This thesis examines the ways in which my artistic practice is creating a space for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to share, gain catharsis, and spark discussions. As a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault, I have often felt there was no space for me to voice the many emotions that come with my experience. After creating and sharing autobiographical work about my story, many women have shared their stories of survival with me. Through these many conversations, I knew that we needed to create a space to share these stories. I have created this space through the To(get)her project. To(get)her is a collaborative performance and installation in which women from a variety of backgrounds destroy and transform wax guns with kitchen and cosmetic tools such as waffle irons, hair dryers, high-heeled shoes, curling irons, and meat tenderizers. These wax guns act as a metaphor for the violence that happens to many women on a daily basis. One in three women will encounter domestic violence and one in five women will be raped in their lifetimes in the United States. Not only are many of our bodies attacked mentally, physically and sexually, but the government also stakes claims on our bodies. With 138 representatives and 22 senators voting against the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and many of those same politicians also voting against stricter gun regulations it is apparent that these politicians do not see it as problematic that women’s bodies are so often targets. Further, in the current political climate it is imperative that people in the United States understand the importance of VAWA, and that it is a necessary bill that will be up for reauthorization in 2018. There have been six iterations of the To(get)her project. Through these performances, over 75 self-identifying women have been a part of the project, sharing their stories and igniting discussion about violence against women. When women come together, their connections are empowering, fierce, sometimes gentle and always meaningful.

<p>Although gender-based violence has been identified as highly problematic in South Africa, it has not been given much scholarly attention in relation to refugee women. This study focuses on the experience of some of these women who have resettled in Cape Town. The main focus is on gender-based violence and the linkages between conflicts at home, fleeing from it, as well as the problems faced by women when they reach the &lsquo / new&rsquo / country where they are suppose to be safe, but yet continue to experience gender violence. By referring to my own empirical research I try to tease out the many instances of violence and abuse such women face, how they understand and try to make sense of it and how they try to take up their lives in Cape Town. I utilized the much used ecological framework to analyze gender-based violence and argue that, while this &lsquo / model&rsquo / is dynamic and allows one to make analytical linkages across different &lsquo / levels&rsquo / of violence, it nevertheless does not adequately provide for understanding the relationship between larger global and international processes, the connection that women may still have with their countries of origin and the impact of being a refugee or unwanted &lsquo / immigrant&rsquo / in South Africa</p>

The patriarchal systems, stories, and powers that govern our world have made women extremely vulnerable to the threat of physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual violence. Despite efforts of millions of people working to end this attack, personal violation is a daily reality for many women and one that I believe will not change until efforts to end violence against women begin to address the very roots of dominant culture. This research will explore the personal experiences of five women’s rights activists in Swaziland who are engaged in a transformative practice to end violence against women. Through in depth open-ended interviews, I look at the ways each activist’s life journey reflects her changing understanding of formative values. Following this, I consider ways in which this personal development has led each woman to a deeply transformative, rather than simply a reactive, response to violence against women.

The patriarchal systems, stories, and powers that govern our world have made women extremely vulnerable to the threat of physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual violence. Despite efforts of millions of people working to end this attack, personal violation is a daily reality for many women and one that I believe will not change until efforts to end violence against women begin to address the very roots of dominant culture. This research will explore the personal experiences of five women’s rights activists in Swaziland who are engaged in a transformative practice to end violence against women. Through in depth open-ended interviews, I look at the ways each activist’s life journey reflects her changing understanding of formative values. Following this, I consider ways in which this personal development has led each woman to a deeply transformative, rather than simply a reactive, response to violence against women.

