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Abstract:

This article explores ‘bad’ sex in an age of same-sex marriage, through an analysis of the ‘homoradical’ as a rejection of both hetero and homo-normativities. Drawing on qualitative data from 29 LGBTQ interviewees, the article considers resistance to the discursive privileging of same-sex marriage in the context of Gayle Rubin’s theories of respectability and sexual hierarchies. These hierarchies constitute a ‘charmed circle’ of accepted sexual practices which are traditionally justified by marriage, procreation and/or love. It examines non-normative sexuality through the example of the lived experiences of non-normative, anti-assimilationist identities, particularly non-monogamy, public sex, and kink sex, showing how the ‘homoradical’ deviates from the normative practices that same-sex marriage reinforces.

1. Introduction

The Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 (hereafter, the 2013 Act) allowed same-sex couples to enter into a marriage for the first time in England and Wales.1 This change in the law is a significant development in the relationship of law and sexuality, and is of particular significance for LGBTQ people who are now be seen as ‘equal’, ‘normal’, or ‘the same as’ different-sex couples when formally recognizing their relationship. LGBTQ people’s sexuality was seen, traditionally, as antithetical to marriage; abject, immoral, and dangerous. In the 1980s, LGBTQ couples were described by Parliament as ‘a pretended family relationship’ in s28 of the Local Government Act, while the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 explicitly removes the sex from same-sex marriage by omitting adultery and consummation provisions (see Maine 2021). Marriage is representative of notions of ‘good sex’, as the legitimate and appropriate location for sex and procreation to take place: marriage’s introduction occupied a large swathe of LGBTQ rights campaigns for the best part of the last decade, and reaffirms the normative centrality of marriage and promotions of good gay, bad queer narratives (Ashford et al. 2020). This article seeks to highlight the queer challenge to the normative ideals of marriage and, particularly, the homonormative ideals of same-sex marriage.

Heteronormativity describes the social norm in which heterosexuality is seen as a ‘default’ position. Heteronormativity sustains and fosters a sexual hierarchy (Rubin 1984) in creating an expectation of heterosexuality, monogamy, and procreativity. Comparatively, homonormativity may be viewed as a conduit of heteronormativity, a form of identity and relationship that closely mirrors and reinforces heteronormativity and that ‘straightens’ queer politics. Homonormativity describes a dominant politics of liberal equality that upholds and sustains desexualised and depoliticised perspectives of same-sex couples, defined by Duggan (2003) as a ‘politic of assimilation’.

Abstract

Advancing awareness of the workforce and job issues faced by women in the KSA will encourage HRM departments to enhance Saudi women’s work experience by implementing more gender-friendly work environments, practices, and processes. Therefore, the researcher decided to implement this research to shed light on the role of Saudi women working in community development, to identify the most important challenges and issues facing Saudi women working in new unconventional jobs, and to discuss methods that can be followed to reduce these challenges and issues. To achieve this, the researcher used a descriptive-analytical approach and qualitative research methods (interviews). The interviews were conducted with 10 Saudi women working in new, non-traditional jobs. The study reached a number of results, most notably that Saudi society still rejects the work of Saudi women and their participation in the labor market. The results also confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to provide suitable job opportunities for Saudi women and to integrate them into the labor market. In addition, the results confirmed that the family plays an important role in supporting working Saudi women and helping them achieve career and professional excellence. In light of this, the researcher recommended the necessity of changing Saudi society’s view of working Saudi women. The need to make many transformative changes in employment methods and to achieve equal employment opportunities between women and men.

