From jumble sales to CSR partnerships?: Raising funds to end domestic and sexual violence in the UK

2017 ◽  
pp. 71-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Harwin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
The Uk

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.

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.

Catalysts and rationales for reporting staff sexual misconduct to UK higher education institutions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Bull
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Third Party ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Over Time

The majority of research on reporting of sexual violence and harassment has focused on reasons why women don’t report their experiences rather than examining why they do. This article takes this discussion into the higher education setting, drawing on interviews with 16 students and early career researchers in the UK who considered or attempted to report staff sexual misconduct to their institution and analysing their motivations for doing so. The motivations are broken down into two aspects: the immediate catalysts that triggered the report or disclosure, and the deeper rationales for why interviewees made this decision. Separating catalysts and rationales for reporting in this way allows different levels of decision-making over time to become clearer. Interviewees’ catalysts for reporting included leaving their institution, needing an extension on an assignment, protecting their own physical safety, or being validated by a third party. By contrast, the main rationale that interviewees gave for trying to report staff sexual misconduct was to prevent other women being targeted. Further rationales identified were fighting injustice and reporting for academic or career-related reasons. Higher education institutions’ policies and practices in this area need to take into account these different levels of decision-making around disclosure and reporting.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>There is much less research examining the reasons why victim-survivors do not report sexual violence and harassment than the reasons why they do report.</li><br /><li>In this study of students and staff who reported staff sexual misconduct to their university, the main rationale that interviewees gave for trying to report was to prevent other women being targeted.</li><br /><li>The article argues that separating catalysts for reporting from rationales makes visible different levels of decision-making over time.</li></ul>

scholarly journals Addressing the knowledge gap: sexual violence and harassment in the UK Armed Forces

2017 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 362-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren R Godier ◽  
M Fossey
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Knowledge Gap ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Service Personnel ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Military

Despite media interest in alleged sexual violence and harassment in the UK military, there remains a paucity of UK-based peer-reviewed research in this area. Ministry of Defence and service-specific reports support the suggestion that UK service personnel may be at risk of experiencing sexual harassment. These reports however highlight a reluctance by service personnel to report sexual harassment through official channels. In this article, we discuss the paucity of UK-based research pertaining to the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment in the military, explore potential reasons for this gap in knowledge and outline future directions and priorities for academic research.

People with an intellectual disability: under-reporting sexual violence

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-86
Author(s):  
Sara Willott ◽  
Wendy Badger ◽  
Vicky Evans
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
Comprehensive Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Case Vignettes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Audit Information

Purpose People with an intellectual disability are much more likely to be sexually violated and the violation is less likely to be reported. Despite this being high-lighted at least 3 decades ago and improvements in both safeguarding and national reporting processes, under-reporting remains a problem. This paper explored under-reporting alongside prevention possibilities using safeguarding alerts raised in a Community Learning Disability Team within a UK NHS trust. Design/methodology/approach Using a combination of authentic but anonymised case vignettes and descriptive data drawn from the safeguarding team, under-reporting was examined through the lens of an ecological model. Safeguarding alerts raised in a particular year were compared with the number expected if all (estimated) cases of abuse were disclosed and reported. Findings Only 4.4 per cent of expected abuse cases were reported to the team, which is lower than the reporting level the authors had expected from the literature. There is evidence in the literature of the under-reporting of sexual assault for all kinds of people. Arguably, the implications of under-reporting for PwID are even more traumatic. Research limitations/implications Constraints included the lack of standardisation in data collection within the statutory services that report to the Birmingham Safeguarding Adults Board. One key recommendation is that the national provider of data for the NHS in the UK requires more complex and standardised audit information that would allow each local authority to benchmark their practice against a higher protection standard. Another recommendation is that compliance to quality standards sits within a comprehensive strategy. Originality/value This paper explored the extent to which the previously documented under-reporting concern remains an issue. Certainly eye-balling safeguarding compliance data in the NHS organisation we worked in led us to a concern that reporting might be even lower than implied in the literature. This together with a renewed spot-light on sexual violence (e.g, NHS England, 2018) led us to decide that it was timely to re-examine the problem.

scholarly journals Prevalence of sexual violence: A comparison of estimates from UK national surveys

2020 ◽  
pp. 147737082093207
Author(s):  
Ian Brunton-Smith ◽  
John Flatley ◽  
Roger Tarling
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Sexual Attitudes ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
National Surveys ◽  
Survey Estimates ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Accurately measuring the prevalence of sexual violence is difficult. Police-recorded crime figures are known to underestimate the true extent of sexual violence, and so researchers have tended to rely on survey estimates instead. But estimates from surveys are not uniform, with recent estimates from the UK National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles apparently twice as large as official figures from the major crime surveys (the Crime Survey for England and Wales and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey). In this study we use harmonized data from these three surveys and the UK component of the EU Violence Against Women Survey to explore the features of the surveys that may have contributed to these differences.

‘Lad culture’ and sexual violence against students1

2018 ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Alison Phipps
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Casual Sex ◽  
National Union ◽  
Heavy Alcohol ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Heavy Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Carceral Feminism ◽  
The Uk

This chapter explores the issue of sexual violence against students in relation to the concept of ‘lad culture’. Adopting a more nuanced approach to the understanding of campus sexual violence and the masculine cultures that frame it, the chapter places such issues within the institutional cultures of neoliberal competitively driven universities. The chapter discusses the results of a 2013 study conducted by the National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK showing that many of the behaviours associated with lad culture, including sport, heavy alcohol consumption, casual sex and sexist/discriminatory ‘banter’, constituted sexual harassment. It theorises sexual violence and laddish masculinities in order to better understand them and develop effective interventions. It also considers how power and privilege, as well as patriarchy, neoliberalism and carceral feminism, intersect in student lad culture.

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