Picturing the perpetrator

There is considerable potential in examining images associated with atrocity that do not depict the actual act of violence or the victim itself, but rather depict the circumstances around which such acts occurred. Such images of the absence of visible violence can lead the viewer into an imaginative engagement with the nature of atrocity, and the nature of those who perpetrate it. In exploring this absence, Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” can be taken to mean that the spaces in which atrocities take place are often nondescript, everyday and banal, and that the people who commit them may appear on the surface to be so as well, even if their interior motivations and rationales are far more complex than that they were simply following orders. Photography, with its optical -mechanical process, is adept at recording such banal facts of the scene, and, by inviting the viewer to scan the image for minute details, often generates a tension between such mundanities and the audience’s knowledge of the potential import of the situation garnered via a caption. This strategy of the “aesthetics of the banal” has become a common one in contemporary photographic practice.1 However, the idea that an image that appears on the surface to be of an ordinary scene or person but which the viewer then discovers contains another, deeper and more imaginative reading is one that has long been effective. In order to explore the possibility of an absence in the image being a key to understanding, it is useful to examine a constellation of images that gather around a key perpetrator of the Holocaust, images that do not overtly show either the victims or the violence itself, but by the very absence of such evidence propel the viewer into an imaginative act of engagement with the nature of evil. Publishers notes about the book 'Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis': Picturing Atrocity Photography in Crisis Geoffrey Batchen, Mick Gidley, Nancy K. Millers and Jay Prosser 'It is hard to look: My Lai, Dachau, Abu Ghraib, Wounded Knee. We know these atrocities through the painful evidence of unforgettable documentary photographs. But these images are far from innocent. Just as "atrocity" itself is a loaded term, every photograph of such an event is a bit of high-level propaganda in a moralized political argument, encouraging the viewer to bear witness, make judgments, take sides. This important new collection of essays by some of the most brilliant analysts of photography shows how deliberately horrifying pictures have shaped – and continue to shape – the ethics and politics of the modern era.' – Brian Wallis, Chief Curator, International Center of Photography 'Picturing Atrocity is an excellent examination of the dilemmas implicit in photography’s representation of human suffering, whether caused by torture, war, poverty, the political chaos and neglect that multiplies the toll from natural disasters (as in Africa’s Horn region today), or other gross rights violations. Multi-layered and lucid, these essays demolish any lingering pretence that images of suffering can be understood without also considering the context and media in which they are presented, and the often far-from-the-scene viewer who consumes them. Picturing Atrocity is critical reading for communicators in the aid, development and human rights communities who participate in the dissemination of these essential but volatile images.' –Ellen Tolmie, Senior Photography Editor, UNICEF Ever since the landmark publication of Susan Sontag’s On Photography, it has been impossible to look at photographs, particularly those of violence and suffering, without questioning our role as photographic voyeur. Are we desensitized by the proliferation of these images? Or do the images stir our own sense of justice and act as a call to arms? Are we consuming the suffering of others? What should our responses to these images be? To answer these questions, Picturing Atrocity brings together essays from some of the foremost writers on photography today, including Rebecca Solnit, Alfredo Jaar, Ariella Azoulay, John Lucaites, Robert Hariman and Susan Meiselas, to offer close readings of images that reveal the realities behind the photographs, the subjects and the photographers. From the massacre of the Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee to the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, from famine in China to apartheid in South Africa, Picturing Atrocity examines a broad spectrum of photographs. Each essay focuses specifically on an iconic image, offering a distinct approach and context, in order to enable us to look again – this time more closely – at the picture. In addition, four photo-essays showcase the work of photographers involved in the making of photographs of brutality as well as the artists’ own reflections on these images. Together these essays cover the historical and geographical range of atrocity photographs and respond to current concerns about such disturbing images. Picturing Atrocity is an important read, not just for insights into photography, but for its reflections on human injustice and suffering. In keeping with that aim, all royalties from the book will be donated to Amnesty International. Geoffrey Batchen is a photography historian and Professor of Art History at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Mick Gidley is Emeritus Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds, UK. Nancy K. Miller is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature, the Graduate Center, CUNY. Jay Prosser is Reader in Humanities in the School of English at the University of Leeds, UK

Blame Attributions Among Child Sexual Abuse Survivors and Disclosure of the Abuse

