Can the subaltern feel? An ethnography of migration,subalternity, and emotion

Drawing on biographical and migratory experiences gathered from Chinese marriage-migrants in Taiwan, this paper investigates the link between migration, subalternity and emotion. We examine how emotions are socially, temporarily and situationally constructed by migrant women, positioned in a condition of vulnerability during migration. Conceptually, we advance that emotions can be turned into resources, practices and competences that sustain migrants' social, economic and cultural positioning in the society of arrival. Through the identification of three empirically-rooted states of emotions – imaginative, implosive and mutual – we claim that, in a context of social contempt, familial exclusion and economic marginalisation, migrants' individual and collective performance of emotions contributes to ‘undo’ a condition of subalternity. Such states are purposely experimental and incomplete. Whilst they are as temporary and mutable as migrant women's emotional experiences and practices, this paper proposes that they could serve as a methodological and analytical tool for future research on migration and emotion.     

Sticks,Stones, or Words? Counting the Prevalence of Different Types of Intimate Partner Violence Reported by New Zealand Women

This study documents the lifetime and 12-month prevalence and overlap of psychological/emotional, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) reported by a representative sample of New Zealand women. Use of controlling behaviors by women's current or most recent intimate partner was also explored. The results indicated that 55% of ever-partnered women had experienced any IPV in their lifetime: 33% had experienced more than one type of IPV (usually psychological/emotional violence and physical and/or sexual violence), and 22% had experienced one type of IPV. Use of controlling behaviors by the woman's current or most recent partner was associated with partner's use of physical or sexual violence. Implications are discussed at the population level, for service providers, and for future studies.     

The interface of mental and emotional health and pregnancy in urban indigenous women: Research in progress

Research among indigenous women in Australia has shown that a number of lifestyle factors are associated with poor obstetric outcomes; however, little evidence appears in the literature about the role of social stressors and mental health among indigenous women. The not‐for‐profit organization beyondblue established a “Depression Initiative” in Australia. As part of this they provided funding to the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service in the “Mums and Babies” clinic. The aim of this was to establish a project to (a) describe the mental health and level of social stressors among antenatal indigenous women and (b) assess the impact of social stressors and mental health on perinatal outcome. A purposive sample of 92 indigenous women was carried out. Culturally appropriate research instruments were developed through consultations with indigenous women's reference groups. The participants reported a range of psychosocial stressors during the pregnancy or within the last 12 months. Significant, positive correlations emerged between the participants' Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; J. Cox, J. Holden, & R. Sagovsky, 1987) score and the mothers' history of child abuse and a history of exposure to domestic violence. A more conservative cutoff point for the EPDS (>9 vs. >12) led to 28 versus 17% of women being identified as “at risk” for depression. Maternal depression and stress during pregnancy and early parenthood are now recognized as having multiple negative sequelae for the fetus and infant, especially in early brain development and self‐regulation of stress and emotions. Because of the cumulative cultural losses experienced by Australian indigenous women, there is a reduced buffer to psychosocial stressors during pregnancy; thus, it is important for health professionals to monitor the women's emotional and mental well‐being.     

Photovoice,claiming visibility,and women's farming identities in Australia

Despite an abundance of research on and growing social recognition of women's contributions to farming around the world, in many countries women farmers and their experiences are still relatively invisible to society. Museums Victoria's Invisible Farmer Project, the largest ever study of Australian women on the land, attempted to give voice to women farmers largely through a curated Facebook page. Our research, carried out between 2016 and 2018, examined the posted photographs and text as photovoice, supplemented by qualitative interviews, to understand the farming identities of participating women. Our analysis shows how these photovoices can represent a claim to visibility as farmers and can illuminate how women experience their own farming identities in relation to the landscapes of their farms and their perspectives on farmwork. We highlight the importance of emotional connections and carework in the women's identities. This study contributes to scholarship on emotional geographies by emphasizing the centrality of emotion in how women participating with the Invisible Farming Project construct and experience their farming identities. The importance of this finding lies in how greater visibility of women's farming identities might re-frame social understanding of farming as a relational and not just productive endeavor.     