Introduction

Participants and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusion

References

Abstract

Objective
To determine the potential and limitations of Primary Health Care professionals to identify situations of violence against women.
Location
A municipality of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Design
Descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach.
Participants
Twenty-one health professionals of three Family Health Strategy units, as well as one Basic Health Unit. The inclusion criterion consisted of being a health worker in these services. The exclusion criterion was to be absent from work by any kind type license during the period of data production.
Method
The technique used to produce data was individual, semi-structured, interviews in order to collect sociodemographic data and the monitoring by professionals related to the potentials and limitations to identify violence situations. The data collection was suspended based on the saturation criterion. The data were systematized and analyzed by the content analysis technique, according to the analytical categories of health care network and gender.
Results
The potential to identify themes were: professional experience, receptive atmosphere, bonding, and listening to the reports of women, children and/or neighbors and observing their behavior; to identify the lesions; prenatal consultations; and home visits. As to the limitations: silence, denial/non-recognition of violence, lack of complaints by women; fear and guilt; flaws and unpreparedness of the health team; and fear due to the presence of aggressor.
Conclusions
It is urgent to recognize the potential of Primary Care and to promote the qualification of professionals in order to identify the situation among visible and invisible complaints, leading to the confrontation of violence.

Introduction

Violence against women is a kind violation of human rights that affect women from all over the world, presenting a high prevalence and impact on health services. It is defined as every act of violence against women that cause physical, psychological and sexual suffering, as well threats and deprivation of freedom. It is permeated and determined by gender issues and has as intrinsic component the divergences between sexes, and it represents the social relations of power and the different roles of men and women. It is estimated that 30% of women around the world have experienced physical and/or sexual violence. Studies point to the consequences of violence to women’s health. As for mental health, they point to psychiatric problems, such as depressive disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, somatoform and personality disorder. Also, the use of licit and illicit substances and psychotropic and analgesic medication. Sleep-related disorders, improper feeding, body aches, bruises, low self-esteem and panic syndrome are also presented by these women. In this context, the health sector has fundamental assignments in the intersectoral response to the violence against women as well the identification the kind of violence, a prerequisite for providing immediate care and conducting referrals to specialized services. So, it is important that attention to women’s health in situation of violence occur in the Health Care Network (HCN), which is a network of organizations that provides or makes arrangements to offer equitable and integral health services to a specific population.

Sexual violence against women is considered a gender specific human rights violation, and is a form of discrimination that continues women‟s subordination and patriarchal structures throughout all levels of society. Recognizing the high number of sexual violence against women, there is increasing emphasis on addressing the rights of women in Bangladesh. Following this, the purpose of this paper is to identify the factors of sexual violence against women in Bangladesh. Moreover, the study outlines the barriers of women to access in the current justice system. Finally, the paper demonstrates the social and psychological impact of the victims of sexual violence. To conduct this study, I have reviewed relevant articles, books, statistics, reports and other related literature situated within the framework of my subject. In order to analyze the data, I employed qualitative methods and thematic analysis techniques and I applied a radical feminists‟ theoretical lens. Among the main findings, the study finds that patriarchal social structure, forced marriage, cultural practice, barriers in access to justice are the main factors of sexual violence in Bangladesh.

Introduction and background

Sexual violence against women and girls is not confined to any icular political or economic system, but it prevalent in every society in the world. It cuts across boundaries of wealth, race, and culture and an expression of historically and culturally specific values and standards which are today still executed through many social and political institutions that stimulate discrimination against women and girls. According to United Nations (2014), up to 7 in 10 women around the world experience physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime. Rates of sexual violence are difficult to establish because in many societies sexual violence remains an issue of deep shame for women and often their families. According to the World Health Organization (2014), the proportion of women suffering sexual violence by non – ners after the age of 15 varies from less than 1 percent in Ethiopia and Bangladesh to between 10 and 12 percent in Peru, Samoa and the United Republic of Tanzania. Along with other forms of violence against women, sexual violence against women is a widespread and grave problem in Bangladesh.

THE DOMESTIC APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS: WOMEN VICTIMS’ EXPERIENCES IN APPLICATIONS FOR CONTACT IN THE FAMILY COURTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES

THE RESEARCH PROJECT – DESCRIPTION, METHODOLOGY AND OUTCOMES

Experiences of abuse

Raising the abuse and fact-finding hearings

The use of human rights

Gender differences in the use of human rights

Judicial failures – keeping women safe

Judicial failures – discriminatory practices

THEORISING THE IMPACT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE IN THE FAMILY COURTS – PERFORMATIVITY

Achieving performativity – the women’s movement and international human rights law

From the international to the local – non-performativity of the human rights of victims of domestic abuse in the family courts in England

INTRODUCTION

There are a number of definitions of domestic abuse in use across a variety of legal and policy contexts. Before embarking on any analysis concerning domestic abuse it is therefore important to set out which definition is to be employed. In England and Wales, there is currently no statutory definition of domestic violence,1 however, there is a non-statutory cross-government definition. It is:

any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass but is not limited to the following types of abuse: psychological; physical; sexual; financial; emotional.

