Personal Violence Research Articles

Kekerasan Dalam Rumah Tangga (KDRT) Terhadap Perempuan: Perspektif Pekerjaan Sosial

National Commission on violence against women (2015) noted that violence against women showed a widespread pattern. The 2016 annual press release (Catahu) released that there were 321,752 of violence cases. The largest type of violence against women was violence in the personal sector. Violence in the form of rape was 72% (2,399 of cases), violence in the form of obscenity was 18% (601 of cases), and sexual abuse was 5% (166 of cases). The majority of personal violence victims (domestic / household) were women. The forms of domestic violence included physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence and neglect of the household; while the main factor was the lack of communication and disharmony among family members. The impact in the short term was usually like a physical injury, disability, pregnancy, loss of work, and so forth; while the long-term effects were psychological disorders (psychiatric), loss of confidence, fend for oneself, trauma and appearance of fear to depression. The handling of domestic violence is one of the focuses of social workers to play a role in helping / assisting the recovery of victims. The social worker should be able to convince the victims to dare to express their problems, to give a sense of security, and comfort. Social workers in helping victims of domestic violence should have knowledge and alignment to the victims that the slightest violence is a form of crime against humanity. Victims of domestic violence must immediately obtain the protection, security assurance and social assistance. The efforts which can be done by social workers are counseling and family counseling. Those are done as a form of therapy so that victims do not feel the prolonged trauma and they can think calmly.

Displacement contexts and violent landscapes: How conflict and displacement structure women's lives and ongoing threats at the Thai-Myanmar border

Chronic conflict and displacement carry consequences for personal and social violence. How is violence embedded in displacement-related histories and ongoing circumstances? How might it underlie social and health inequities in host countries? For addressing these questions, I offer a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring displacement contexts and the structural violence embedded therein. I present the empirical case of the Thai-Myanmar border. Myanmar's civil conflict has fueled one of the largest and most chronically displaced populations globally. Thailand's border population has consequently grown with people displaced from the varied conflict-related circumstances within Myanmar. I administered a novel survey in two sub-districts along Thailand's northern border with Myanmar in 2016–17. With data from 520 respondents, I used clustering of life events and circumstances to uncover displacement-related contexts and violence. I uncovered livelihood- and security-based threat contexts, which disproportionately affected ethnic minority women. Among women from Myanmar, past military occupation and acute violence co-occurred with unexpectedly low perceived past oppression—indicative of covert everyday violence. In contrast, women who fled home destruction or deprivation, but often less overt military violence, were more likely to perceive oppression. Women born in Myanmar also experienced acute potential violence at the border, including severe livelihood and security threats. These threats were most prevalent among women that experienced the most forceful and abrupt displacement. This study uses a person-centered perspective to characterize and measure violence embedded in displacement, including the structural violence against women that is perpetuated across displacement contexts and embodied over time.

From political to personal violence: Links between conflict and non-partner physical violence in post-conflict Liberia

ABSTRACTWar and interpersonal violence together account for a large burden on global health. Yet very few studies look at the relationship between these types of aggression. Non-partner physical violence (NPPV) is an often-understudied form of gender-based violence (GBV). This analysis draws on two datasets from one conflict-affected country, Liberia, to evaluate the impact of conflict on NPPV post-conflict. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED) measures the intensity of the conflict in Liberia from 1999-2003, while the Demographic and Heath Survey (DHS) data measure women's experiences with violence four years post-conflict. Almost half of women surveyed (45%) indicated that they experienced any kind of NPPV, highlighting the widespread nature of this issue. A multilevel modelling approach was used to account for the nesting of individuals within districts. Women living in districts that experienced conflict events in four or five years were almost three times as likely (aOR 2.93, p < .001) to experience past-year NPPV compared to individuals living in no conflict districts. Findings from this study suggest women residing in a conflict event-affected district may be at heightened risk of increased violence even years after peace is declared.

Out of the Lab: Shaping an Ecological and Constructional Cultural Systems Science.

