that seeks to discuss and analyze legal products in the form of laws. The approach in this research is a conceptual approach and a statutory approach. The results of the study confirm that the TPKS Law is a law with a responsive character in the form of a progressive orientation related to preventive approaches to prevent sexual violence and the need for policies and mechanisms in each institution to prevent as well as crack down on sexual violence, the need for regular socialization and understanding of sexual violence in each institution, community, transparent, consistent, and conscientious enforcement of criminal law related to sexual violence, and the need for other mechanisms related to efforts to ensure healing and fulfillment of rights for victims of sexual violence.

A Qualitative Study of Sexual Violence and Attribution of Responsibility in Georgian Youth

Background: Sexual violence is a complex and pressing social issue that needs urgent solutions. Republic of Georgia is one of those countries where despite some advancements in law and practice, patriarchal beliefs and behaviour patterns still prevail in a daily life. So far, there has not been undertaken an in-depth study on how Georgians and particularly youth, define sexual violence and what are the justifications behind these views. The aim of the research is to understand how Georgian students understand sexual violence, who they think are responsible for sexual violence and what are the underlying reasons behind those views. Method: In total, 37 in-depth interviews have been conducted with Georgian students, from September of 2019 to March of 2021. The study participants were recruited from different universities, including the two biggest cities of Georgia - Tbilisi and Batumi. Results: The research revealed that understanding of sexual violence is far more complex than it was expected. Georgian students define sexual violence as a broad category where sexual harassment and sexual coercion have overlapping and at the same time independent meaning. Interpretation and attribution of responsibility in all three categories are dependent on situations and context that contain not only physical violence but also inappropriate touch, insistent gaze, comments about body parts, sexist insults and discrimination, messages of sexual content, psychological pressure and blackmailing. Attribution of responsibility was equally dependent on personal judgements as well as culturally determined stereotypes. Conclusion: Sexual violence is not a new phenomenon in Georgia, but its consideration as a social problem is. The research demonstrated that understanding and judgment on sexual violence, sexual harassment and sexual coercion is nuanced issue and still needs clear categories of definitions.

Problematic preventive efforts of sexual harassment through Islamic gender justice values-based education

This article aims to uncover preventive efforts against sexual harassment in higher education conducted by UIN KH Abdurrahman Wahid Pekalongan[1], which involved education based on Islamic gender justice. Education based on gender justice values in Islam needs to be carried out because Islam is a Rahmatanlil'alamin religion and is the main pillar of human values. This qualitative study employed interviews, observations, and documentation for collecting data. Meanwhile, the data analysis techniques proposed by Miles, Huberman, and Saldana, like data condensation, data presentation, concluding, and verification. The findings indicated that the portrait of sexual harassment phenomena among students could be considered an urgent condition. The student's understanding of sexual violence, Islamic gender justice, and preventing and handling sexual violence regulations was still inadequate. Moreover, various cases of sexual harassment, ranging from verbal to physical forms, have been identified. However, the preventive efforts against sexual harassment by UIN Gusdur through PSGA[2] and ULT SETARA[3] have been relatively effective. Meanwhile, education based on Islamic gender justice is carried out by socializing the problems cases regarding understanding gender and Islam.[1] K.H Abdurrahman Wahid Pekalongan State Islamic University (UIN) usually called UIN Gusdur Pekalongan, is located on Jl. Hero KM 5 Kajen Pekalongan Regency, Central Java 51156.[2] Center for Gender and Child Studies (PSGA) is a study center that focuses on issues of gender equality and justice in higher education [3] Integrated Service Unit (ULT) SETARA is a service under the center for gender and child studies which focuses on preventing and handling sexual violence at UIN Gusdur Pekalongan

Perceptions of Sexual Violence Terms Used in Statutes Throughout the United States.

The terminology used to describe sexually violent offenses vary, and how these labels are interpreted by the public remains unclear. This study explores the terms for the primary-legally most severe-offense of sexual violence in legal statutes across the United States and investigates how different terms evoke different perceptions about crime severity. Results indicate that nine different terms are used to identify the primary offense of sexual violence in state statutes, with significant differences in perceived severity for these terms. The findings have implications for the public's (mis)understanding of sexual violence and the treatment of survivors and perpetrators.