Child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure is critical for survivor´s psychosocial adjustment later in life. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between attributions of blame for child sexual abuse by the victim and the disclosure of the abuse to parents or caregivers while controlling for characteristics of the abuse. Female college students between 17 and 24 years of age (M = 19.44, SD = 1.64) from a southern Spanish University were surveyed. Of 1547 respondents, 153 (9.90%) reported having suffered some form of CSA before the age of 15. Information about the characteristics of abuse (age of onset, type of abuse suffered, continuity of abuse, and relationship with and age of the perpetrator) and the existence of abuse disclosure by the survivor was obtained from a self-reported questionnaire developed for the present study. The Attributions of Responsibility and Blame Scale (McMillen & Zuravin, 1997) was used to assess attributions made about CSA (self-blame, perpetrator blame and family blame). The results of a logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ² (9) = 43.856, p < .001. The model explained 41% (Nagelkerke R²) of the variance of abuse disclosure and correctly classified 85.6% of cases. Survivor disclosure was 5.50 times more likely to occur when the perpetrator was not a family member (Wald = 8.14, p < .01) and 3.95 times more likely to occur when there was not physical contact with the perpetrator (Wald = 4.30, p < .05). The occurrence of disclosure was also related to increased perpetrator age (Wald = 4.83, p < .05). With regard to the attributions of blame, the occurrence of disclosure was related to lower scores on self-blame (Wald = 6.78, p < .01) and higher scores on family blame (Wald = 9.67, p < .001). However, no relationship was found between perpetrator blame and disclosure of abuse. The results confirm the idea that not only self-blame attributions, but also family blame attributions are critical to the decision of a CSA victim to disclose abuse. The possibility that children who do not disclose abuse have a greater need to deny the occurrence of abuse, or have more confusion about being abused is discussed. Attributions of blame should be taken into serious consideration when evaluating children for possible sexual abuse.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

“Feeling my Sister’s Pain”: Perceived Victim Suffering Moderates the Impact of Sexualized Music Videos on Fijian Women’s Responses to Men’s Intimate Partner Violence against Women

To better understand how sexualized music videos affect women’s responses to intimate partner violence (IPV), we examined the role of individual variability in perceived victim pain and perceived victim culpability in moderating and mediating (respectively) the priming effects of sexual music videos on women. Female Fijian college students (n = 243) were randomly assigned to one of three viewing conditions: stereotyped sexual music videos, non-stereotyped/non-sexual music videos, or neutral videos. All participants then read a portrayal of a male-toward-female IPV episode and their perceptions of the female victim and male perpetrator were assessed. Only women who minimized the victim’s pain were adversely affected by exposure to the stereotyped sexual videos. Specifically, for women who perceived low victim pain, those in the stereotyped video condition perceived the victim as more culpable and reported greater perpetrator-directed favorable responding than those in the other two conditions. For these women who perceived low victim pain, perceptions of victim culpability mediated the impact of video type on perpetrator-favorable responding. The findings help us better understand susceptibility to the negative impact of stereotypical sexual videos and highlight areas, such as emphasizing the suffering of victims and reducing myths about victim culpability, which may be worthy of particular emphasis in interventions

Callisto: a cryptographic approach to detecting serial perpetrators of sexual misconduct

Sexual misconduct is prevalent in workplace and education settings but stigma and risk of further damage deter many victims from seeking justice. Callisto, a non-profit that has created an online sexual assault reporting platform for college campuses, is expanding its work to combat sexual assault and harassment in other industries. In this new product, users will be invited to an online "matching escrow" that will detect repeat perpetrators and create pathways to support for victims. Users submit encrypted data about their perpetrator, and this data can only be decrypted by the Callisto Options Counselor (a lawyer), when another user enters the identity of the same perpetrator. If the perpetrator identities match, both users will be put in touch independently with the Options Counselor, who will connect them to each other (if appropriate) and help them determine their best path towards justice. The client relationships with the Options Counselors are structured so that any client-counselor communications would be privileged. A combination of client-side encryption, encrypted communication channels, oblivious pseudo-random functions, key federation, and Shamir Secret Sharing keep data confidential in transit, at rest, and during the matching process with the guarantee that only the lawyer ever has access to user submitted data, and even then only when a match is identified.Accepted manuscrip

Employment Barriers and Domestic Violence

Research has found the link between perpetrator unemployment and domestic violence to be so significant that experts conclude any effective domestic violence prevention strategy must address unemployment and male poverty.[Main article] / [SIDEBAR:] Source

Should I Say Something? Dating and Sexual Aggression Bystander Intervention Among High School Youth

