Sexual violence against women is not only a serious public health problem of epidemic proportions, it’s also a violation of women’s human rights. The devastating consequences of these events on women’s health have been widely documented. The overarching purpose of this thesis is therefore to explore why public healthcare facilities around the world often fail to provide victims of sexual violence with mental healthcare of good quality that is available, accessible and acceptable. In order to investigate this, the legal grounds of specialized healthcare for victims of sexual violence was documented. Secondly, an exploration of whether the Swedish healthcare system provides victims of sexual violence with access to the highest attainable standard of mental healthcare was carried out. Lastly, the history of violence against women was explored in order to identify reasons for why the right to mental healthcare often fail to work in practice for female victims of sexual violence despite apparent agreements. Also, constructive suggestions are put forth regarding what governments can do to provide victims of sexual violence with access to the highest attainable standard of mental healthcare. An interdisciplinary approach of political sociology was used to illustrate the multiple dimensions of human rights. The findings suggest that the right to mental health is an integrated part of the right to health and thus a fundamental right for all human beings. However, the results indicate that the right to mental healthcare for women who have been subjected to sexual violence is not available, accessible and of good quality within the Swedish healthcare system. The study concludes that one of the main barriers to make the right to mental healthcare accessible for this group of patients is the lack of an officially recognized name that include the many different syndromes these women suffer. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research.

Bakgrund: Våld i nära relationer är ett globalt folkhälsoproblem. Våldet kan uttrycka sig på flera olika sätt och leda till omfattande hälsoproblem. Hälso- och sjukvården har en viktig roll i att screena, identifiera och stödja våldsutsatta kvinnor. Det är avgörande att hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal skapar en trygg miljö för patienterna. Syfte: Syftet var att synliggöra hinder för sjuksköterskor att identifiera mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer. Metod: En litteraturöversikt baserad på fyra kvalitativa, fyra kvantitativa och fyra mixade originalartiklar hämtade från databaserna CINAHL och PubMed. Resultat: Resultatet är strukturerat utifrån tre huvudteman: Kunskap- och utbildningsbrist, Organisatoriska hinder samt Känslomässiga hinder. Sjuksköterskor vittnar om kunskapsluckor, bristande rutiner, knappa resurser, utmaningar i arbetsmiljön, tidsbrist, attityder och rädslor. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskor möter hinder vid identifiering av våld i nära relation. Fördjupad kunskap, större organisatoriskt stöd och ökad medvetenhet är viktigt för att förbättra arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor. / Background: Intimate partner violence is a global public health problem, manifesting in various forms and causing significant health problems. Healthcare plays an important role in screening, identifying, and supporting battered women. It's essential that healthcare professionals create a safe environment for patients. Aim: The purpose was to highlight barriers for nurses in identifying men's violence against women in partner relationships. Method: A literature review based on four qualitative, four quantitative and four mixed-methods original articles retrieved from the databases CINAHL and PubMed. Results: The results are structured around three main themes: Lack of knowledge and education, Organizational barriers and Emotional barriers. Nurses report about knowledge gaps, lacking protocols, resource limitations, work environment challenges, time constraints, attitudes and fears. Conclusions: Nurses encounter barriers in identifying intimate partner violence. Enhanced knowledge, greater organizational support, and increased awareness are important for improving work with battered women.

This dissertation is the first ever written Institutional Ethnography (IE) of the Asignación Universal por Hijo para Protección Social, or "AUH" [Universal Child Allowance], Argentina's CCT (conditional cash transfer) program. CCTs are one of international development's favourite and fastest-growing anti-poverty initiatives. Through the AUH, the State transfers cash to the poor attaching certain conditions that refer to the health and education of their children. Most CCT programs target women, and the AUH is no exception, as the overwhelming majority of legal recipients of the AUH are poor mothers. CCTs have been praised for contributing to human capital accumulation and empowering women. Using IE, a feminist socio-legal methodology drawn from Canadian sociologist Dorothy Smith,† I conducted research with a total of fifty-eight informants: thirty-nine AUH recipient women - through in-depth semi-structured individual interviews, focus group discussions, and narrative photovoice - and nineteen professionals working at diverse corners of the AUH institution. I use the findings to answer two main questions: (1) What are AUH recipients' experiences with and attitudes toward the program? and (2) How do both State and non-State legal regimes work to influence the lives of the most vulnerable women in Argentina? In other words, how does the AUH play within a system of rules - formal and informal - that have traditionally exerted control over poor women? Following IE and Social Reproduction Feminism (SRF), I found that while the AUH program indicates women's decision-making roles within their families and communities, this policy initiative serves to entrench rather than rectify inequalities. The problematic that I have found through this study is administrative and obstetric violence against AUH recipient women. Discussion about the administrative and obstetric violence that AUH recipient women suffer while doing AUH work has remained at the margins of legal and social policy debates, generally underdeveloped in policy and scholarship conversations about the realities of Argentina's most vulnerable people. Recipient women depicted diverse acts of violence they suffered while doing AUH work: they were mistreated, dismissed, neglected, humiliated, and discriminated against by State agents; recipient women were treated as ignorant or infantilized; recipient women had their stipend partially stolen by bureaucrats; had to wait countless hours in unsafe conditions; were not heard by health actors when expressing concerns about their health; had no opportunity to give prior informed consent; and they faced barriers to accessing health services and contraception. I have found a disjuncture between women's lived experiences and the broader ruling relations that organize "AUH work." The findings show a disconnection between women's experiences of violence, bureaucratic actors' experiences and knowledge of the AUH, and a misalignment between bureaucrats' knowledge and the black-letter law. These disjunctures enable and facilitate violence against recipient women through fragmentation, invisibilization, rationalization, minimization, standardization, and objectification of women's experiences. In sum, the AUH facilitates violence against women and systematically obscures that violence. Following a legal pluralist approach, I show the complex role of the law: at times, it problematically excludes recipient women's actual experiences from the AUH legal framework; at others, it fails to protect recipient women against violence. I identify the formal legal regimes interacting and immersed in the AUH institution: human rights and constitutional law, administrative law, and the violence against women (VAW) legal framework. Despite an outstanding formal repertoire of rights, there is a gap between the formal laws and their effective translation into women's lives. The law is fragmented, complex, and sometimes contradictory. It cannot be limited to State-enacted formal laws; informal laws substantially impact people's lives, such as the rule to avoid retaliation from State actors by avoiding complaining. I argue that IE and legal pluralism can provide a more nuanced understanding of the law's complex institutional hierarchy and of the myriad ways by which recipient women's voices continue to be ignored and discredited within the law in the hope that the law can better respond (or at least stops interfering) with their needs. Ultimately, nothing less than the transformation of the socioeconomic order will achieve gender equality. Rather than "empowerment," we should strive toward emancipation, abolishing the structural colonial, patriarchal, and capitalist foundations of exploitation and oppression instead of integrating women into existing institutions and "empowering" them with shallow cash transfers.

