Workplace friendships among social work, counseling, and human service educators: Exploring the impact of sexual orientation and friendships in workplace empowerment

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) enable the creation of videos in which a person appears to say or do things they did not. The impact of these so-called “deepfakes” hinges on their perceived realness. Here we tested different versions of deepfake faces for Welcome to Chechnya, a documentary that used face swaps to protect the privacy of Chechen torture survivors who were persecuted because of their sexual orientation. AI face swaps that replace an entire face with another were perceived as more human-like and less unsettling compared to partial face swaps that left the survivors’ original eyes unaltered. The full-face swap was deemed the least unsettling even in comparison to the original (unaltered) face. When rendered in full, AI face swaps can appear human and avoid aversive responses in the viewer associated with the uncanny valley.

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Disruptions, distractions, and discoveries: Doctoral students’ reflections on a pandemic

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325020973341 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 147332502097334

Author(s):

Chinyere Y Eigege ◽

Priscilla P Kennedy

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Social Work ◽

Doctoral Students ◽

Social Work Education ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Research Strategies ◽

Current Events ◽

Research Agendas ◽

Work Education ◽

The Impact

This paper describes the reflections of two social work PhD students based on their personal and professional experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. The students describe their positionality and use that to expound on the impact of the pandemic on their lives. They reflect on the disruptions to their social work education and research priorities including transitioning to online learning and modifications to research agendas. They then discuss ongoing distractions such as worries about getting sick, mental health concerns, and financial constraints. They share their discoveries about glaring disparities in coronavirus infection and death rates, the need to adjust research agendas in response to current events, and the urgency for qualitative research strategies to add meaning to the numbers being reported. In addition, the authors describe shared experiences and intersections they discovered while writing this essay. Finally, recommendations for practice include recommitting to social work values to help surmount the ongoing waves of this pandemic; reimagining social work education so that disparities and injustice intersect with every subject taught and graduates become experts at leading social change; and harnessing the untapped potential of qualitative research to drive real, systemic change.

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An ethic of care? Academic administration and pandemic policy

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325020973386 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1-2) ◽

pp. 632-638

Author(s):

Stephanie A Bryson

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Political Theory ◽

Pacific Northwest ◽

Ethic Of Care ◽

The Political ◽

Academic Administration ◽

The Public ◽

Political Landscape ◽

The Pacific ◽

The Impact

This reflexive essay examines the adoption of an intentional ‘ethic of care’ by social work administrators in a large social work school located in the Pacific Northwest. An ethic of care foregrounds networks of human interdependence that collapse the public/private divide. Moreover, rooted in the political theory of recognition, a care ethic responds to crisis by attending to individuals’ uniqueness and ‘whole particularity.’ Foremost, it rejects indifference. Through the personal recollections of one academic administrator, the impact of rejecting indifference in spring term 2020 is described. The essay concludes by linking the rejection of indifference to the national political landscape.

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Using Anticarceral Feminism to Illustrate the Impact of Criminalization on the Lives of Individuals in the Sex Trades

Affilia ◽

10.1177/0886109920978565 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088610992097856

Author(s):

Moshoula Capous-Desyllas ◽

Deana Payne ◽

Meg Panichelli

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Los Angeles ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Policy Research ◽

Work Practice ◽

Social Work Practice ◽

Economic Security ◽

Sex Trade ◽

Intersecting Identities ◽

The Impact

This research study is informed by anticarceral feminism to understand and highlight the experiences of violence and oppression that individuals in the sex trade experience as a result of police stings, raids, and incarceration. We present findings from 23 in-depth, qualitative interviews with men, women, and trans individuals who were arrested in the Los Angeles sex trade. More specifically, we explore experiences of violence that occurred interpersonally, systemically, and institutionally. Such experiences examine police violence, arrest and incarceration, coercion, and client violence. The findings from this research shed light on the impact the criminalization of sex work has had on research participants in terms of their physical health and mental health, economic security and opportunities for growth and education, and their sense of freedom and autonomy. We also attend to the role that intersecting identities might have played during their encounters with the police. This study explored these aspects while being mindful that the policies and procedures followed by the police are born out of a carceral state. We conclude with antioppressive and antiviolent implications for social work practice, policy, research, and education as we imagine the next decade of social work in relation to sex trade.

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