7 research outputs found
Understanding Youth Image-Based Sexual Abuse: The Role of Context and Police Discretion
No full textThere has been much written about youth image-sharing and particularly ‘sexting’ over the years. Academics have explored different facets of these experiences including the role of consent, its gendered nature and proximity to relationship abuse. However, even with these investigations, there is a need to identify and understand harmful image-sharing in more depth, specifically, what is described in this research as youth image-based sexual abuse. Using knowledge about child sexual abuse images and image-based sexual abuse, this thesis intends to explore in more detail how youth image-based sexual abuse is experienced, focusing in on two themes, context, and police discretion. A mixed methods approach was utilised, including an analysis of Freedom of Information responses from Police forces in England and Wales and semi-structured interviews. Findings collated from the Freedom of Information responses provided details on different youth image-based sexual abuse offences, including the gender and age of victims and suspects. A total of 26 participants were interviewed, 18 police officers of different ranks and 8 practitioners, whose professions ranged from specialist sex and relationships educators to youth workers. The interviews shed light on the complexities of youth image-based sexual abuse, such as which cases are encountered by police and practitioners, what challenges are presented as well as how decision-making is navigated. Further themes were identified when quantitative and qualitative findings were analysed collectively, such as the impact of the situational and individual context on youth image-based sexual abuse, the degree to which police discretion is applied thematically throughout these cases, and the many challenges which police, practitioners and young people face. This thesis makes an original contribution by examining in depth the nature of youth image-based sexual abuse, as well as highlighting the influence policing and police discretion has
‘We work in the grey around decision making’; how ‘thematic discretion’ can help understand police decision-making in cases of youth image-based sexual abuse
No full textIn this paper, I argue that a new term, ‘thematic discretion’, can help us understand police decision-making in cases of youth image-based sexual abuse (YIBSA). YIBSA can be defined as harmful image-sharing practices amongst young people, inclusive of the non-consensual sharing of private sexual images, upskirting and cyberflashing, alongside other actions. I will be drawing on findings from a doctoral research project investigating YIBSA, which utilised a mixed methods approach, comprising of quantitative analysis of freedom of information requests from 40 police forces in England and Wales, as well as 26 qualitative interviews with police and non-police practitioners, also based within England and Wales. Research findings established that YIBSA is highly complicated, and as a result, police officers utilised discretion at a considerable rate, alongside crafting their own guidelines to direct their decision-making, which is argued to be steeped in sexist and victim-blaming narratives
The media and male victim-survivors of domestic abuse
No full textThere are a number of widely held myths about male victim-survivors of domestic abuse, which the media can play a significant role in reinforcing - or challenging. This includes ideas such as that male victim-survivors don’t exist at all; that they exist in equal numbers to female victim-survivors; that all male victims are abused by women; that abuse isn’t harmful to men; or that domestic abuse is ‘worse’ for male victim-survivors than for women. This chapter will utilise findings from a study conducted with the UK Men's Advice Line to explore the experiences of male victim-survivors of domestic abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic. This involved anonymously observing 344 calls and e-mail exchanges with the helpline. In the chapter, we consider how these findings map onto media reports about male victim-survivors. We provide recommendations, informed by existing feminist research on media reporting of violence and abuse, for how the media can tell the stories of male victim-survivors as accurately and sensitively as possible, in ways which move beyond limited and harmful myths. For instance, it perpetuates unhealthy stereotypes about masculinity to suggest that men cannot be seriously impacted by domestic abuse. However, it also obfuscates the gendered dynamics underpinning the problem to fixate excessively on male victim-survivors and female perpetrators. Holistically, there are both similarities and differences in how men and women experience domestic abuse. It is integral that these complexities are understood and addressed by the media in order to provide respectful and honest insights into victim-survivors’ varied experiences
“It's Like a Drive by Misogyny”: Sexual Violence at UK Music Festivals
No full textDespite increasing scholarly and media attention on sexual violence in public spaces, including those associated with the night-time economy and licensed venues, music festivals have been largely absent from research and policy. This paper presents the findings from the first UK study of sexual violence at music festivals, drawing on data from interviews with 13 women who have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault at a festival. Analysis reveals that sexual violence at festivals occurs on a continuum and represents an extension of rape culture through which sexual violence is culturally condoned and normalized, enabled through a number of environmental and culture features that are unique to festivals
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Teaching for social change: introducing ‘scrapbooking’ as a pedagogic approach towards ending gender-based violence
No full textThis article introduces and evaluates ‘scrapbooking’ as a critical pedagogic approach to gender-based violence (GBV). This approach is inspired by the rapid development of conceptual and methodological tools for researching violence and abuse and the need for their translation into transformative teaching. Drawing on a feminist methodology of ‘research conversations’, but original in its development of ‘pedagogic conversations’, this research advocates further empirical attention to GBV teaching and presents its own four ‘lessons learnt’ from experimenting with scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is argued to facilitate not only the translation of GBV research into teaching, but also affective and embodied consciousness-raising and continuum-thinking in both students and tutors
Evaluation of a forensic marking intervention for domestic abuse
No full textDomestic abuse has significant, often long-term, impacts on its victims and makes up a high proportion of calls to the police. However, only a minority of offenders are brought to justice. Despite evidence supporting the effectiveness of situational crime prevention (SCP) methods for various crime types, their use in tackling domestic abuse remains under-developed. Forensic marking is an SCP method that uses a unique, chemically marked solution that is visible only under ultraviolet light. Domestic abuse victims apply this solution to their property or use handheld sprays of the solution to tag offenders attempting to make contact with them
Understanding family abuse:An intersectional approach to prevention and addressing family abuse perpetrators
No full textThis article provides an original contribution to understanding the motives for and perpetration patterns of family abuse that affects a range of minoritized communities, such as those minoritized on the basis of race, sexuality or transgender identity, and to contribute to debates around prevention. Family abuse against people from racially and/or sexually minoritized (LGBTQ+) communities does not occur within a vacuum: negative and discriminatory societal attitudes, norms and behaviors towards these groups ultimately influence and, to some degree, justify and condone family abuse. This can also lead to the issue being invisible, neglected or misrepresented in the public domain. Compounding these risk factors are the intersecting identities racially minoritized and/or LGBTQ+ people also have relating to gender, ethnicity, disability, culture, mental health issues, citizenship, age, economic status, geographical isolation and other identity-based and situational factors that result in a range of specific barriers to safety. Awareness of these factors and understanding of the effects of these intersections is critical when undertaking risk assessments, managing safety and considering interventions for perpetrators of family abuse. In practice, this means understanding the compounding effects that multiple forms of discrimination and disadvantage have on survivors whilst also understanding the individual, community and societal push-pull factors that shape the behaviours of perpetrators. Importantly, no matter which group or community they belong to, each survivor’s experience of violence and abuse is unique, requiring risk to be carefully assessed on an individual basis