Controlling behaviour is further defined as ‘a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.’ Whereas coercive behaviour is ‘an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

Introduction

Carter and women’s issues in the White House

Carter and the religious right

Religion and gender: beyond the White House

Rights without power

Conclusion

Abstract

Since 2009, former US President Jimmy Carter has been outspoken in his condemnation of abuses of women around the world. This appears to be a departure from his stance while in the White House (1977–1981), when many feminist groups criticized him for his lack of effort on women’s issues. This paper analyzes the historical record and Carter’s own writing to compare his work since 2009 with his position on women’s issues during his presidency. I argue that although women’s issues have become a higher priority for Carter, his approach still has much in common with attitudes that that angered feminists in the 1970s, including an emphasis on the morality of male leaders – rather than the actions of feminist women – as the means to improve women’s lives. What has changed since the 1970s, however, are his views on religious leaders. While in the White House he courted the support of evangelicals, despite their opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment and other feminist policies; in the intervening years he has come to view conservative religious leaders as barriers to women’s rights. The views of Zainah Anwar and other Islamic feminists are foundational in Carter’s new approach to religion and women’s rights.

Introduction

James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, a moderate Democrat from the southern state of Georgia, was the 39th president of the United States. During his four years in the White House (1977–1981) Carter had an uneven – and at times contentious – relationship with the US women’s movement. During his campaign he courted feminist organizations and pledged support for their agenda, especially the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). But by his unsuccessful 1980 reelection campaign, feminists were divided about the president. Some praised Carter for progress on women’s issues, including the record high number of female appointees (e.g. King, 1980). Others were deeply critical of his performance. The executive board of the National Organization for Women (NOW) voted not to endorse Carter’s re-election race against Ronald Reagan, claiming Carter’s support for women was “more illusion than reality, more lip service than performance” (Kelber, 1980, 626). Nor did Carter himself claim progress on women’s issues as part of his legacy. In Keeping faith, his (1982) White House memoir, his only mention of his support for the ERA is buried a list of evangelical and conservative criticisms of him, a far cry from his campaign promises to be a leader in the fight for women’s rights.

In the light of this history, Carter’s more recent bold statements on women are unexpected and merit further analysis. In his 2014 book, A call to action: Women, religion, violence and power, Carter condemns the human rights abuses of women around the world, and in 2015 he announced that fighting violence and injustice against girls and women was “the highest priority for the rest of my life” (Botelho, 2015). The central focus of the book is the culture of violence that keeps women and girls from exercising their full rights, a focus that is in line with his longstanding commitment to human rights. The book and his more recent work also are in line with some approaches that earned him the criticism of feminists in the 1970s. In particular, Carter’s approach to women in both eras has emphasized the morality of individual male leaders as protectors of women, rather than challenging gendered power relations and supporting women’s movements.

INTRODUCTION

WOMEN’S HEALTH AND THE RIGHT TO HEALTH IN IRAN

WOMEN’S RIGHT TO UNDERLYING DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

WOMEN’S ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE IN IRAN

Nondiscrimination

Financial accessibility

Physical accessibility

Information accessibility

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Summary

In Iran, discrimination based on gender in enjoyment of the right to health is prohibited. Making health services physically and financially accessible to the entire population and removing social and cultural barriers of women’s access to health services are main considerations of the health laws and policies of Iran. The health of Iranian women has improved considerably in recent years. But there are disparities in health status and access of women to health services around the country. Some groups of women, including the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the illegal immigrant, and those without an appropriate male guardian, and rural women have limited access to health services in Iran. To realize women’s right to health, this country should immediately remove the disparities and use all the necessary means including legislative, administrative, budgetary, promotional, and judicial measures. National plans on women’s empowerment and support should be interpreted in provincial programs and action plans. Moreover, a monitoring system and certain benchmarks for tracing the progress of the plans should be established. Realizing other economic, social, and cultural rights including the rights to food, shelter, education, work, social security, and participation in society will improve the Iranian women’s enjoyment of their right.