Contemporary societies face critical, interlocking, "wicked" challenges, including economic inequities and marginalization, personal and collective violence, ethnic and religious conflicts, degradation of "the commons," climate change, and more, and all of these issues clearly are grounded in behavior. An adequate culturo-behavior science could be positioned to advance and leverage research and interventions supporting community well-being, and contribute to overcoming urgent societal and global challenges. The current state of cultural systems science, however, is limited by theory and methodology, and by competition for attention with well-established research and practice opportunities related to individual-level challenges. In this article, the author explores those limitations, and suggests a more expansive perspective drawing on historical and contemporary ecological science and contemporary theories of complex systems. Research guided by established science within those disciplines offers opportunities to move cultural systems science out of the lab, and into a more adequate, environmentally rich stance drawing on ecological strategies, recursively integrating contextual observations, conceptual advances, and in vivo experimentation. Examples of each of those strategies and exploration of developmental programs of research grounded in such integration are explored.

Violence Exposure, Drug Use and HIV/AIDS Risk Taking Behaviors: The Role of Gender

ObjectiveTo examine gender differences among African American young adults in their exposure to violence (ETV) before age 18 and community violence as an adult, and the relationship of these exposures to drug use and HIV risk taking behaviors (HIVRTB). MethodWe detail these experiences in 440 self-identified African Americans, ages 18 to 25, from socio-economically disadvantaged wards in Washington, DC. Factor analysis was used to identify the types of violence experienced before age 18 and as adults. Regression was used to identify which types of violence had the greatest impact on subsequent drug use and HIVRTB. ResultsWe found gender differences in the types of violence experienced and their effects on drug use and HIVRTB. For women, the strongest ETV factors were direct personal violence, and exposure to drug sales or physical violence as adults. For men, the strongest factors were feeling unsafe in different situations as adults and exposure to violence among adults before age 18. ConclusionsWe identified the specific kinds of violence that are most likely to impact drug use and risky sexual behaviors that can leave one vulnerable to HIV and how these differ between women and men exposed to both childhood violence and community violence as an adult. Our findings point toward the need for trauma-informed programs that are tailored to gender.

Violent political action during the European economic crisis: an empirical investigation of four theoretical paradigms from social movement research

The recent economic crisis has witnessed a surge in demonstrations and other protest actions all over Europe, while in the most affected countries—such as Greece—the use of personal violence and damage of property became an everyday phenomenon. What are the drivers of violent political action in times of crisis? How do these drivers interact? And to what extent does context matter? These questions are examined in the light of a new and original survey data set carried out across nine European countries, all affected to different degrees by the financial crisis. Four theoretical paradigms from social movement research that account for violent political action are examined. This study looks beyond the staple explanations of relative deprivation and resource mobilisation, expands the analysis to include a relational approach—namely, conflictual irrelevance—and explores the soundness of an integrative approach that attempts to reconcile the traditional divide between grievance and resource-based models. By measuring actual behaviour rather than merely intention, the article furthermore contributes to the discussion over the participation of individuals in violent activism and gives empirical support to the dual-pathways model of collective action for the understanding of violent political action during times of crisis.

Victims, Criminal Justice and State Compensation

This article examines one element of the state’s responses to crime: the provision of a taxpayer-funded compensation scheme for victims of personal and sexual violence. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 sits within a political context that seeks to ensure that victims of crime are better served by the criminal justice system of England and Wales, the jurisdiction that is the focus of this article. The government’s fundamental policy is that this scheme exists to compensate only those victims who are ‘blameless’, either in terms of their character, criminal record, conduct at the time of the incident, or in their engagement with the criminal justice agencies. It is a policy that illuminates elements of two of the questions that the editors posed for this Special Issue of Societies. Reviewing the increased urgency in government policies concerning the treatment of victims of crime, the first section addresses the question of how, why and when victims came to shape political and criminal justice discourse and practice. The question of how, and to what end, cultural representations have shaped perceptions of victims is addressed in the second and third sections, which examine the notion of victim status and illustrate the ways in which eligible (‘ideal’) victims are perceived and their claims under this scheme are determined.

