Every sixty-eight seconds an American is sexually assaulted. Lisa Smith writes in light of this startling statistic and against the backdrop of the blaming and shaming of countless victims to ask one important question: why does America's rape culture continue to exist? The Blaming and Shaming of Defenseless Victims in America's Rape Culture explores the ways collective memory, religion, and sexist beliefs are used to silence survivors and protect the powerful. The author delves into how justice is denied in sexual assault cases-rape kits untested by law enforcement agencies, information suppression through non-disclosure agreements, and denial and inaction by organizations, universities, corporations, and people all contribute to undetected rapists in our society. Despite these discouraging happenings, the #MeToo movement proved that legions of survivors of sexual violence can use their voice to fight back. Oral and historical narratives are included to encourage others to share their stories and promote social accountability. Through insightful research and analysis, the author offers a much-needed viewpoint on a vital and timely issue-why and how American society is perpetuating and protecting a dangerous culture of sexual violence, and even more importantly, how to fight back.

Violence against women is a growing problem. With examples from Denmark, France, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the contributors to this volume explore how violence is framed through language and what this means for research and policy. They look at how metaphors in police homicide reports obscure domestic violence, how abstract language conveys stereotypes without anybody noticing, and how Western authorities have struggled to understand crimes in the name of honor. Language shapes responses to abuse and approaches to perpetrators and interfaces with national debates about gender, violence, and social change.

In light of ongoing concerns about the treatment of survivors, Rape Trials in England and Wales critically examines court responses to rape and sexual assault. Using new data from an in-depth observational study of rape trials, this book asks why attempts to improve survivor experiences at court have not been fully effective. In doing so, Smith identifies deep-rooted barriers to survivor justice and, crucially, introduces potential avenues for more effective reform. This book provides a comprehensive examination of the practicalities of court, use of rape myths and sexual history evidence, underlying principles of adversarial justice and the impact of inequalities embedded within English and Welsh legal culture. This engaging and highly significant study is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the criminal courts and their responses to rape, including practitioners and students of criminology, sociology, and law.

Violence against Women in Pornography illuminates the ways in which adult pornography hurts many women, both on and off screen. A growing body of social scientific knowledge shows that it is strongly associated with various types of violence against women in intimate relationships. Many women who try to leave abusive and/or patriarchal men also report that pornography plays a role in the abuse inflicted on them by their ex-partners. On top of these harms, male pornography consumption is strongly correlated with attitudes supporting violence against women. Many researchers, practitioners, and policy makers believe that adult pornography is a major problem and offer substantial evidence supporting this claim. Violence against Women in Pornography, unlike books written mainly for scholarly and general audiences, specifically targets students enrolled in undergraduate criminology, deviance, women's studies, masculinities studies, human sexuality, and media studies courses. Thoughtful discussion questions are placed at the end of each chapter, and appropriate PowerPoint slides and suggestions for classroom exercises will be available to aid student understanding. The main objective of this book is to motivate readers to think critically about adult pornography and to take progressive steps individually and collectively to curb the production and consumption of hurtful sexual media, including that from the "dark side of the Internet."

This ground-breaking handbook details the present situation with regard to female genital mutilation (FGM) in Britain, referring also to other Western nations where FGM occurs. It scrutinises current pathways to eradicating this dangerous, sometimes lethal, form of child abuse and gender-related violence. The cultural and belief systems giving rise to FGM are complex. Further, FGM is an intensely intimate matter often imposed on young and vulnerable children. Approaches to its eradication therefore demand considerable human insight and a competent grasp of inter-/cross-agency working. It is also vital that everyone concerned - whether in caring and parental, safeguarding or other roles - understands fully that, regardless of custom or belief, FGM is a serious crime. The vulnerabilities and need for protection of victims and potential victims are paramount, but these pressing priorities do not lessen the requirement that all aspects of FGM be dealt with straightforwardly in accordance with the law. This book makes the case urgently for developing a shared, coherent model - a multi-disciplinary paradigm articulated at the highest level - as the basis to achieve the eradication of FGM. The text will be required reading for health, legal, educational and social services professionals, as well as researchers, policy-makers, school governors, journalists and other concerned citizens.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