Greek women's attitudes toward pregnancy,labor, and infant: Their significance for intervention

Greek women's needs, attitudes, and experiences during the months immediately prior to and subsequent to the birth of their infants were evaluated. Themes considered were women's feelings and attitudes toward pregnancy, labor and the expected infant; breast feeding; emotional and practical needs; experiences from perinatal care and relationships with medical care personnel and with the family; perceptions of physical and emotional stress; and their relationships with infant and partner. Findings showed, among others, that women emphasized a desire for more personal care — more time, continuity of care, information about their pregnancy, and less distance from the doctor. Moreover, they expressed their need for emotional support. Anxiety was found to be a central feature of women's feelings during labor and delivery. The same anxiety was related to efforts to deal with infant crying, attempts to console the infant, and concern for picking the baby up. Understanding maternal attitudes provides guidelines for designing an intervention program that would integrate emotional and cognitive factors.     

When we hurt the ones we love: Predicting violence against women from men's mate retention

Mate retention behaviors are designed to solve several adaptive problems such as deterring a partner's infidelity and preventing defection from the mating relationship. Although many mate retention behaviors appear to be innocuous romantic gestures (e.g., displaying resources, giving flowers), some may be harbingers of violence. We investigated the associations between male mate retention and violence against women in romantic relationships. In Study 1, 461 men reported their use of mate retention behaviors and separately completed instruments designed to assess violence in their relationships. Study 2 assessed 560 women's reports of their partners’ mate retention behaviors and the degree to which their partners used violence against them. As predicted, and across both studies, men's use of particular mate retention behaviors was related positively to female‐directed violence. Study 3 secured 2 separate data sources—husbands’ reports of their mate retention and wives’ reports of their husbands’ violence in a sample of 214 individuals forming 107 couples. The results corroborated those of Studies 1 and 2, with particular male mate retention behaviors predicting violence against romantic partners. The general discussion outlines future directions for research that are likely to result in a more comprehensive understanding of partner violence against women.     

Female Offenders in Domestic Violence

SUMMARY

It is well accepted that large numbers of men batter women. Although some data also reveal that women report assaulting men in large numbers, interpretation of the latter data has been fraught with controversy. The present article reports on a sample of women arrested for domestic violence. When questions were asked about frequency of violence initiation, which partner began the overall pattern of violence in the relationship, and the women's reasons for using violence, it was found that about two-thirds of the women were battered and using violence to protect themselves or to retaliate for previous violence against them. Implications of these findings for conceptualizing women's violence as well as for training law enforcement personnel are discussed.     

Patterns of Women’s Aggression Against Partners and Others: Broadening Our Understanding of Violence

Research on women's aggression typically focuses on relational aggression. However, the study of violence must include multiple forms of violence such as aggression against partners and non‐partner others, while also considering victimization experiences by partners and non‐partners. The focus of this study is the multiple experiences of violence (perpetration and victimization) of women who are incarcerated. Incarcerated women are likely to experience higher rates of both than women in community settings, but most will be released in a brief period of time. Using a random sample (N = 580) we conducted cluster analyses to identify five patterns of women's aggression. Clusters varied depending on the target/s of aggression (i.e., partner and/or others), and type of aggression (i.e., physical and/or intimidation). Multinomial logistic regression was performed to determine the relationship between women's membership in a perpetration cluster and their victimization. Victimization history was related to an increased risk of perpetrating aggression, and varied depending on the target and type of aggression. Our findings provide support that research and interventions addressing women's use of aggression must also address their victimization history. Furthermore, results indicate that for some women, aggression towards partners and others is related. Future research should investigate multiple forms of aggression.     

Emerging images of severely battered women and the criminal justice system

The research literature of the 1970s and 1980s created a rather singular image of the battered woman. This image functioned as a standard to be met by battered women who attributed their own acts of violence or their failures to protect their children to the violence they endured. Three severely battered women, Hedda Nussbaum, Frances McMillian and Damian Pizarro illustrate the real diversity that exists. Each woman coped differently with her fear of her abuser's violence and domination. Nonetheless, the experiences of all three were unified by the intensity of their fear and by the fact that their acts (or failures to act) were so serious that they led to these women's involvement with the criminal justice system. The psychological consequences of extraordinary violence and the criminal justice system responses are discussed specifically, in relation to each case. The woman's social class and race are emphasized as important mediators of the criminal justice system response. In the final, general section, questions are addressed about society's role in idealizing the f d y and in silencing, ignoring, acknowledging, and/or solving the problems of severely battered women in desperately violent families.     

