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The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated incidences of domestic violence (DV). The framing of DV within media sources contributes to the public's understanding of DV. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), this paper explores representations of safety within newspapers' reporting of DV during the pandemic. The sample included newspaper articles (n = 31) from U.S. newspapers. The analysis involved multiple rounds of coding and employing "structured questions." These articles depicted limited courses of action for DV survivors and represented safety as unattainable. Safety was constructed in four ways: homes are unsafe, social services are overburdened, government failures, and the elusiveness of safety. These discursive formations provide insight regarding "idealized" social responses to DV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While bystander intervention education has demonstrated promise as a strategy to reduce dating and sexual violence (DSV) on campus, little is known about whether survivors on whose behalf the interventions take place find these helpful. This paper uses qualitative, in-depth interviews with 33 DSV survivors to explore their perspectives on bystander intervention. Results indicate that while some interventions were identified as helpful, especially those that provided support to the survivor, many were not helpful enough or even harmful. Further work is needed to understand the consequences of bystander action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 profoundly shaped how service providers in the antiviolence sector interact with clients, coworkers, and community stakeholders. In addition to stressors inherent in antiviolence work, service providers negotiated new, challenging social distancing and remote communication strategies. In this paper, we analyze interviews with 23 antiviolence workers in the US Great Plains region, focusing on participants' descriptions of workplace boundaries and intimacy. We demonstrate how COVID-19 both expanded and contracted public/private boundaries and formal/informal connections in antiviolence workers' daily experiences. Pandemic conditions revealed the pressing need for frontline workers to exercise discretion over levels of intimate engagement with coworkers and clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how the #MeToo movement, and backlash against it (#HimToo), influence rape myth acceptance (RMA) and negative affect among female sexual trauma survivors and controls. We randomly assigned college women (N = 389) to three social media conditions that either promoted RMA (#HimToo), challenged RMA (#MeToo), or did not address rape myths (general social media (GSM)). The findings demonstrated that women in the #HimToo condition reported more RMA, whereas women in the #MeToo and GSM conditions reported less negative affect. The results highlight that the way we talk about rape on social media influences momentary affect and RMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although intimate partner violence (IPV)-exposed mothers report distress during family court proceedings, no known research examines what helps them cope. We analyzed qualitative responses from 214 IPV-exposed mothers to the question of who/what helped during family court. Participants described (a) receiving social support, (b) accessing tools and resources, (c) modifying actions, thoughts, and emotions to adapt to a system that is not trauma-informed, (d) being believed/validated, and (e) managing post-separation family life as helpful. Participants also reported (f) barriers to navigating family law proceedings; a few expressed nothing helped. Findings support a trauma-informed, network-oriented approach to supporting family court-involved survivor mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of literature that documents high rates of intimate partner violence within South Asian American communities, indicating a critical need for research that can respond directly to this issue. From a socioecological perspective, Hindu temples can influence members' behaviors at multiple levels of change and thus may be important sites of collaboration for the prevention of intimate partner violence. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with South Asian families, temple leaders, and community stakeholders, this study indicates that Hindu temples have tremendous capacity to significantly impact intimate partner violence within South Asian American communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on pornography use and sexual coercion has provided inconsistent results. One explanation for this is the lack of a valid, reliable, and comprehensive measure of pornography use. This study seeks to address this need by developing a comprehensive pornography use instrument consisting of four domains identified in research: type of pornography used, sexual scripts, habits, and compulsivity. A sample of 324 college men was used. Results of the study yielded factor structures for these domains and evidence of reliability and validity. Findings present the initial development of a pornography use instrument that could improve research in this area and aid practitioners in treatment and supervision decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]