Sexualised sexism: popular culture, sexualisation and violence against women and girls

As of July 2014, there have been a slew of campaigns, two Westminster government reviews and countless papers and books which have catapulted the issue of sexualisation into public, policy and academic arenas. The result is a range of perspectives which speak to differing priorities: much current policy concern is about ‘contamination’ of childhood; for some commentators, sexualised popular culture is evidence of progressive liberalisation of social attitudes; critical feminist analysis views the sexualisation of women and girls’ bodies in public space as part of ongoing social inequalities between women and men. Women’s organisations which are experts on violence against women and girls (VAWG) see similar patterns in sexualised popular culture as those that underpin the perpetration of VAWG: masculinity equated with sexual conquest, representations of women and girls as perpetually sexually available. This briefing makes a case for understanding and naming sexualisation as ‘sexualised sexism’ in order to make clear its gendered dynamics and role as a conducive context for violence against women and girls. A final section outlines how international human rights approaches support this analysis

Building Effective Responses: An Independent Review of Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Services in Wales

Independent researchers from the Connect Centre for International Research on Interpersonal Violence based in the School of Social Work at the University of Central Lancashire were commissioned by the Welsh Government in 2013 to conduct research into violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence services in Wales. The research aimed to inform the forthcoming Ending Violence Against Women and Domestic Abuse (Wales) Bill, implementation of the legislation and future policy more generally, as well as informing future funding decisions. The remit of the review covers: Domestic abuse, including that experienced in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) relationships and elder abuse. Violence against women, including female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and honour-based violence. Sexual violence including rape, sexual assault and harassment Sexual exploitation including prostitution and trafficking1 for sexual purposes. Services for women and men who are victims or perpetrators of violence against women, domestic abuse or sexual violence. The review does not encompass criminal justice services or housing services and, with the exception of prevention work, services for children and young people in Wales were also excluded from this study

Modeling Violence against Women in India: Theories and Problems

This paper examined the following issues: 1. Is ‘violence against women’ a variable? What kind of variable is it? 2. Is it theoretically plausible to model ‘violence against women’? 3. If it is theoretically plausible to model ‘violence against women’, then is it feasible to estimate such a model and perform simulation exercises? Following are findings: 1. The decision to perpetrate ‘violence against women’ is a binary variable, which takes value unity (1) when the decision is ‘yes’ and zero (0) when the decision is ‘no’. 2. It is theoretically plausible to construct the models of estimating and forecasting the probability of occurrence of ‘violence against women’ facing a typical woman in a particular society on the basis of necessary information. 3. It is not feasible in practice to apply above models for the purposes of policy-formulation and policy-simulation in India because of absence of compilation or systematic compilation of the data on ‘violence against women’ and the variables determining ‘violence against women’

Indicators to Measure Violence Against Women

1. This paper is prepared for the UN Expert Group Meeting on indicators to measure violence against women. The Expert Group Meeting is intended to support the work of the Statistical Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women in developing ‘a set of possible indicators on violence against women in order to assist States in assessing the scope, prevalence and incidence of violence against women’. 2. The paper includes: (i) an overview of existing major initiatives on indicators to measure violence against women; (ii) an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of those initiatives; (iii) proposes criteria for the identification of a possible set of indicators on violence against women; (iv) summarises options and provides recommendations for a possible set of indicators to support countries to measure the scope, prevalence and incidence of violence against women; and (v) addresses the related data collection requirements and constraints and opportunities for overcoming these

Modeling Violence against Women in India: Theories and Problems

This paper examined the following issues: 1. Is ‘violence against women’ a variable? What kind of variable is it? 2. Is it theoretically plausible to model ‘violence against women’? 3. If it is theoretically plausible to model ‘violence against women’, then is it feasible to estimate such a model and perform simulation exercises? Following are findings: 1. The decision to perpetrate ‘violence against women’ is a binary variable, which takes value unity (1) when the decision is ‘yes’ and zero (0) when the decision is ‘no’. 2. It is theoretically plausible to construct the models of estimating and forecasting the probability of occurrence of ‘violence against women’ facing a typical woman in a particular society on the basis of necessary information. 3. It is not feasible in practice to apply above models for the purposes of policy-formulation and policy-simulation in India because of absence of compilation or systematic compilation of the data on ‘violence against women’ and the variables determining ‘violence against women’.Violence, Woman, Probability