[pt] Nos últimos anos, vários especialistas vêm chamando a atenção para o modo como as redes sociais se tornaram um terreno fértil para o discurso de ódio. Neste trabalho, examino uma postagem de um professor de artes marciais no Instagram, junto com os respectivos comentários, que contêm manifestações de discurso de ódio de gênero. A postagem foi feita em resposta a uma entrevista no YouTube, na qual uma atleta de alta performance faz um relato, enquadrado pela entrevistadora e por alguns comentaristas como um relato de violência sexual. Nosso foco são as práticas de linguagem de natureza discriminatória contra as mulheres, utilizadas nas ações responsivas a esse relato, publicadas no Instagram, tanto pelo professor, quanto pelos usuários que a ele se alinham e afiliam. Com base na análise de categoria de pertença (MCA), foi possível demonstrar o papel crucial desempenhado pela categorização como ferramenta para construir discurso de ódio de gênero. No corpus, categorias que foram historicamente usadas para atacar, intimidar ou excluir mulheres são invocadas, reforçando a deificação dos homens e a demonização das mulheres. A análise aponta para a necessidade de uma discussão sobre a responsabilidade das mídias sociais quanto à propagação de discurso de ódio de gênero e para a discussão jurídica acerca da criminalização da misoginia. A naturalização dessas categorias não apenas favorece o silenciamento da voz feminina, como incita a propagação da violência contra a mulher no meio físico, uma realidade no nosso cotidiano. / [en] In recent years, a number of experts have drawn attention to how social media has become a breeding ground for hate speech. In this work, I examine an Instagram post made by a martial arts teacher, along with the respective comments, which contain expressions of gendered hate speech. The post was made in response to a YouTube interview, in which an elite athlete gave an account, framed by the interviewer and by some commentators as an account of sexual violence. Our focus is on language practices of a discriminatory nature against women, used in responsive actions to this report, published on Instagram, both by the teacher and by users who align and affiliate with him. Based on Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA), it was possible to demonstrate the crucial role played by categorization as a tool to produce gendered hate speech. In the corpus, categories that were historically used to attack, intimidate or exclude women were invoked, reinforcing the deification of men and the demonization of women. The analysis points to the need for a discussion about the liability of social media regarding the propagation of gendered hate speech and for the legal discussion about the criminalization of misogyny. The naturalization of these categories not only favors the silencing of women s voice, but also encourages the spread of violence against women in the real world, a reality in our daily lives.

In this essay a comparative analysis will be conducted on two mass graves from the terminal classics in the Maya lowlands. This will be done by analysing interpretations of the Cancuén site in Guatemala. Cancuén was a major trading port city in the terminal classics’ southern lowlands. It flourished until its decline in the late 700’s CE. Around the year 800 CE a violent event led to the death of close to 50 elite individuals including the king of Cancuén. Two mass graves have been discovered in the hydraulic system of the city. Individuals in both mass graves represent a variety of ages and genders. A comparative analysis of osteological similarities and differences in the two graves will be based on osteological reports. Previously published work regarding interpretations of the mass graves will be used in an analysis of possible motives behind massacre. Trauma evident in the mass graves as well as their surrounding context suggests that a termination ritual took place after the massacre that the victims were subjected to. / I denna uppsats utförs en komparativ analys av två massgravar från senklassiska perioden i Mayarikets Cancuén, Guatemala. Cancuén var en hamnstad med stort inflytande i låglandet under den senklassiska epoken. Stadens tillväxt av influens och ekonomi skedde under det sena 700–talet e.vt. En våldsam händelse ca 800 e.vt ledde till döden av 50 individer av Cancuéns elit samt stadens egna kung. Två massgravar har påträffats i stadens hydraulsystem. Båda massgravar visar på en variation demografi för både sex och kön. En komparativ analys av osteologiska likheter och skillnader i massgravarna har baserats på osteologiska rapporter. Tidigare publikationer används i en analys av potentiella motivationer bakom massakern. Skeletal trauma i massgravarna samt dess omkringliggande kontext indikerar att en terminations ritual tagit palts efter massakern.

