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Abstract PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health control measures resulted in both higher rates of intimate partner abuse and violence (IPA/V) and more severe victimization. Domestic violence advocacy programs struggled to maintain organizational capacity to provide survivor-centered services in the face of both increased demand and rapid changes necessary to mitigate disease spread. The current study explores ways that legal advocates and the legal systems responded to the needs of IPA/V survivors. MethodsLeaders of 25 state and territory Coalitions across the U.S. participated in the study. Semi-structured interview questions were based on rapidly emerging areas of concern and drew on possible strengths and weaknesses in direct service provision during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, including questions about public health control measures, service provision, gaps in services, and lessons learned. ResultsInterviews with Coalition leaders revealed gaps in legal system responses during the pandemic, but also suggested new directions for service delivery. Four main themes emerged: lack of access to the legal system, limitations of in-person legal system responses, limitations of virtual legal system responses, and changes needed moving forward. ConclusionBacklogs in case processing communicate to survivors and the larger community that responding to IPA/V is not urgent. Advocates faced difficulty supporting survivors in person while virtual hearings sometimes presented other challenges for advocacy. However, some changes, including innovative online services and broad resolve to center BIPOC survivor voices, have the potential to enhance safety for survivors and push the movement forward.
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Victim‐survivors’ proposed solutions to addressing image‐based sexual abuse in the U.S.: Legal, corporate, educational, technological, and cultural approaches
Abstract Sexual violence is a world‐wide health problem that has begun to escalate in online and virtual spaces. One form of technology‐facilitated sexual violence that has grown in recent years is image‐based sexual abuse (IBSA), or the nonconsensual creation, distribution, and/or threat of distribution of nude or sexual images. Using a trauma‐informed and victim‐centered framework, we asked victim‐survivors for structural solutions to IBSA based on their own experiences. Using thematic analysis on 36 semi‐structured interviews with adult U.S. victim‐survivors of IBSA, we found that victim‐survivors proposed structural solutions to IBSA along five general dimensions: legal (creating/strengthening laws, enforcing laws, facilitating legal navigation), corporate (corporate responsibility/activism and solutions for employers), educational (IBSA education, outreach and advocacy, and developing communities of support), technological (more platform accountability, improved procedures for uploading images, better avenues for reporting and removing images, and enhanced platform policies), and cultural. Many solutions built on existing structures (e.g., sexual education in schools) and frameworks (e.g., creating support groups like those for people in recovery from alcohol abuse), enabling educational professionals, policy makers, victim‐support service providers, and corporations to readily implement them.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2035686
- PAR ID:
- 10494952
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1529-7489
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 307-334
- Size(s):
- p. 307-334
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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