Building data systems for monitoring and responding to violence against women: recommendations from a workshop

This report provides recommendations regarding public health surveillance and research on violence against women developed during a workshop, "Building Data Systems for Monitoring and Responding to Violence Against Women." The Workshop, which was convened October 29-30, 1998, was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Justice.Background -- -- Introduction -- -- The Work Groups -- Work Group on Defining and Measuring VAW -- Work Group on State and Local Data for Studying and Monitoring VAW -- Work Group on National Data for Studying and Monitoring VAW -- Work Group on New Research Strategies for Studying VAW -- -- Recommendations -- Defining the scope of the problem -- Need for multiple measures/collaboration across disciplines_and agencies -- Developing strategies to collect data on VAW -- Methodologic concerns -- Confidentiality and safety -- -- Conclusions -- -- ReferencesOctober 27, 2000.The following CDC staff members prepared this report: Linda E. Saltzman, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; Lois A. Fingerhut, Office of Analysis, Epidemiology, and Health Promotion, National Center for Health Statistics; in collaboration with Michael R. Rand, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice; Christy Visher, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of JusticeIncludes bibliographical references (p. 16)

Gun Laws and Violence Against Women

To fully combat violence against women in America, Congress must act to strengthen our gun laws. Women in the United States are far more likely to be murdered with guns than they are in any other developed nation. More than half of women murdered with guns in the U.S. are killed by intimate partners, and more than half of mass shootings are acts of domestic or family violence. This violence is directly related to our weak gun laws -- and requiring a background check for every gun sale would reduce violence against women and save lives

Sexual Autonomy and Violence Against Women

Our position is that the threat and experience of violence that sex workers face is a crucial issue to address and should be considered in debates concerning the legalization of prostitution because even in countries where prostitution is legalized, prostitutes continue to experience violence. Our focus is to show that violence is crucially important to address because both the experience and the fear of physical, sexual or psychological harm erodes women ’s capacity to choose and act autonomously. We shall argue, then, that despite differences between inside and outside prostitution, all women in prostitution suffer unacceptable levels of violence ; hence, we conclude that all forms of prostitution continue to be morally problemati

Reflecting on primary prevention of violence against women: the public health approach

Provides reflections on Australia\u27s efforts in primary prevention of violence against women and offers suggestions for the next steps to continue the momentum. Summary Australia has committed to a public health approach to preventing violence against women, transforming how policies and programming address this difficult social issue. The aim is to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place by directing policy and strategies towards changing the underlying causes, behaviours and attitudes that lead to the perpetration of violence against women. This Issues Paper provides reflections on Australia’s efforts in primary prevention of violence against women and offers suggestions for the next steps to continue the momentum. Key messages The public health approach to preventing violence against women is now a major influence on policy areas in Australia and internationally. Evidence about what works in prevention is still emerging and is currently quite disparate, due to the diverse nature of programs and settings. There are challenges in the evaluation of primary prevention work, but a clear understanding and agreement of what is meant by "success" will enable useful evaluation design. Australia now has a clearly articulated goal to reduce violence against women and their children. The next steps should translate evidence into action and maintain the positivity that is currently driving the unprecedented energy in this sector

The European Added Value of a Directive on Combatting Violence Against Women: Annex 2 Economic Aspects and Legal Perspectives for Action at the European Level

The paper investigates the economic cost of violence against women for the EU and compares the costs of action and inaction. Violence against women is estimated to cost the EU EUR 226 billion each year, including EUR 45 billion for services and EUR 24 billion in lost economic output. The costs of preventive measures are substantially less than the cost of the violence