Exploring Women's Expectations of Recovery From Intimate Partner Violence: A Phenomenological Study

Occupational therapy literature related to intimate partner violence primarily focuses on clients' pragmatic concerns. The purpose of this study was to explore women's recovery needs for the first six months after leaving the abusive relationship. Specifically, the focus explored how women experiencing intimate partner violence anticipate their recovery process to progress and explored their perceptions regarding the obstructions and challenges that influence that process. As part of an ongoing, multiyear study, in-depth interviews based on Kawa Model river drawings were conducted at a domestic violence center with eight women. Multiple themes were identified highlighting pragmatic and personal objectives.     

The relative severity of acts of physical violence in heterosexual relationships: An item response theory analysis

This study evaluated the structure of an expanded version of the physical violence scale of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). A community sample of 1,092 randomly selected men and women reported on perpetration and receipt of 14 violent acts in their relationships. Item response theory analyses indicated that the violence items were unidimensional for recipient and perpetrator reports of men's and women's violence. There was convergence between severity of acts as reported by perpetrators and recipients for both men's and women's violence. Results indicated that adding together the number of different acts endorsed to form a total score is appropriate for both men's and women's violence. Total scores were strongly related to likelihood of injury, supporting the validity of CTS‐type measures to assess severity of violence.     

Using the Theory of Gender and Power to Examine Experiences of Partner Violence,Sexual Negotiation,and Risk of HIV/AIDS Among Economically Disadvantaged Women in Southern India

This article uses the Theory of Gender and Power to examine women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in order to: understand the vulnerability of female sex workers/poor women due to poverty and lack of educational resources; explore women's vulnerability in the context of client/partner violence, alcohol use, male partner's high-risk behaviors, and women's lack of control in their intimate relationships; and explore the role of traditional heterosexual gender norms in the outcomes of sexual negotiation. Ethnographic data were collected from 32 women and 38 men in India as part of an ongoing National Institute of Mental Health study. Results highlighted women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS stemming from partner violence, alcohol use, poverty, dangers of sex work environments, and tacit acceptance of cultural/gender norms.     

Dating Violence Perpetration: The Predictive Roles of Maternally versus Paternally Perpetrated Childhood Abuse and Subsequent Dating Violence Attitudes and Behaviors

This study investigated both young men's and young women's perpetration of physical, sexual, and psychological forms of dating violence, examining predictors of violence including maternally or paternally perpetrated forms of various types of child maltreatment, as well as attitudes toward dating violence and dating violence victimization. Results of hierarchical linear regressions found that childhood experiences of maternal neglect predicted men's physical perpetration, and childhood sexual abuse predicted women's sexual perpetration and men's psychological perpetration. Further, positive attitudes toward dating violence predicted women's physical, psychological, and sexual perpetration, as well as men's sexual perpetration, and experiences of dating violence victimization were the strongest predictors of most forms of dating violence perpetration, particularly among women. Implications for future research and prevention initiatives are discussed.     

The Individual Career Counseling Needs and Experiences of Female Survivors of Partner Violence

The impact of partner violence on women's employment and career development is profound. Career counselors may contribute substantially to these women's rehabilitation. This study examined employment and career counseling needs, barriers experienced, and counseling satisfaction of female survivors of partner violence (N = 71). The women participated in community‐ and research‐based individual career counseling services designed to promote their short‐ and long‐term career development. The authors conducted correlational, t‐test, and logistic regression analyses and found that barriers differed by race/ethnicity, age, number of children, and career service needs. Results provide important information about survivors' career counseling service access and needs.     