How do we help our clients discover the depth and breadth of sexual healing? Extraordinary Sex Therapy offers a range of innovative health-based approaches and models to explore the complexities inherent in sexual pleasure and potential as well as in trauma, pain, and dysfunction. The practitioners whose work is represented here expand the clinical conversation about sex beyond performance goals and tread courageously into unquantifiable realms of sexual and relational desire, health, and transformation. All of these practitioners describe work that embodies therapeutic collaboration with their clients as they confront sexual concerns that include body image, emotions, meanings, and nuances of partner interactions along with the influence of neurobiology, language, gender, addiction, socioeconomics, and cultural conditioning about pleasure. Their interventions range from education, visualization, and role-play to identifying erotic archetypes, coaching about sensual touch, and using plant spirit medicines to activate imagination and spiritual connection. Their descriptions ring with singular authenticity, depending on their training and the particular clients and issues they address. Each practitioner provides clinical examples and techniques in enough detail so that readers can incorporate elements of these approaches into their own practices. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Sexual and Relationship Therapy.

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church captured headlines and mobilized public outrage in January 2002. But much of the commentary that immediately followed was reductionistic, focusing on single "causes" of clerical abuse such as mandatory celibacy, homosexuality, sexual repressiveness or sexual permissiveness, anti-Catholicism, and a decadent secular culture. Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims: The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Catholic Church, a collection of groundbreaking articles edited by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and Virginia Goldner, eschews such one-size-fits-all theorizing. In its place, the abuse situation is explored in all its troubling complexity, as contributors take into account the experiences, respectively, of the victim/survivor, the abuser/perpetrator, and the bystander (whether family member, professional/clergy, or the community at large). Setting polemics to the side, Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims provides a sober and sobering analysis of the interlacing historical, doctrinal, and psychological issues that came together in the sexual abuse scandal. It is mandatory reading for all who seek thoughtful, informed commentary on a crisis long in the making and yet to be resolved.

Despite mounting references to the "transgenerational transmission of violence," we still lack a compelling understanding of the linkage between the interpersonal violence of early life and the criminal violence of adulthood. In Prologue to Violence, Abby Stein draws on the gripping narratives of 65 incarcerated subjects and extensive material from law enforcement files to remedy this lacuna in both the forensic and psychodynamic literature. In the process, she calls into question prevailing beliefs about criminal character and motivation. For Stein the early trauma to which adult criminals are subjected remains unformulated and, as such, unavailable for reflection. Contrary to common belief, these criminals, especially sex murderers, do not commit their crimes in a rational or fully conscious way. They are not driven by deviant fantasy, their psychopathy is not inborn, and they rarely commit acts of violence "without conscience." Stein's interdisciplinary analysis of her data infuses contemporary relational psychoanalysis with the insights of neuroscience, traumatology, criminology, and cognitive and narrative psychology. A powerful challenge to offender treatment programs to address the shaping impact of childhood trauma rather than merely to "correct" the cognitions of violent offenders, Prologue to Violence will be equally compelling to researchers and academics investigating child abuse and adult violence. Its mental health readership will be broad and deep, ranging beyond clinicians who work with offender populations to all therapists who wrestle with experiences of dissociation and aggressive enactment in everyday life.

