This article investigates the phenomenon of domestic and sexual violence against adult women using digital communications technologies. The article explores terminological and conceptual challenges ...and describes the empirical research literature in this field to date in relation to digital dating abuse, intimate partner cyberstalking, technology-facilitated sexual assault, image-based sexual abuse, and online sexual harassment. The article also discusses policy and practice responses to this growing problem, as well as future directions for research. We argue that research and practice need to be guided by existing conceptual frameworks that utilize gender and actor–network theory to understanding the causes and consequences of women’s experiences of abuse and violence facilitated by digital technologies.
Using a 60-day daily e-diary tool, 117 women undergraduate students reported sexual harassment on a Canadian university campus (4,283 diary surveys, collectively). Participants reported 181 incidents ...of both ambient sexual harassment (witnessing 40 incidents, hearing 106 unwelcomed sexual jokes/remarks) and targeted personal experiences of non-physical sexual harassment (35 incidents). Qualitative data document students’ descriptions of these encounters and contextualize how these are part of everyday student life. Findings show that students experience this harassment almost daily—in an ongoing, persistent, and normalized way—and that university can be a hostile environment where the possibility of daily unwanted sexual experiences is a lived, endemic reality.
This study analyzed the associations among male adolescents’ gender attitudes, intentions to intervene, witnessing peers’ abusive behaviors, and multiple forms of adolescent violence perpetration. ...This community-based evaluation aims to inform future youth violence prevention efforts through the identification of potential predictors of interpersonal violence perpetration.
Cross-sectional data were from baseline surveys conducted with 866 male adolescents, aged 13–19 years, from community settings in 20 lower-resource neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA (August 2015 – June 2017), as part of a cluster RCT to evaluate a sexual violence prevention program. Participants completed in-person, anonymous electronic surveys about gender attitudes, bystander intentions, witnessing peers’ abusive behaviors, violence perpetration, and demographics. The analysis was conducted between 2018 and 2019.
The youth identified mostly as African American (70%) or Hispanic, multiracial, or other (21%). Most (88%) were born in the U.S., and 85% were in school. Youth with more equitable gender attitudes had lower odds of self-reported violence perpetration across multiple domains, including dating abuse (AOR=0.46, 95% CI=0.29, 0.72) and sexual harassment (AOR=0.50, 95% CI=0.37, 0.67). The relationship between intentions to intervene and violence perpetration was inconclusive. Witnessing peers engaged in abusive behaviors was associated with increased odds of multiple types of violence perpetration, such as dating abuse (witnessed 3 or more behaviors, AOR=2.41, 95% CI=1.31, 4.44).
This is the first U.S.-based study to elicit information from male adolescents in community-based settings (rather than schools or clinics) about multiple types of interpersonal violence perpetration. Findings support violence prevention strategies that challenge harmful gender and social norms while simultaneously increasing youths’ skills in interrupting peers’ disrespectful and harmful behaviors.
Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) refers to a range of behaviors where digital technologies are used to facilitate both virtual and face-to-face sexually based harms. Such behaviors ...include online sexual harassment, gender- and sexuality-based harassment, cyberstalking, image-based sexual exploitation, and the use of a carriage service to coerce a victim into an unwanted sexual act. This article reviews the current state of knowledge on these different dimensions, drawing on existing empirical studies. While there is a growing body of research into technology-facilitated harms perpetrated against children and adolescents, there is a dearth of qualitative and quantitative research on TFSV against adults. Moreover, few of the existing studies provide reliable data on the nature, scope, and impacts of TFSV. Preliminary studies, however, indicate that some harms, much like sexual violence more broadly, may be predominantly gender-, sexuality-, and age-based, with young women being overrepresented as victims in some categories. This review collects the empirical evidence to date regarding the prevalence and gender-based nature of TFSV against adults and discusses the implications for policy and programs, as well as suggestions for future research.
Campus-based sexual violence and sexual harassment (SVSH) are prevalent issues that impact students detrimentally. Guided by community-based participatory research, this qualitative study assessed ...undergraduate students’ perceptions of available campus SVSH resources, gaps in services, and recommendations for solutions for SVSH at three universities in California via interviews and focus groups. Approximately half of participants were unaware of available SVSH services, while others had varying knowledge of service availability and experiences with services. Students want better-funded, trauma-informed, and survivor-centered services and providers who share their identities and lived experiences. We provide multi-level student-centered solutions to improve current campus-based SVSH prevention efforts.
Previous research has reported that sexual harassment can lead to reduced mental health. Few studies have focused on sexual harassment conducted by clients or customers, which might occur in ...person-related occupations such as eldercare work, social work or customer service work. This study examined the cross-sectional association between sexual harassment by clients or customers and depressive symptoms. We also examined if this association was different compared to sexual harassment conducted by a colleague, supervisor or subordinate. Further, we investigated if psychosocial workplace initiatives modified the association between sexual harassment by clients or customers and level of depressive symptoms.
We used data from the Work Environment and Health in Denmark cohort study (WEHD) and the Work Environment Activities in Danish Workplaces Study (WEADW) collected in 2012. WEHD is based on a random sample of employed individuals aged 18-64. In WEADW, organizational supervisors or employee representatives provided information on workplace characteristics. By combining WEHD and WEADW we included self-reported information on working conditions and health from 7603 employees and supervisors in 1041 organizations within 5 occupations. Data were analyzed using multilevel regression and analyses adjusted for gender, age, occupation and socioeconomic position.
Exposure to workplace sexual harassment from clients or customers was statistically significantly associated with a higher level of depressive symptoms (2.05; 95% CI: 0.98-3.12) compared to no exposure. Employees harassed by colleagues, supervisors or subordinates had a higher mean level of depressive symptoms (2.45; 95% CI: 0.57-4.34) than employees harassed by clients or customers. We observed no statistically significant interactions between harassment from clients and customers and any of the examined psychosocial workplace initiatives (all p > 0.05).
The association between sexual harassment and depressive symptoms differed for employees harassed by clients or customers and those harassed by colleagues, supervisors or subordinates. The results underline the importance of investigating sexual harassment from clients or customers and sexual harassment by colleagues, supervisors or subordinates as distinct types of harassment. We found no modification of the association between sexual harassment by clients or customers and depressive symptoms by any of the examined psychosocial workplace initiatives.
The present study aimed to expand the understanding of the correlates of sexual harassment myths, a set of beliefs that serve to justify male perpetrators. Data collected among Italian adults (
407; ...59.5% women) showed that individual levels of precarious manhood beliefs-according to which manhood is a social status that must be proven via public action-were related to greater sexual harassment myths acceptance in male and female respondents. Such associations were mediated by hostile sexism and benevolence toward men. Findings suggest that interventions to reduce tolerance of sexual harassment of women should target cultural views of manhood and counteract rigid models of masculinity and femininity.
Women SEMP practitioners were more likely to work with women athletes who are paid less, have lower public profiles and receive less media attention, than their men counterparts, which potentially ...impacts renumeration available for SEMP practitioners. Men acknowledged that their gender positively influenced their SEMP career, whereas women experienced negative effects of gender. Consistent with other workplaces, women working in elite sport in Australia experience significantly more workplace gender harassment than men, it is time for affirmative action to eliminate gender bias and harassment in the SEMP workplace.
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