Pencegahan Kekerasan Seksual pada Remaja di Sekolah Menengah Pertama melalui Pemberian Psikoedukasi

The purpose of this service activity is to increase the participants' understanding of the meaning, impact, and strategies for dealing with sexual violence through the provision of psychoeducation. The participants in this activity were 146 junior high school (SMP) students (male = 64 and female = 82). Using PowerPoint media and videos, psychoeducational activities are given using the Student-Centered Learning (SCL) method. The implementation of psychoeducation was divided into two sessions, the first for female students and the second for students. They are technically grouping activity participants based on gender to make it easier for resource persons to convey activity material. Online psychoeducational activities are carried out using the animated video "Stop Sexual Violence." The impact of actions is measured through measurements before (pretest) and after (post-test) psychoeducational activities. The results of the Wilcoxon Rank Test showed a significant increase in participants' understanding of sexual violence before and after participating in psychoeducational activities. Similar actions can be carried out in other schools in an effort to prevent sexual violence in adolescents.

Pemahaman Mahasiswa Terhadap Kekerasan Seksual di Perguruan Tinggi

Sexual violence on campus has become a hot issue in the community after several cases of harassment by the university academic community were revealed in the public domain. However, unfortunately, the cases that surfaced did not represent all cases of sexual violence on campus. This is because victims or survivors are reluctant to report their experiences of sexual violence. The power relationship between lecturers and students on campus is the main reason for the low reporting of victims. Victims are not aware of this vulnerability so that it cannot be used as a factor for self-defense. Power can make a person feel entitled to hegemony over others who are less capitalized and powerless to benefit from it. Actions based on this kind of thinking allow a person to commit violence against another person. The purpose of this study was to determine the background of the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture regarding sexual violence in universities, and to find out students' understanding of sexual violence in universities. The research method to be carried out is a socio legal research method. The results of this study are the background of the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture regarding sexual violence is an emergency situation of a sexual violence pandemic in the campus environment, sexual violence is difficult to prove but can cause lifelong trauma, legal vacuum in handling sexual violence in universities. Then students' understanding of sexual violence in college is that students know about sexual violence and its regulations, but do not know about the rules on campus and how to handle cases in the event of sexual violence on campus. Keywords: sexual violence, college, understanding

Power, Belonging, and Respectability

Power, Belonging, and Respectability

A qualitative study of sexual violence and attribution of responsibility in Georgian youth

Background: Sexual violence is a complex and pressing social issue that needs urgent solutions. Republic of Georgia is one of those countries where despite some advancements in law and practice, patriarchal beliefs and behaviour patterns still prevail in a daily life. So far, there has not been undertaken an in-depth study on how Georgians and particularly youth, define sexual violence and what are the justifications behind these views. The aim of the research is to understand how Georgian students understand sexual violence, who they think are responsible for sexual violence and what are the underlying reasons behind those views. Method: In total, 37 in-depth interviews have been conducted with Georgian students, from September of 2019 to March of 2021. The study participants were recruited from different universities, including the two biggest cities of Georgia - Tbilisi and Batumi. Results: The research revealed that understanding of sexual violence is far more complex than it was expected. Georgian students define sexual violence as a broad category where sexual harassment and sexual coercion have overlapping and at the same time independent meaning. Interpretation and attribution of responsibility in all three categories are dependent on situations and context that contain not only physical violence but also inappropriate touch, insistent gaze, comments about body parts, sexist insults and discrimination, messages of sexual content, psychological pressure and blackmailing. Attribution of responsibility was equally dependent on personal judgements as well as culturally determined stereotypes. Conclusion: Sexual violence is not a new phenomenon in Georgia, but its consideration as a social problem is. The research demonstrated that understanding and judgment on sexual violence, sexual harassment and sexual coercion is nuanced issue and still needs clear categories of definitions.