Collaborative Public Health Management of Ebola in Africa

This essay considers the management of infectious disease through the prism of recent Ebola epidemics on the African continent. A review of country experiences suggests that securing working relationships among multiple actors within a global infrastructure of collaborative health governance offers a productive means for redressing viral spread. It is further argued that as various domains and sectors of the international system become more tightly interlaced to face common health threats, the ability to grow what Galtung referred to as “positive peace” increases. In this context, positive peace is conceptualized as bonds of support emerging from crisis settings that expand politically, socially and economically beyond disease events. Ultimately these bonds chasten a variety of forms of violence. This is opposed to “negative peace,” which reflects an absence of personal violence. The recent history of Ebola in Africa offers observers the opportunity to explore these themes in greater detail, and provides evidence of efforts to build infrastructure that can create more peaceful, mutually beneficial relationships on the common ground of pursuing public health. It also displays how direct human aggression rooted in long standing structural and cultural chains of violence can interrupt, impede and even destroy such efforts, ultimately leading to the possible letting loose of an illness that could reach transnational and even pandemic proportions.

“Lock This Whore Up”: Legal Violence and Flows of Information Precipitating Personal Violence against People Criminalised for HIV-Related Crimes in Canada

This article examines the convergence of myriad forms of information on people who come to be targets of state and public control due to the perceived risk they present through having been alleged to have not disclosed their HIV-positive status to sex partners. Attending to the material, violent impacts of criminalisation – violence, both legal and extralegal – this article outlines how punishment is enhanced and amplified through the flow of information. Focusing on the material impacts of flows of information about the daily lives of people who face criminalisation moves analysis beyond solely a theoretical object of inquiry and helps to frame an understand that the effects of big data operate not just “within” big data surveillance, but also “beyond” big data surveillance.

Is it the right time to implement Community Treatment Order in India?

India enacted the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (MHCA 2017) on April 7, 2017 to align and harmonize with United Nations Convention on Persons with Disabilities and the principles of prioritizing human rights protection. While MHCA 2017 is oriented toward the rights of the patients, the rights of the family members and professionals delivering treatment, care, and support to persons with severe mental disorder (SMD) often suffer. MHCA 2017 mandates discharge planning in consultation with the patients for admitted patients and makes the service providers responsible for ensuring continuity of care in the community. The concerns surrounding the chances of relapse and recurrence when a person with a SMD stops medications continue to remain largely unaddressed. The rights-based MHCA 2017 makes it difficult for the prevailing practices of surreptitious treatment by the family/caregiver and proxy consultations on behalf of the patients. This will, in turn, lead to increased chances of relapse, risk of violence, homelessness, stigma, and suicide in persons with SMDs in the community, largely due to noncompliance to treatment. This will also result in increased caregiver burden and burnouts and may also cause disruptions in the family and the community. To strike a balance over the current MHCA 2017, there is a need to amend or bring-forth a new law rooted in the principles of community treatment order.

Fatores psicossociais e condições ambientais: sua influência na capacidade para o trabalho na área da assistência social

Poor working conditions might impair the health and work ability (WA) of public service workers. To investigate the association of work ability with environmental and psychosocial factors among workers at Social Assistance Reference Centers in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We administered three questionnaires: one to collect sociodemographic data, one for workplace evaluation and the Work Ability Index (WAI). The data were subjected to descriptive analysis and the Mann-Whitney U test. The sample comprised 41 participants, with average age 40 years old (SD=14.83) most of whom had attended higher education (82.9%). The participants reported poor workplace ventilation (75.6%), temperature (78%) and equipment (75.6%). Most participants reported to spend long time sitting (65.9%) and absence of breaks (51.2%). Threats to personal safety (31.7%), personal belongings (53.7%) and aggression by service users (26.8%), escorts or relatives (19.5%) were the psychosocial factors most frequently reported. The average score on WAI was 37.85; 41.5% of participants were rated as with poor or moderate WA. WA was associated with workplace temperature (p=0.015), available material resources (p=0.011), threats to personal safety (p=0.005) and violence between coworkers (p=0.016) or between service users and workers and/or supervisors (p=0.035). The results corroborate the existence of a relationship between working conditions and WA and evidenced association between WA and workplace violence.

Violence in persons with and without psychosis in the Czech Republic: risk and protective factors.