INTRODUCTION

The right to health has been recognized by several international human rights treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1945 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 1966. According to the UDHR, everyone has a “right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well‐being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” 1 Article 12 of the ICESCR defines the right to health as “a right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” Any discrimination on any prohibited grounds such as race, sex, language, national or social origin, and religion in the exercise of this right is prohibited.2 However, around the world, women face more obstacles to access health services than men. They often have less power in making decisions in their families and about their health and lives. Furthermore, they are more likely to be poor, unemployed, and economically dependent on men.3 Therefore, women’s right to health and equal access to health services should get especial attention in national and international health policies.

Introduction

Key frameworks

Investigating violence against women with disability

Discussion

Conclusion

References

Abstract

This article explores attacks by neighbours and/or members of local communities on women with disability as a form of hate crime and, more specifically, targeted violence. We draw on interviews conducted in 2017 with women with disability living in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. These women spoke about ongoing experiences of physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and financial violence perpetrated by members of their local communities. They stressed the severity of this violence, the impact on their security and feelings of safety, and barriers to accessing justice. These women faced both disbelief and police indifference after reporting. Their experiences convey how they met with prejudice that casts the lives of people with disability as less worthy, and the effects of a hatred/vulnerability dichotomy that ultimately limits adequate responses. In the absence of a shared understanding of these crimes, disablist norms prevail, exposing women to ongoing violence and limiting access to justice.

Introduction

This article explores disablist violence perpetrated against women with disability by neighbours and community members (NCMs) as a form of hate crime and, more specifically, as targeted violence. We argue that the lack of awareness about the existence of this form of targeted violence combines with widespread gendered and disablist prejudice to create a climate of impunity in which women are abused and their access to justice inhibited. ‘Neighbours’ and ‘community members’ are generally not intimate partners, family members, or carers, nor are they necessarily strangers. NCMs form part of the wider community in which women with disability live. To date there has been little systematic research on hate crime perpetrated against people with disability (Mason et al., 2017; Roulstone & Mason-Bish, 2013). This article draws on interviews conducted with women with disability in the remit of the project Women, Disability and Violence: Creating Access to Justice, carried out in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, from 2017 to 2018. Five women interviewed in this research spoke of severe violence perpetrated against them by NCMs. For many of these women the violence was ongoing. We take a grounded approach in this article, centering the voices and experiences of these five women in our work. The women stressed the severity of this violence, the impact on their security and feelings of safety, and the barriers to adequate services or provisions for both recognising and stopping the violence.

1- INTRODUCTION

2- THE REVIEW/AIM

3- METHODS

4- RESULTS

5- DISCUSSION

6- CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore previous literature related to nurses understanding of Intimate partner violence (IPV) or domestic violence and abuse (DVA) against women and to identify the gaps in nursing education so as to use the findings as a baseline to inform potential intervention strategies, curriculum development and outline implications for future nursing practice.