'Profane, funny, and uncomfortably honest' - Brandon Taylor, author of Real Life Twenty-year-old Lilja is in love. He is older and beautiful, a Derrida-quoting intellectual. He is also a serial cheater, gaslighter and narcissist. Lilja will do anything to hold on to him. And so she accepts his deceptions and endures his sexual desires. She rationalizes his toxic behaviour and permits him to cross all her boundaries. In her desperation to be the perfect lover, she finds herself unable to break free from the toxic cycle. And then an unexpected ultimatum: an all-consuming love, or the promise of a life reclaimed. Thora Hjoerleifsdottir explores the darkest corners of relationships, capturing an ugly, hidden nature of love. In an era of growing pornification, she deftly illustrates the failings of our culture in recognizing symptoms of cruelty. In visceral, poetic prose, translated from Icelandic by Meg Matich, Magma depicts the unspooling of a tender-hearted young woman aching to love and be loved. 'Mesmerizing . . . Hjoesleifsdottir dives deep into the fire-rivers of lust, just how much humiliation we're willing to tolerate in the name of love.' - Oprah Daily

This book provides a conceptual framework for understanding war rape and its impact, through empirical examination of the case of Bosnia. Providing a contextual understanding of sexual violence in war, and situating Bosnian war rape in relation to subsequent conflicts, the book offers a methodological outline of how sexual violence in war can be studied from a political-psychological perspective. It presents empirical findings from the field that show what war rape can entail in the aftermath of armed conflict for victims and their communities. Through its comprehensive approach to Bosnian experiences, the volume expands the conceptualization of victimhood and challenges the assumption that sexual violence is a particularly difficult theme to study because of victim silence. Rather, the author demonstrates there are many voices that can provide insight and understandings of war rape and its impact without having to compromise the safety and privacy of individual victims. Finally, the book shows the ways in which individual experiences of war rape are shaped by national and international discourses on gender, sexuality and politics. This book will be of interest to students of political psychology, war and conflict studies, European politics, ethnic conflict, politics and IR in general.

The traumatic affects of childhood sexual abuse can remain and recur throughout life for women who have not healed emotionally. This book by a family therapist shares stories from 18 women abused as children, explaining that healing can occur at any stage of life, and that healing, itself, occurs in stages. The author offers guidance to recognize the long-lingering potential affects of childhood sexual abuse including depression, anxiety, dissociation, and chronic shock, and she explains steps to take for recovery. Also presented are letters from women who have healed or are in recovery. Sexual abuse by men, juveniles, and female perpetrators is discussed, as is how children may act out the abusive behavior taught by perpetrators. The incidence of abuse by family members is also addressed. Duncan explains the dual dilemma--moral and legal--that women face in exposing a sexual perpetrator within the family when not protected by the legal system due to statutes of limitations. She also discusses controversial topics including false memory and disclosure of memory to the perpetrator.

In 2003, the US Senate and Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), prompting a number of research projects that cumulatively began to broaden and deepen our understanding of this complex aspect of prison life. Risk Markers for Sexual Victimization and Predation in Prison contains the results of Dr. Warren and Dr. Jackson s study, and it extends the literature on prison rape in important and distinct ways. Their research, which encompasses the full continuum of sexual behavior among incarcerated individuals, succeeds in identifying multi-layered predictive models for different types of sexual behavior across and within genders. The process by which the authors came to their study design, their experiences while implementing it, and the nature and significance of their findings, represent the content of this book. "

Sexual conflict permeates ancient religions, from injunctions about thy neighbor's wife to the sexual obligations of marriage. It is etched in written laws that dictate who can and cannot have sex with whom. Its manifestations shape our sexual morality, evoking approving accolades or contemptuous condemnation. It produces sexual double standards that flourish even in the most sexually egalitarian cultures on earth. And although every person alive struggles with sexual conflict, most of us see only the tip of the iceberg: dating deception, a politician's unsavory grab, the slow crumbling of a once-happy marriage, a romantic breakup that turns nasty.

Bad Men shows that this "battle of the sexes" is deeper and far more pervasive than anyone has recognized, revealing the hidden roots of sexual conflict -- roots that originated over deep evolutionary time -- which characterise our sexual psychology.

Providing novel insights into our minds and behaviours, Bad Men presents a unifying new theory of sexual conflict and offers practical advice for men and women seeking to avoid it.

Hurled words. Thrown objects. Dodged burgers. A burger was thrown at Travis Alabanza on Waterloo Bridge in 2016. From this experience they have created a poetic, passionate performance piece based around the 'burger': the texture, and taste of being trans. Their experiences include verbal abuse, ostracisation and being thrown out of a Top Shop changing room. The piece also explores the black trans experience.

