Sexual Violence Against Older Women in the UK

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Bows
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Older Women ◽  
The Uk

Dowagers, Debs, Nuns and Babies: The Politics of Nostalgia and the Older Woman in the British Sunday Night Television Serial

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estella Tincknell
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Mature Female ◽  
Older Woman ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Position ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Popular Television

The extensive commercial success of two well-made popular television drama serials screened in the UK at prime time on Sunday evenings during the winter of 2011–12, Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–) and Call the Midwife (BBC, 2012–), has appeared to consolidate the recent resurgence of the period drama during the 1990s and 2000s, as well as reassembling something like a mass audience for woman-centred realist narratives at a time when the fracturing and disassembling of such audiences seemed axiomatic. While ostensibly different in content, style and focus, the two programmes share a number of distinctive features, including a range of mature female characters who are sufficiently well drawn and socially diverse as to offer a profoundly pleasurable experience for the female viewer seeking representations of aging femininity that go beyond the sexualised body of the ‘successful ager’. Equally importantly, these two programmes present compelling examples of the ‘conjunctural text’, which appears at a moment of intense political polarisation, marking struggles over consent to a contemporary political position by re-presenting the past. Because both programmes foreground older women as crucial figures in their respective communities, but offer very different versions of the social role and ideological positioning that this entails, the underlying politics of such nostalgia becomes apparent. A critical analysis of these two versions of Britain's past thus highlights the ideological investments involved in period drama and the extent to which this ‘cosy’ genre may legitimate or challenge contemporary political claims.

scholarly journals Perceptions of Peer Support for Victim-Survivors of Sexual Violence and Abuse: An Exploratory Study With Key Stakeholders

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110079
Author(s):  
Alison Gregory ◽  
Emma Johnson ◽  
Gene Feder ◽  
John Campbell ◽  
Judit Konya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Peer Support ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Service Improvement ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Safety Considerations ◽  
The Uk

Experiences of sexual violence, childhood sexual abuse, and sexual assault are common across all societies. These experiences damage physical and mental health, coping ability, and relationships with others. Given the breadth and magnitude of impacts, it is imperative that there are effective, accessible services to support victim-survivors, ease suffering, and empower people to cope, recover and thrive. Service provision for this population in the United Kingdom is complex and has been hit substantially by austerity. Since positive social support can buffer against negative impacts, peer support may be an effective approach. The aim of this exploratory study was to capture the views and perspectives of professional stakeholders concerning service provision for victim-survivors, particularly perceptions of peer support. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted in the UK during 2018 with six professional stakeholders, highly experienced in the field of service provision for victim-survivors of sexual violence and abuse. An abductive approach to analysis was used, applying principles from thematic analysis. Our sample comprised four females and two males, and their roles included psychiatrist, general practitioner, service improvement facilitator, and senior positions within victim-survivor organizations. Interviews highlighted models of peer support for this population, good practice and safety considerations, and a lack of uniformity regarding quality and governance standards across the sector. Findings indicated that current funding models impact negatively on victim-survivor services, and that provision is fragmented and insufficient across statutory and not-for-profit sectors. The influence of the medical model upon service provision was evident, which resulted in apprehension around support delivered in less-usual forms—including peer support. Further research is needed to explore the potential of peer support for victim-survivors of sexual violence and abuse.

Why are older women in the UK poor?

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debora Price
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals The Whole Place Self: reflecting on the original working practices of Rape Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Vera-Gray
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
The Self ◽  
Philosophical Work ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Working Practices ◽  
Trauma Model ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Umbrella Group ◽  
Rape Crisis

Critiques of the trauma model for understanding the harms of sexual violence raise some important questions about the radical roots of Rape Crisis Centres in the UK and their relationship to the services offered, and funded, today. Drawing from a research conversation with three women from the national umbrella group Rape Crisis England and Wales, this article finds that in contrast to the depoliticised and individualised discourse of trauma, the original ethos of Rape Crisis in England sought to recognise the harms of rape across four interlocking dimensions: personal, cultural, social and structural. This approach demonstrates an understanding of the self as relational, situated and intersectional, aligning with recent philosophical work on sexual violence and suggesting the importance of key working practices that are in tension with the counselling model that currently dominates provision.

scholarly journals Sexual violence and COVID-19: all silent on the home front

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-429
Author(s):  
Clare Gunby ◽  
Louise Isham ◽  
Sarah Damery ◽  
Julie Taylor ◽  
Caroline Bradbury-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Home Front ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Frequent Failure ◽  
The Uk

In this article, we reflect on the framing of violence against women in mainstream media in the UK, and some policy documents and guidance, in the first four weeks of the COVID-19 induced lockdown. In so doing, we consider the implications associated with the frequent failure to acknowledge sexual violence as a unique, and discrete, element of violence against women. Amid a context of overshadowing and absence, we also raise for debate (and recognition) the likely challenges associated with moving specialist voluntary sector sexual violence organisations into workers’ homes, to enable service provision to continue. In developing our arguments, we draw on conversations with voluntary sector sexual violence practitioners in England and existing literature that highlights the importance of the boundary between home and the job, when working with the ‘taint’ of sexual offences. Such a boundary rapidly recedes when sexual violence services, and their functions, are moved into workers’ living spaces. We set out some of the likely impacts of this changed work context and argue that projections for the resources required to manage COVID-19 in the longer term, must not forget about the needs of frontline voluntary sector workers.

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