PurposeTo prevent violence among persons with psychosis, further knowledge of the correlates and risk factors is needed. These risk factors may vary by nation.Patients and methodsThis study examined factors associated with violent assaults in 158 patients with psychosis and in a matched control sample of 158 adults without psychosis in the Czech Republic. Participants completed interviews and questionnaires to confirm diagnoses, report on aggressive behavior, current and past victimization, and substance use. Additional information was collected from collateral informants and clinical files. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify factors that were independently associated with committing an assault in past 6 months.ResultsThe presence of a psychotic disorder was associated with an increased risk of assaults (OR =3.80; 95% CI 2.060–7.014). Additional risk factors in persons with and without psychosis included recent physical victimization (OR =7.09; 95% CI 3.922–12.819), childhood maltreatment (OR =3.15; 95% CI 1.877–5.271), the level of drug use (OR =1.13; 95% CI 1.063–1.197), and the level of alcohol use (OR =1.04; 95% CI 1.000–1.084). Increasing age (OR =0.96; 95% CI 0.942–0.978) and employment (OR =0.30; 95% CI 0.166–0.540) were protective factors. Except for drug use, which appeared to have greater effect on violence in the group without psychosis, there were no major differences between patients and controls in these risk and protective factors. To our knowledge, this is the first published comparison of assault predictors between schizophrenia patients and matched controls.ConclusionRecent physical victimization was the strongest predictor of assaults. Our findings are consistent with the emerging empirical evidence pointing to the very important role of victimization in eliciting violent behavior by the victims. Some current prediction instruments may underestimate the risk of violent behavior as they take little account of current victimization. Although psychosis per se elevates the risk of violence, other risk and protective factors for violence in persons with psychosis and comparison group are largely similar.

Alignment and political will: upscaling an Australian respectful relationships program.

Many small scale efficacious programs and interventions need to be 'scaled-up' in order to reach a larger population. Although it has been argued that interventions deemed suitable for upscaling need to have demonstrated effectiveness, be able to be implemented cost-effectively and be accepted by intended recipients, these factors alone are insufficient in explaining which programs are adopted more broadly. Upscaling research often identifies political will as a key factor in explaining whether programs are supported and up-scaled, but this research lacks any depth into how political will is formed and has not applied policy theories to understanding the upscaling process. This article uses a political science lens to examine the key factors in the upscaling process of a Respectful Relationships in Schools Program. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with project staff, managers and community organizations involved in the program. The results reveal how a key focusing event related to a highly profiled personal tragedy propelled family violence into the national spotlight. At the same time, the organization leading the respectful relationships program leveraged their networks to position the program within the education department which enabled the government to quickly respond to the issue. The study highlights that political will is not a stand-alone factor as depicted by up-scaling models, but rather is the end point of a complex process that involves many elements including the establishment of networks and aligned programs that can capitalize when opportunities arise.

CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS OF EVIDENCE-BASED HOME-VISITATION MODELS IN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES.

The Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (Tribal MIECHV) Program provides federal grants to tribes, tribal consortia, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to implement evidence-based home-visiting services for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families. To date, only one evidence-based home-visiting program has been developed for use in AI/AN communities. The purpose of this article is to describe the steps that four Tribal MIECHV Programs took to assess community needs, select a home-visiting model, and culturally adapt the model for use in AI/AN communities. In these four unique Tribal MIECHV Program settings, each program employed a rigorous needs-assessment process and developed cultural modifications in accordance with community strengths and needs. Adaptations occurred in consultation with model developers, with consideration of the conceptual rationale for the program, while grounding new content in indigenous cultures. Research is needed to improve measurement of home-visiting outcomes in tribal and urban AI/AN settings, develop culturally grounded home-visiting interventions, and assess the effectiveness of home visiting in AI/AN communities.

The Case for Colonialism

AbstractWITHDRAWAL NOTICEThis Viewpoint essay has been withdrawn at the request of the academic journal editor, and in agreement with the author of the essay. Following a number of complaints, Taylor & Francis conducted a thorough investigation into the peer review process on this article. Whilst this clearly demonstrated the essay had undergone double-blind peer review, in line with the journal's editorial policy, the journal editor has subsequently received serious and credible threats of personal violence. These threats are linked to the publication of this essay. As the publisher, we must take this seriously. Taylor & Francis has a strong and supportive duty of care to all our academic editorial teams, and this is why we are withdrawing this essay.