Improving Services for Aboriginal Women Experiencing Sexual Violence: Working at the Knowledge Interface

ABSTRACT Aboriginal women experiencing sexual violence may not always access support services when needed, nor receive the most appropriate support when they do. Recent research suggests place-based, Aboriginal-led initiatives to respond to family and sexual violence in Aboriginal communities offer the best chance for developing effective responses. This article describes an innovative participatory action research project aiming to improve service delivery for Aboriginal women from the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) region in remote central Australia. Over a series of workshops co-researchers worked intensively at the interface of knowledge systems creating a unique and safe space for exploring this issue. The process elicited learnings that have the potential to transform practice and was itself a trauma-informed healing opportunity for participants. The project was led by Aboriginal women who wished to share what was done so that others may benefit from working in this way. IMPLICATIONS Participatory action research can be an effective approach to improving service delivery for Aboriginal women who have experienced sexual violence. By working at the cultural and knowledge interface of Aboriginal and Western standpoints, and utilising contextually relevant means of engagement, deeper understandings of sexual violence and healing are the result for participants. Deeper intercultural understandings have the potential to lead to innovations in service delivery.

“The girl did not recognise him as her husband”: freedmen, sexual violence, and gendered authority after emancipation

ABSTRACT Historians have demonstrated that white men used sexual violence as a weapon of terror after the Civil War to re-establish and strengthen white supremacy. Freedwomen’s testimonies against this violence have also been analysed as a key site of resistance in which women crafted alternative narratives about race, gender, and freedom. Little attention has been paid to the roles freedmen played in these processes, however. This article examines two ways in which black men shaped understandings of sexual violence against black women in the Reconstruction period: as allies and as perpetrators. In doing so, this work adds critical nuance to understandings of sexual violence in the Reconstruction South.

Silencing by design: Lessons learned about child sexual abuse from a university sexual assault survey.

Background:University students have been recognized as particularly being vulnerable to sexual victimization.Purpose:With little research to date, and acknowledgement for the need of a better understanding of sexual violence, our study analysed the CQUniversity Sexual Assault Survey’s qualitative responses. An open-ended qualitative question allowed students to provide information anonymously.Methods:A total of 109 participants contributed responses with 17 respondents commenting on the fact that the survey omitted to ask about child sexual abuse prior to the cut-off age of 12 years.Results:University students revealed unexpected disclosures of prepubescent child sexual abuse victimization and ongoing sexual victimization into adulthood. Furthermore, students’ comments indicated negative impacts including distress, mental health and substance use problems, distrust, and interpersonal difficulties. Strong feelings about ‘silencing’ prepubescent child sexual abuse in university surveys were expressed with a request that questions about child sexual abuse prior to the age of 12 years be included.Conclusion:Our study found that child sexual abuse victimization is important to students. Recommendations indicate the need for future research about sexual violence among university students without age restrictions to gain a better understanding about the impact of trauma including revictimization experiences.

Representing rape culture on teen television

ABSTRACT Increasing cultural attention to sexual assault in the U.S. has raised questions about consent, leading some states to implement “yes means yes” laws. In order to provide insight into how mainstream discourse take into account feminist understandings of sexual violence and affirmative consent, this article considers representations of rape culture and affirmative consent in two recent teen television programs, 13 Reasons Why (2017-2020) and Sweet/Vicious (2016–2017). Both shows reference sexual assault in nearly every episode, constructing a world in which rape culture is rampant. In portraying rape as lack of consent, as opposed to outright refusal or resistance, the shows do the important work of emphasizing why affirmative consent is essential. While progressively suggesting that rape culture necessitates affirmative consent, 13 Reasons Why and Sweet/Vicious simultaneously contribute to rape culture by relying on the long-standing trope that, when it comes to girls and sexual assault, “no” may mean “yes.”

Thinking through the silence: theorizing the rape of Jewish males during the Holocaust through survivor testimonies

ABSTRACT Over the last several decades there has been an attempt to gender genocide by focusing on sexual as well as lethal violence during the Holocaust. While there has been tremendous consideration of women's experience of rape and sexual abuse during the Holocaust, the rape of men had not been previously engaged as a matter of study or archival investigation. This article is one of the first to study the rape of Jewish men and boys during the Holocaust through survivor testimonies and theorize the implications these testimonies of male sexual victimization have for our understanding of sexual violence and rape more broadly.