Using data from a sample of 218 high school youth from three high schools in New England (one rural, two urban), this brief discusses dating and sexual aggression bystander intervention among high school youth. Authors Katie Edwards, Robert Eckstein, and Kara Anne Rodenhizer-Stämpfli report that an overwhelming majority (93.6 percent) of high school students reported having the opportunity to intervene during the past year in situations of dating aggression or sexual aggression; however, in over one-third of the episodes (37.4 percent) students reported not intervening. Girls were more likely to intervene in situations of dating and sexual aggression than boys, and youth with histories of dating and sexual aggression were more likely to intervene than youth without these histories. Focus group data revealed that barriers to bystander intervention included avoidance of drama or a desire to fuel drama, social status and personal repercussions, closeness with the victim and/or perpetrator, the victim being male and the perpetrator female, the failure of the dating or sexual aggression to meet a certain threshold, the dating and sexual aggression occurring online, anticipated negative reactions from the perpetrator or victim, and an inability to relate to the situation. Given the mounting evidence that bystander education is a critical component of dat­ing and sexual aggression prevention, the authors urge policy makers and educators to enhance the presence of this type of education in high school health curricula and related course curricula

Children\u27s cognitive processing of abuse as described in investigative interviews.

A great deal of research has examined ways in which investigative interviewers can elicit accurate information from children. More recently, research has studied children’s own thoughts or comprehension of abuse, and how these types of statements relate to disclosure, others’ perceptions of child witnesses, and psychological trauma. However, little research has investigated multiple types of children’s thoughts about abuse as they occur in an actual investigative interview. The current study examined seven types of statements children made about their abuse in a sample of 86 transcripts of investigative interviews conducted by Child Protective Services and a police department in a mid-sized Ontario city. Children interviewed ranged from 4- to 17-years-of-age, with approximately equal numbers of males and females. Type of abuse disclosed in the interviews ranged from verbal abuse to sexual abuse. Two coders independently coded each transcript for seven statement types: expected consequences of disclosure, actual consequences of disclosure, minimization, justification for either self, perpetrator, or other, and blame. Whether the statements were elicited by an interviewer prompt or mentioned spontaneously by the child was also coded. Results demonstrated that children blamed the perpetrator more than any other statement type, consistent with previous research. Analyses also revealed a significant relationship between abuse type and children’s statements, and alleged perpetrator and children’s statements. Results from the current study have implications for disclosure, treatment of psychological trauma, and how parents, social workers, police officers, attorneys, and judges view children’s statements

A Qualitative Analysis of How Individuals Utilized the Twitter Hashtags #NotOkay and #MeToo to Comment on the Perpetration of Interpersonal Violence

The present study examined how individuals describe the nature of interpersonal violence perpetrated against them using the Twitter hashtags #NotOkay and #MeToo. Iterative qualitative coding of 437 tweets resulted in four major themes (i.e., the nature of violence and tactics utilized, the identity of the perpetrator, the location of the assault, and whether the perpetrator was held accountable). Subthemes nested beneath perpetrator identity included whether the perpetrator was known, as well as perpetrator gender identity. Subthemes nested beneath perpetrator tactic included the presence of multiple perpetrators, whether the assault was a crime of opportunity, engagement in physical aggression, utilization of psychological abuse, perpetration of sexual abuse, substance use at the time of the assault (victim and/or perpetrator), whether the abuse persisted, and whether the perpetrator used a weapon. Findings contradict stereotypes that frame interpersonal violence as a single occurrence committed by a stranger who planned an attack using a weapon

The evaluation of perpetrators and victims of peer victimization:an extended crossed-categorization approach

This research uses a crossed-categorization design for examining the perception of peer victimization. Using vignettes and an experimental design, perpetrator and victim evaluations of Dutch and Turkish-Dutch early adolescents were examined in terms of ethnic and gender similarities between (1) respondent and perpetrator, (2) respondent and victim, and (3) perpetrator and victim. When the perpetrator was a double-ingroup member of the respondent (same ethnicity and same gender), perpetrators were evaluated less negatively and victims less positively than when the perpetrator was a single (gender or ethnicity) or doubleoutgroup member. Further, when the victim was a double-ingroup member of the respondent, perpetrators were evaluated more negatively and victims more positively. No perpetrator–victim crossed-categorization effects were found for perpetrator and victim evaluations. Perceived norms of intervention in the classroom had the expected main effects but did not moderate the crossed-categorization effects. The usefulness of a crossed-categorization approach for examining the perception of negative peer behavior is discussed