F86. SOCIAL COGNITION IN HOMICIDE OFFENDERS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

BackgroundSchizophrenia is characterized by impairments in social and non-social cognition that act as strong predictors of the poor outcome of the disorder, including violence. In fact, it has been suggested that the inclusion of (social) cognition in risk assessment tools may increase their accuracy. A premise for this line of thinking is that individuals with schizophrenia and a history of violent offences should present with a different social cognitive profile than individuals with schizophrenia without such a history. In this study, we compare social and non-social cognition in homicide offenders with schizophrenia (HOS) and in individuals with schizophrenia without a history of interpersonal violence (non-HOS).MethodsTwenty-six HOS and 28 non-HOS were included. They underwent a comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological assessment protocol where the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) and four tests of social cognition were applied. Facial emotion perception was assessed with Pictures of Facial Affect (PFA) where portrait photographs of people expressing one of six emotions are presented. Emotion perception from bodies was measured with Emotion in Biological Motion (EmoBio), a point-light task consisting of short movie clips where lighted dots, indicative of one of four emotions, move across the computer screen. Theory of mind (ToM) was indexed by two tests. The Hinting Task consists of ten short stories where a hint is dropped. The ecologically valid Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) shows four characters who meet for dinner. The movie is stopped several times, and the test taker is instructed to answer questions about the thoughts, intentions and emotions of a given character. This yields scores for cognitive and affective ToM. In addition, the multiple-choice response format provides information on overmentalizing and undermentalizing errors.ResultsPreliminary analyses, using independent samples t-tests, showed significant differences for the overall scores on the EmoBio and MASC tests, with non-HOS outperforming HOS participants. Follow-up analyses for the EmoBio test revealed no statistically significant differences for any specific emotion, although the group difference for the recognition of happy, fearful or neutral body movements approached a medium effect size. On the MASC test, HOS presented with reduced cognitive and affective ToM, compared to non-HOS, and also committed more undermentalizing errors. These effect sizes were large.DiscussionOur preliminary analyses show that homicide offenders with schizophrenia have reduced emotion perception and theory of mind compared to individuals with schizophrenia without a history of interpersonal violence. This lends support to the idea that social cognitive deficits can be a risk factor for interpersonal violence in persons with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Evidence of validity of the Stress-Producing Life Events (SPLE) instrument.

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE Evaluate the construct validity of a list of eight Stressful Life Events in pregnant women.METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,446 pregnant women in São Luís, MA, and 1,364 pregnant women in Ribeirão Preto, SP (BRISA cohort), from February 2010 to June 2011. In the exploratory factorial analysis, the promax oblique rotation was used and for the calculation of the internal consistency, we used the compound reliability. The construct validity was determined by means of the confirmatory factorial analysis with the method of estimation of weighted least squares adjusted by the mean and variance.RESULTS The model with the best fit in the exploratory analysis was the one that retained three factors with a cumulative variance of 61.1%. The one-factor model did not obtain a good fit in both samples in the confirmatory analysis. The three-factor model called Stress-Producing Life Events presented a good fit (RMSEA < 0.05; CFI/TLI > 0.90) for both samples.CONCLUSIONS The Stress-Producing Life Events constitute a second order construct with three dimensions related to health, personal and financial aspects and violence. This study found evidence that confirms the construct validity of a list of stressor events, entitled Stress-Producing Life Events Inventory.

From Revolution to Reunion: The Reintegration of the South Carolina Loyalists by Rebecca Brannon