This thesis will uncover how law and policy, as well as how social workers speak to their practice, shape how the Manitoba child welfare system intervenes in cases of violence against mothers. By searching for the dominant themes of "invisible fathers" and "mothers failing to protect", this project substantiates how these themes contribute to the failure of the current system to hold the perpetrator accountable for his violence. I set out to confirm the argument that men need to be included as both risks and assets in the frame of our child welfare lens when assessing risk for children, in order to realize a feminist perspective in our work with families. Discourse analysis methods from a number of sources were drawn on to reveal and analyze how the discourse of "mothers failing to protect" has emerged, and how it informs child welfare practice and policy in ways that harm mothers and children. / May 2009

This study was undertaken with the objective of analysis of domestic violence against women by their husbands in terms of resource theory and its concepts. Domestic violence against women is a widespread social problem that can be observed in all societies. Studies on domestic violence in the past ten years were an important mechanism for bringing many women&rsquo / s experiences of discrimination and vulnerability to public attention. According to resource theory, major sets of resources like economic variables, prestige, force, and kinship are significant factors to explain domestic violence against women. These resources are indicators of power and the lack of ability of men to reach these resources or women&rsquo / s ability to get these resources can affect power relations in the family and cause conflict.

<p>The essay begins by asserting that the theoretical approaches of men’s violence against women are just as important to study as its extent. The purpose is therefore to analyse and compare two theoretical approaches which is done by a comparative text analysis of two texts written on the subject. The essay attempts to answer two questions; what the theoretical approaches are and how they can be understood in light of feminist theory.</p><p>Previous research on men’s violence against women discuss especially three theoretical aspects. These are how the concept is defined, if the different forms of violence are being treated separately or not, and how it is explained. These aspects are used as the basis for the analysis which is conducted in two steps.</p><p>The result shows that the theoretical approaches analysed share many similarities with both each other and the feminist theory. All apply a broad definition, hold the different forms of violence together, and consider the most basic explanation for the violence to be the unequal power structure between the sexes. The biggest difference between the two theoretical approaches and the feminist theory is that the former also emphasizes other explanatory levels as well as the purely structural.</p>

In this report I argue that the analytical unit of feminicide must be expanded beyond gender in order to assess the axis of inequality upon which gender violence in contemporary Guatemala is being waged. Intersectionality and a gendered racial formation theory provide a more nuanced basis from which to undertake an analysis of gender violence and feminicide, and the grounds for devising effective long-term strategies for ending violence in its myriad forms. Second, I argue that the increased visibility of feminicide of late in Guatemala, far from being evidence of gradual progress toward addressing the problem, should be read as a sign of the problem‘s deepening, in a new and perhaps exacerbated form. Using historical examples from the Guatemalan women‘s movement, I demonstrate that demands to end gender violence and increase the rights of women, when articulated by the state, have often led not to a diminishing, but a reshaping of patriarchy and other forms of oppression. The Guatemalan state‘s transition towards neoliberal governmentality, and the gendered subject formation that is a part of this process, raise additional contradictions that merit further attention. State-based approaches to women‘s rights and protection should be merely one element of a larger political strategy towards more radical transformations of the state and racial, social and economic inequalities that will end gender based violence in the long-term. / text

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<p>Although gender-based violence has been identified as highly problematic in South Africa, it has not been given much scholarly attention in relation to refugee women. This study focuses on the experience of some of these women who have resettled in Cape Town. The main focus is on gender-based violence and the linkages between conflicts at home, fleeing from it, as well as the problems faced by women when they reach the &lsquo / new&rsquo / country where they are suppose to be safe, but yet continue to experience gender violence. By referring to my own empirical research I try to tease out the many instances of violence and abuse such women face, how they understand and try to make sense of it and how they try to take up their lives in Cape Town. I utilized the much used ecological framework to analyze gender-based violence and argue that, while this &lsquo / model&rsquo / is dynamic and allows one to make analytical linkages across different &lsquo / levels&rsquo / of violence, it nevertheless does not adequately provide for understanding the relationship between larger global and international processes, the connection that women may still have with their countries of origin and the impact of being a refugee or unwanted &lsquo / immigrant&rsquo / in South Africa</p>