"Why does God hate me?" "How can I believe in a God who has allowed my suffering?" These are just two of the difficult spiritual questions that survivors of child sexual abuse struggle with. In addition, survivors often have mixed feelings about the church because of perceived judgment and indifference, their own shame, or their discomfort with certain aspects of worship. Of the many after-effects of sexual abuse, spiritual wounds are the least talked about, yet they are central to adult survivors who seek to heal and find faith and meaning in their lives. With grace and gentleness, this book seeks to answer survivors' spiritual questions and address some of the common misconceptions that often develop when young victims attempt to understand what has happened to them. Healing the Ravaged Soul explores the origins of their spiritual issues with clear psychological insights and guides survivors on a spiritual journey toward healing, wholeness, and a deeper relationship with God.

Those affected by complex PTSD commonly feel as though there is something fundamentally wrong with them - that somewhere inside there is a part of them that needs to be fixed. Though untrue, such beliefs can feel extremely real and frightening. Difficult as it may be, facing one's PTSD from unresolved childhood trauma is a brave, courageous act - and with the right guidance, healing from PTSD is possible. Clinical psychologist Dr Arielle Schwartz has spent years helping those with C-PTSD find their way to wholeness. She also knows the territory of the healing firsthand, having walked it herself. This book provides a map to the complicated, and often overwhelming, terrain of C-PTSD with Dr. Schwartz's knowledgeable guidance helping you find your way. In The Complex PTSD Workbook, you'll learn all about C-PTSD and gain valuable insight into the types of symptoms associated with unresolved childhood trauma, while applying a strength-based perspective to integrate positive beliefs and behaviours. Examples and exercises through which you'll discover your own instances of trauma through relating to PTSD experiences other than your own, such as the following: * Information about common PTSD misdiagnoses such as bipolar disorder, ADHD, anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, and substance abuse, among others. * Explorations of common methods of PTSD therapy including somatic therapy, EMDR, CBT, DBT, and mind-body perspectives. * Chapter takeaways that encourage thoughtful consideration and writing to explore how you feel as you review the material presented in relation to your PTSD symptoms. The Complex PTSD Workbook aims to empower you with a thorough understanding of the psychology and physiology of C-PTSD so you can make informed choices about the path to healing that is right for you and discover a life of wellness, free of C-PTSD, that used to seem just out of reach.

As many as one in four girls and one in six boys experience sexual abuse during childhood, and it's estimated that half of the incidents are never reported. This means that countless millions in our societies, both children and adults, carry this complex and often hidden pain. What does the path to healing look like for survivors? And how can ministry leaders, pastors, and counsellors best help them as they walk this difficult road? Drawing on both his own and his wife's experience as survivors of childhood sexual abuse, minister and lecturer Tim Hein offers his expertise, practical guidance, and empathy-both for ministry leaders and for survivors themselves. How can we best respond when a survivor shares their secret with us? Where can survivors turn for encouragement when the road to recovery seems so long and lonely? Hein presents clinical data and resources alongside pastoral wisdom and care, addressing both psychological and spiritual aspects of sexual abuse. Both for those who have suffered sexual abuse and those in a position to help them, this book is a rich resource. Filled with sober truths and the hope of Christ, it calls survivors to take courage and walk unafraid down the road of healing.