Reviewed by: From Revolution to Reunion: The Reintegration of the South Carolina Loyalists by Rebecca Brannon Christina Carrick (bio) KEY WORDS Loyalists, South Carolina, American Revolution, Reconciliation From Revolution to Reunion: The Reintegration of the South Carolina Loyalists. By Rebecca Brannon. (Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 2016. Pp. 223. Cloth, $49.99.) In the civil war within the American Revolution, neighbors killed neighbors, destroyed property, and violently harassed former friends’ families. [End Page 701] In heavily affected areas, like South Carolina, one would expect a tense reconstruction and long-term animosity to follow. But despite its import at a critical juncture in American history, reconciliation has mostly slipped past historians. Professor Rebecca Brannon’s new study of loyalist reintegration in South Carolina begins to remedy this neglect, and she determines that the aftermath of revolution was surprisingly congenial. After years of violence and hostility, she argues, reintegration had more bluster than bite. Hostile rhetoric and demands for revenge quickly gave way to the reunion of neighborly relationships. South Carolinians “embraced the redemption of forgetting, and let the painful memories die with the Revolutionary generation” (34). Brannon’s timely book augments a burgeoning interest in loyalism. Most scholars thus far have analyzed more clear-cut loyalist categories: loyalist military activity, which is well documented; or loyalist exile, which is recorded through ship manifests and the oft-cited Loyalist Claims Commission papers. Brannon instead tackles a new and important challenge: assessing the loyalists—or the “disaffected” as she often calls them—who remained in South Carolina. Since many of these individuals are not listed on loyalist rosters or similar records, they often slipped through the cracks of the historical narrative. Brannon sifted through archival collections and state records to analyze how the disaffected—at least the white male disaffected—became American citizens. She convincingly claims that South Carolinians achieved full reunion and forgiveness through cooperation between former loyalists, state leaders, and neighbors. Brannon sets the stakes of reconciliation by breathing life—and death—into the violence that racked the southern state. In one vivid vignette, Thomas Robertson, a South Carolinian patriot, brutally killed his long-time neighbor in the heat of battle and later bragged about it. Plunder, intimidation, and destruction of property were used to enforce political conformity, and combat morphed into a “militia war for revenge” (28). While she states that civil war occurred throughout America, existing social and racial strains caused it to explode into uniquely personal violence in South Carolina, making this case a compelling focus for a reunion study. The end of the war brought the need for emotional catharsis, which Brannon argues was achieved through superficially harsh legislation and vitriolic threats in the press. These, however, were mainly threats with little action, aimed to appease an angry populace and give the feeling of [End Page 702] revenge, but ultimately pave the way to forgiveness. The state passed confiscation acts, but targeted fewer than 240 individuals. This created a system that “was generous from the beginning and got steadily more generous over time” (35). Only those who remained with the British or continued to spout loyalist rhetoric were singled out for official punishment. This was in part, Brannon shows, to draw wavering individuals back into the patriot fold and encourage their contributions—financial and otherwise—to the new republic. Local justice through the court system and unofficial pressure would separate the few irredeemable loyalists. The harsh rhetoric and initial aggression also aided in the emotional reunion of South Carolina citizens. “Revenge talk,” she argues, “could serve as a bridge to more positive feelings about Loyalists—feelings that ultimately enabled Patriots to empathize with and then reintegrate Loyalists” (39). While there were extra-judicial acts of revenge against former loyalists, these, Brannon argues, were “few and far between” (39). Loyalists developed reintegration strategies, although it is clear from Brannon’s narrative that there was not a collective body of returnees working together. Individuals followed the traditional use of petitions to the government and the face-to-face quest for neighborly support. Their arguments were supported by the practical and not ideological basis of South Carolina loyalism. Many became loyalists “due to nothing more than a desire...

FLAG and the Diplomacy of the Iran Hostage Families

ABSTRACTThe extraordinary public diplomacy carried out by the families of the American hostages held in Iran from 1979 -1981 domesticated and humanised the biggest foreign policy crisis of Jimmy Carter's presidency. The families, notably represented by the Family Liaison Action Group (FLAG), led an unprecedented campaign to raise awareness of the plight of their relatives. The families designed their efforts to garner public and media attention, and manage relations with the press. To that end, the news media emerge as a singularly influential domestic actor in this episode. Moreover, women constituted the vast majority of family members regularly cited in news coverage and occupied a sizeable leadership role within organised activities during the crisis. The centrality of the families helped harden American attitudes toward Iran: not merely an outgrowth of a diplomatic dispute, it represented a sort of personal violence toward individual Americans and their families.

The case for colonialism

WITHDRAWAL NOTICEThis Viewpoint essay has been withdrawn at the request of the academic journal editor, and in agreement with the author of the essay. Following a number of complaints, Taylor & Francis conducted a thorough investigation into the peer review process on this article. Whilst this clearly demonstrated the essay had undergone double-blind peer review, in line with the journal's editorial policy, the journal editor has subsequently received serious and credible threats of personal violence. These threats are linked to the publication of this essay. As the publisher, we must take this seriously. Taylor & Francis has a strong and supportive duty of care to all our academic editorial teams, and this is why we are withdrawing this essay.