Collaborating on Family Safety

Summary

The problems of child maltreatment and violence against women have traditionally been viewed and treated as two distinct issues. In response to these two forms of family violence, two separate service systems with different approaches to prevention, treatment and intervention have developed. This article outlines sources of conflicts between child protection workers and battered women's advocates, and elaborates on these conflicts using child protection workers' and battered women's advocates' own words elicited in a series of focus groups. Models of cross-system collaboration in the United States are then described, and recommendations are made for practice and policy which support collaboration across systems.     

Social Psychology of Women and Gender1

A selective overview of work in the field from 1970 to 1985 is presented. Sex comparisons are presented as an extensive research area needing theory-based empiricism. In another major area, gender belief systems, important progress has been made in studying the effects of stereotypes on subsequent behavior. Methodological critiques and advances are discussed. Two sources of research are highlighted: women's experience and theory. Examples are given of research advances stemming from women's experience and a case study is provided of the value of personal experience to the researcher. Theories focusing on individual differences are critiqued. Theory focusing on situational factors such as power and status are highlighted. Sherif s (1982) delineation of the self-system is presented as a major integrated theory. Directions for future work are provided focusing on inclusion of women of color, lesbians, and women from all social strata to understand the varieties of women's experience. A move to knowledge that is “gendered” rather than female-centered is proposed.     

African American Women Survivors of Sexual Assault:

More attention has recently focused on the psychological experiences of women survivors of sexual assault. However, little work has examined the experiences of African American women survivors, particularly with regard to the impact of race and class on survivors' experiences. We address these limitations by presenting a socio-historical analysis of African American women's rape experiences. This analysis considers the relationship between sexual and economic oppression in African American women's lives. Second, we discuss the influences of these socio-historical factors on African American women's post-assault experiences. Finally, recommendations for therapy with African American women survivors are provided.     

The Contextual Role of Depression within Couples Experiencing Partner Violence

Despite previous research suggesting a link between intimate partner violence (IPV) and depression within romantic relationships, few studies have examined the role of depression in couples experiencing violence. Using dyadic data of 129 heterosexual couples seeking couples therapy for high conflict including physical IPV, depressive symptoms were evaluated as a moderator in the association between psychological and physical IPV. Results indicated that moderate and high reports of women's depressive symptoms provided a context, while men's psychological abuse toward them moved from low to high, for women to be more physically abusive toward their partners. Further, low reports of women's depressive symptoms provided a context, while men's psychological abuse toward them moved from low to high, for women to be less physically abusive toward their partners. Better understanding the role of depression and how it may offer a context for physical violence assists helping professionals in holistically addressing violence within romantic relationships.     

Reassuring sex: Can sexual desire and intimacy reduce relationship‐specific attachment insecurities?

Past research has shown that attachment orientations shape sexual processes within relationships. Yet, little has been done to explore the opposite direction. In the present research, we examined whether sexual desire and emotional intimacy reduce attachment insecurities over time in emerging relationships. In an 8‐month longitudinal study, we followed 62 newly dating couples across three measurement waves. At Time 1, romantic partners discussed sexual aspects of their relationship and judges coded their displays of sexual desire and intimacy. Participants also completed measures of relationship‐specific attachment anxiety and avoidance in each wave. The results indicated that men's displays of desire predicted a decline in their own and their partner's relationship‐specific insecurities. Conversely, women's displays of desire inhibited the decline in their partner's relationship‐specific insecurities, whereas women's displays of intimacy predicted a decline in their partner's relationship‐specific insecurities. These findings suggest that different sex‐related processes underlie attachment formation in men and women.     

Growing at the Hyphen: Female Friendships and Social Context

Although the psychological literature has focused more on immigrant women's roles in their families, women's friendships are important sources of support and identity development. This article explores the development of friendship in the context of immigration, cultural adaptation, becoming a template for identity and intimacy. Specifically, the author describes a personal friendship and a psychotherapy case vignette, integrating feminist, multicultural, and relational psychoanalytic perspectives, to illustrate the influence of female friendship in coping with loss, acculturative stress, discrimination, and the formation of bicultural identity. These examples highlight the ways in which personal friendships of the therapist and the client contribute to the psychotherapeutic relationship, growth in intimacy and authenticity, and the negotiation of a hyphenated identity.