Justice Reframed? A Comparative Critical Discourse Analysis of Twitter Campaigns and Print Media Discourse on Two High-Profile Sexual Assault Verdicts in Ireland and Spain

ABSTRACT Analyses of media discourses on judicial verdicts in sexual violence cases offer critical insight into how this topic is mediated. This study explores post-verdict mainstream and social media reaction to two high-profile verdicts in sexual assault cases in Ireland and Spain: #IBelieveHer, launched in March 2018 following the acquittal of four men accused of rape in Belfast, and #YoTeCreo which coalesced online after five men were given a lesser sentence for sexual abuse in Pamplona in April 2018. This study first identifies the stance taken by mainstream media where verdicts were contrary to “popular” opinion. Secondly, it analyses dominant hashtags that emerged on Twitter following both verdicts. Finally, it traces similarities and differences in discourse patterns identified on mainstream and social media platforms across both countries. For analysis, we employed a Critical Discourse Analysis-based theoretical framework (e.g.,KhosraviNik 2017, “Social Media Critical Discourse Studies (SM-CDS).” In Handbook of Critical Discourse Analysis, 582–596) with resources from Framing Analysis (e.g.,Goffman 1974, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Vancouver: Harvard University Press) for methodological purposes. Findings suggest Spanish print media contained greater debate around legal understandings of sexual violence while the Spanish Twitter campaign was outward-oriented and explicitly feminist. #IBelieveHer displayed a narrower focus, with the “celebrity” dimension to this case contributing to a personalised, less nuanced, discourse on social and print media and more polarised discussion.

Conflict-related Sexual Violence and Rebel Group Fragmentation

To what extent does sexual violence influence rebel group fragmentation? A substantial body of research explores wartime rape as a cohesion-building mechanism following forced recruitment. However, the relationship between sexual violence and broader organizational structural integrity has not been systematically tested. Our study on the effects of sexual violence on rebel group fragmentation provides this test. We argue that sexual violence increases cohesion at the battalion level but increases the risk of fragmentation of the broader organization because lieutenants are more likely to split from organizations if they are confident that their subordinate battalions are cohesive and will follow them. We test this argument on a global sample of 105 rebel organizations active between 1989 and 2014. The results provide robust support for the argument showing sexual violence increases the probability of fragmentation by a factor of six. This presents a crucial contribution to our understanding of sexual violence and rebel group fragmentation.

It’s “vile” but is it violence? A case study analysis of news media representations of non-consensual sexual image-sharing

ABSTRACT Late in 2016, a news story broke of a “porn-sharing site” on which over 2000 sexual images of Australian teen girls, from over 70 high schools, were uploaded without their consent. News media characterised the website as “vile” and “depraved”. However, the extent to which the actions of the site-users constituted a form of sexual violence remained opaque in the reporting. This paper examines the coverage of this news story as a case study to explore the ways expanding scholarly and activist understandings of sexual violence in the digital age are—and are not—reflected in news reporting on this case. Applying a critical feminist and Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis to news coverage, it is argued that the discursive construction of non-consensual sexual image-sharing is evolving and contested. Feminist insights into the gendered, cultural and systemic quality of these practices are making tentative in-roads into news coverage. At the same time, assumptions surrounding digital sexual self-expression for teens continue to elide considerations of consent, and the violence of these acts is discursively minimised.

"I'm Already Seen as a Sexual Predator From Saying Hello": Black Men's Perception of Sexual Violence.

Sexual violence is a severe and rampant issue plaguing college campuses. However, the lack of research pertaining to underrepresented students calls into question the generalizability of university education and prevention efforts. Consequently, there is a gap in the literature regarding African American men's understanding of sexual violence. This study seeks to address this gap by examining African American university men's conceptualization of sexual violence from their own racial and cultural perspectives. Ninety-minute semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight male African American students attending predominantly White institutions. Data were analyzed by three coders using an interpretative phenomenological approach and intersectional framework. Data were then presented to an auditor and the coders revised the themes based on the auditor's feedback. Four themes emerged from this analysis: aggressive and violent stereotypes of Black men, othering of male survivors, racial considerations when responding to survivors, and awareness of racial injustices. These results provide evidence supporting the need for culturally grounded sexual violence education and prevention efforts to effectively reach African American men on university campuses. For example, universities may consider having African American confidential advocates and a committee of racially diverse members to run reported instances of sexual violence to reduce bias. In addition, universities may benefit from partnering with Black fraternities to empower men to be allies for social change against rape culture within their communities. For clinical work, such efforts could include incorporating explicit discussions of the impact of gendered racism on Black male survivors into session. Also, clinicians could aim to combat the internalization of the gender racist stereotypes with clients.