The issue of Childhood Sexual Experiences (CSEs) is highly controversial, and has generated considerable disagreement and conflict. Such experiences are often framed as child sexual abuse (CSA) within a discourse of child maltreatment. Sexual activity between adults and young children is indeed abuse, and fully merits the moral stance taken by therapists, health professionals and society. However, Childhood Sexual Experiences presents evidence that viewing all CSEs through the same prism of abuse, victimhood and commonly-held perceptions of gender socialisation may not always allow those affected to tell the whole story. Not all those who experienced sexual activity as children view themselves as victims, believe that their experiences had a profoundly or irrevocably negative impact on their lives, or view their experiences as 'abusive'. Others do not want their identities to be linked to specific events in childhood. Applying a positive psychology approach, Childhood Sexual Experiences recounts and explores the stories of those who have shown an ability to come to terms with or overcome the difficulties that they have faced, exploring the insights these narratives of resilience present to therapists and health and social care professionals. 'I would encourage you to read this book with an open mind and to look for the strength and determination to be found in these narratives, remembering that those who are resilient may teach us how better to help those who are less fortunate.' - Sally V

Work with sexually exploited young people can be rewarding yet difficult. They can be hard to access, often presenting challenging behaviour. Sometimes it is painful to hear their life stories, whether these include abuse through the Internet or exploitation experienced through having been trafficked into and within the country. Jenny J. Pearce draws on young people's voices to explore the difficulties that arise for researchers and for practitioners when working with sexually exploited young people. While child protection interventions must guide social work, she argues that other agencies such as health, education, housing and training each have a role to play in supporting a sexually exploited young person. Challenging the uncritical acceptance of the child as victim, the book suggests 'therapeutic outreach' as an approach to working with sexually exploited young people that can complement child protection procedures, support practitioners in the field and enhance the young person's sense of autonomy and responsibility during their transition to adulthood. The book advocates the relationship between practitioners and the young people they aim to support to be one of the most important resources in practice. Young People and Sexual Exploitation will be essential reading for anyone interested in preventing the sexual exploitation of children and young people. It will be particularly relevant for academics, students, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of social policy and social work, child and family work, child protection and youth work.

Work with sexually exploited young people can be rewarding yet difficult. They can be hard to access, often presenting challenging behaviour. Sometimes it is painful to hear their life stories, whether these include abuse through the Internet or exploitation experienced through having been trafficked into and within the country. Jenny J. Pearce draws on young people's voices to explore the difficulties that arise for researchers and for practitioners when working with sexually exploited young people. While child protection interventions must guide social work, she argues that other agencies such as health, education, housing and training each have a role to play in supporting a sexually exploited young person. Challenging the uncritical acceptance of the child as victim, the book suggests 'therapeutic outreach' as an approach to working with sexually exploited young people that can complement child protection procedures, support practitioners in the field and enhance the young person's sense of autonomy and responsibility during their transition to adulthood. The book advocates the relationship between practitioners and the young people they aim to support to be one of the most important resources in practice. Young People and Sexual Exploitation will be essential reading for anyone interested in preventing the sexual exploitation of children and young people. It will be particularly relevant for academics, students, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of social policy and social work, child and family work, child protection and youth work.

Child Sexual Abuse critically evaluates the development of policy and legislative measures to control sex offenders. The last fifteen years has seen increasing concern on the part of the government, criminal justice agencies, the media and the public, regarding child sexual abuse. This concern has been prompted by a series of events including cases inviting media attention and involving the abduction, sexual abuse and murder of young children. The response to this wave of child sexual abuse revelation has been to introduce increasingly punitive legislation regarding the punishment and control of sex offenders (sex offenders are the only group of offenders in British legal history to have their own act), both in custody and in the community. But this response, it is argued here, has developed in a reactionary way to media and public anxiety regarding the punishment and control of sex offenders (who have abused children) and the perceived threat of such offenders in the community.

Child Sexual Abuse critically evaluates the development of policy and legislative measures to control sex offenders. The last fifteen years has seen increasing concern on the part of the government, criminal justice agencies, the media and the public, regarding child sexual abuse. This concern has been prompted by a series of events including cases inviting media attention and involving the abduction, sexual abuse and murder of young children. The response to this wave of child sexual abuse revelation has been to introduce increasingly punitive legislation regarding the punishment and control of sex offenders (sex offenders are the only group of offenders in British legal history to have their own act), both in custody and in the community. But this response, it is argued here, has developed in a reactionary way to media and public anxiety regarding the punishment and control of sex offenders (who have abused children) and the perceived threat of such offenders in the community.