Introduction

Intimate partner violence (IPV) or domestic violence and abuse (DVA) (UK Home Office, 2013) refers to the victimization of an individual by an intimate companion (Usta, Antoun, Ambuel, & Khawaja, 2012). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “intimate partner violence and domestic violence” are used interchangeably, wherein, the latter term may also encompass other forms of family violence such as children and older people and is not confined to intimate partners (World Health Organization, 2012). IPV/DVA influences different domains of social life severely by deteriorating financial and social relationships with friends, families, children and victims. Females having experienced, emotional, sexual or physical violence may suffer a series of health related issues and often in silence. It is also acknowledged that IPV/DVA can also be experienced by men both in heterosexual and same-sex relationships as well as can be perpetrated by women too. However, DVA affects women more than men (Dardis, Dixon, Edwards, & Turchik, 2015). IPV/DVA experienced by women is documented extensively as a significant “public health issue”, both due to the acute mortality or morbidity associated with it, thereof, in long term, influences the health of women (Lewis-O’Connor & Chadwick, 2015). Nurses are often the first point of contact in healthcare services, who frequently encounter women suffering from IPV/DVA. However, in healthcare contexts, they may not be able to recognize or support women presenting with IPV/DVA (McGarry and Nairn, 2015). Nurses should essentially be equipped with the most contemporary knowledge and training to categorize concerns and manage different patients appropriately. Nurse’s practice warrants psychological and physical demands everyday as they get engaged in several tasks. Therefore, other than experience, a nurse needs to have a comprehensive skill set so that health care for women does not suffer (Ghayath, Al-Sagobi, Alansari, El-Shazly, & Kamel, 2010).

There are many forms of violence in films with regard to culturally unique factors and differences in religion, or ethnic origin, which are expected to influence attitudes towards violence against women. In line with this context, film is a good source to study violence against women. This study examined violence against women in direct, structural, and cultural ways in ‘The Eternity’ (Chua Fa Din Sa Lai), a Thai film by Bhandevanop Dhevakul, a prominent Thai film director. A series of in-depth interviews with respondents was conducted in Thailand. The respondents were three policymakers, five academics, three NGO leaders, two film critics, two film directors, and a newspaper editor in Thailand. The data were analyzed thematically using the NVivo 10 software. This study discovered that violence against women persisted and was embedded in the film, which contained direct violence, structural violence, and cultural violence. Direct violence appeared as raping, slapping, beating, and humiliation, while structural violence included inequality, primitive society, and power structure. Cultural violence was embedded as power acceptance, patriarchy, and marital bondage. The significance of this study is in providing a deeper understanding of the circumstances associated with violence against women in Thai films. This study may benefit the film industry and film classification by drawing attention to violence against women in films and thereafter minimizing it.

Introduction

Film is a medium with great potential as many people obtain their stories, narratives and myths from films (Kolker, 2006), and myths may come to be regarded as ‘natural’ or ‘real’ from watching films (Partridge & Hughes, 1998). From the onset, the influence of films on the audience has become an issue of attention. In this regard, Kolker (2006) and Louisyapong (2013) noted that films are not only entertainment. Moreover, there are many forms of violence in films with regard to culturally unique factors and differences in religion, or ethnic origin, which are expected to influence attitudes towards violence against women (Nayak, Byrne, Martin, & Abraham, 2003). Thus, film is a good source to study violence against women. In line with this, studies on representations of violence against women in films offer deeper analyses of the patterns or forms of violence that are found in films produced in the west or other countries (Bernard-Hoverstad, 2013). Problem Statement To study violence against women, better information on how various types of violence against women in different cultural settings and countries is required (Bernard-Hoverstad, 2013; Kilpatrick, 2004). Based on this premise, a deep exploration of the forms of violence towards women in different cultures and countries is required to understand them. According to Norsworthy and Khuankaew (2008), Schlein (2013), and The United Nations Children’s Fund’s (2000), Thailand is one of the countries that was reported to have a large number of cases of violence towards women. Therefore, this study analyzed and identified violence against women in Thai films as Thailand is a part of the world that has high levels of violence towards women. Due to the lack of information about several important aspects of violence against women (Kilpatrick, 2004), using broad definitions of violence against women is essential. However, from previous research on violence against women in the media, researchers employed definitions of sexual violence, and intimate partner violence to identify violence against women in media content (Carlyle, Scarduzio, & Slater, 2014; Cuklanz, 2000; Malamuth & Briere, 1986). It can be seen that previous studies focused on direct violence; however, structural violence and cultural violence have not been given sufficient attention. In order to establish a perspective on violence toward women, Galtung’s triangle of violence model, which divided violence into direct violence, structural violence, and cultural violence was applied. Therefore, by studying violence against women in Thai films, using a model of Galtung’s violence to define violence, this paper presents a better understanding of the categories of violence against women, and the perspectives of respondents towards violence against women in film content.