Bounded Blame: The Effects of Victim-Perpetrator Relationship and Victimization History on Judgments of Sexual Violence.

Individuals often tend to irrationally blame victims for their plight. This research incorporated a bounded rationality framework to examine first-person perspectives (rather than third-person) of both victims' and nonvictims' perceptions and judgments of acquaintance and stranger sexual violence. Upon completing individual difference measures, including a just-world belief assessment, participants (N = 296) were randomly assigned to read a scenario in which the vignette victim was either acquainted with or had no prior relationship with the perpetrator. Then, taking the perspective of the vignette victim, participants offered four judgments: the likelihood of reporting the crime, self-blame, perceived control, and sympathy expected from others. Results showed that instances of acquaintance sexual violence were judged more negatively than instances of stranger sexual violence. Moreover, participants who had previously experienced sexual violence reported more negative judgments than nonvictims (except for sympathy expected from others). An exploratory path analysis indicated that as nonvictims', but not victims', just-world beliefs became stronger, they indicated a higher willingness to report the crime, perceived more control over the situation, and expected more sympathy from others. We end with a discussion of how the present research can advance our understanding of sexual violence by using a bounded rationality framework and discuss the practical implications that the observed effects have for professionals in the legal system, outside observers, and victims themselves.

“I Would Hate To See Our Good Name Tarnished”: Twitter Users Respond to Sexual Assault in Football

ABSTRACTSexual violence in football has been reported and debated across mainstream and social media platforms since it first become “newsworthy” in 2004, when two cases broke involving footballers from the National Rugby League and Australian Football League. Previous feminist research has identified some problematic trends in mainstream media representations of the cases, identifying rape myths and stereotypes that portray women as liars and provide excuses for footballers’ behaviour. However, none has yet considered the ways in which social media users engage with the issue of footballers and sexual violence online.This article focuses on tweets (140-character microblogs from social media platform Twitter) about a rape case involving two players from the Hawthorn Football Club, which occurred shortly after the club won its third successive AFL Grand Final. Content analysis will identify major themes and the key preoccupations of social media users in a rape case involving athletes. Through discourse analysis, the article will explore the ways in which these users rely on or challenge gendered stereotypes and misconceptions about rape, and thus the relative prevalence of feminist understandings of sexual violence. It considers the role of sports fandom in the preoccupations of Twitter users about athlete sexual assault, and how prioritising sports fandom intersects with the way the interests of alleged footballer perpetrators and/or alleged female victims are privileged or marginalised. The article thus highlights the possibilities and limitations of social media as a platform for productive communication about athletes and sexual violence.

The Misogynous Politics of Shame

Joanna Bourke’s account of the ways that changing ideas of rape reflect the gendered norms of the times, and Eric Reitan’s proposal that rape ought to remain a contested concept amenable to evolving principles of ethical sexual relationships, speak to the ways that social, cultural, and political contexts influence our understanding of sexual violence. Though the criteria that are used to define rape change, one thing remains constant: the raped person is shamed. As she is shamed, she is degraded. This paper argues that until we understand the role that shame plays in enabling sexual violence by humiliating, silencing, and stigmatizing its victims, changes in our depictions of rape will neither disable the personal devastation of being raped nor dismantle the social practices and political institutions that rely on rape to maintain misogynous inequalities. Following the Introduction (Section 1) it is divided into three parts. Section 2, The Shame of Being Human, discusses the psychological and phenomenological accounts of shame. It alerts us to the ways that shame defines us insofar as it reveals the truth of human intersubjectivity and mutual interdependency. Section 3, Debilitating Shame, describes the ways that shame has been exploited to enable and enforce sexed and gendered inequalities. Section 4, Shame: Demanding Justice, examines the ways that shame, in its role as the protector of the self, undermines the effects of debilitating shame and fosters a politics of sexual integrity by affirming the dignity of the interdependencies that tie us to each other.