Mäns våld mot kvinnor är ett omfattande samhällsproblem, där internationell forskning visar att mäns våld mot kvinnor tenderar att öka under samhällskriser. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om öppenvårdens praktiska arbete med våldsutsatta kvinnor såväl påverkades som förändrades av covid-19-pandemin. Studien syftar också till att undersöka om socialarbetare inom öppenvården upplever att mäns våld mot kvinnor förändrades under pandemin och i så fall hur. Studien baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem socialarbetare inom öppenvården. För att analysera resultatet har tematisk analys tillämpats, med grund i de teoretiska begreppen handlingsutrymme, organisatorisk resiliens, makt och kontroll samt social isolering. Studien visar att våld gentemot kvinnor ökade och blev grövre under pandemin till följd av de restriktioner som infördes, samtidigt som färre kvinnor sökte hjälp för sin utsatthet under pandemin. Vidare förändrades öppenvårdens praktiska arbete på grund av pandemins restriktioner, gällande ett digitaliserat klientarbete och anpassade arbetssätt. Slutligen konstateras det att öppenvårdens praktiska arbete med våldsutsatta kvinnor återgått till hur det var innan pandemin, samtidigt som nya digitala möjligheter har uppkommit. Våldet har även ökat efter pandemin, vilket medfört att öppenvården idag har ett större fokus på våld samt bristfälliga resurser. / Men's violence against women is an extensive social problem, where international studies implies that men’s violence against women tend to increase during crises in the society.The aim of this study is to examine if the practical work in the open care with female victims of domestic violence was affected and changed due to the covid-19-pandemic. The study also aims to examine whether social workers in the open care experience that men's violence against women changed during the pandemic and if so how. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with five social workers in the open care. Thematic analysis has been applied to analyze the results, based on the theoretical concepts: capacity for action, organizational resilience, power, control and social isolation. The study indicates that the violence increased during the pandemic and was more severe due to the effects of the pandemic restrictions. Furthermore, the study found that although the violence increased, fewer victims sought aid during the pandemic. The pandemic also changed the practical work in the open care, regarding digitized client work and adapted working methods. Finally, the practical work in aid of abused women at the open care has mostly returned to pre-pandemic ways. However, digital opportunities have emerged. The domestic violence has also increased after the pandemic, resulting in a larger focus on violence and lack of resources in the open care today.

Most studies that deal with intimate partner violence (IPV) focus on men as the assailant and women as the victim. This study however explored how personnel within nonprofit men's shelters and crisis centers for men, work with male victims of IPV and what resources the personnel have to help these men. The central purpose was to get a broader understanding of IPV in Sweden by focusing on men's susceptibility, how it affects them and how well professionals and laymen within this field can work with male victims of IPV. The authors found that these businesses work with complex issues surrounding these men in borth different and equal ways.  The study was conducted using semi-structured qualitative interviews, and the number of interviewees was 9 people that currently work within the aforementioned men's shelters or crisis centers for men. From these interviews, the authors used content analysis to process and analyze the data. The interviewees mentioned that shame and stigmatization is highly prevalent in IPV affected men in heterosexual relationships regarding aspects of gender norms and masculinity, to the extent that it functions as a large barrier for many men in seeking help for their exposure to violence. This barrier is so large for these men that they more commonly deny their exposure to violence altogether or they become convinced that they are actually the perpetrators and not the victims.

Studien utforskar hur svenska nyhetsmediers rubriksättning medverkar till mediediskursen om mäns våld mot kvinnor. Genom feministisk kritisk diskursanalys undersöks hur rubrikers struktur konstruerar ansvar och skuld genom våldtäktsmyter och språkliga funktioner. Transitivitetsanalys utgör grunden för att studera de språkliga funktionerna och kombineras med teorin om våldtäktsmyter. Studien granskar rubriker från Sveriges fyra största nyhetstidningar: Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet när de rapporterar om våldtäktsfall som begåtts i Sverige.  Resultatet visar att det i rubrikerna förekommer våldtäktsmyter som tillsammans med språkliga funktioner, som nominalisering och passiv form, bidrar till en nedtoning av förövarens ansvar samt ger en ensidig bild av våldet. Studien visar även att skuldbeläggning av både offer och förövare sker genom uppseendeväckande titlar och omständigheter samt språkliga funktioner, vilket även ses bidra till ett upprätthållande av våldtäktsmyter. Myterna ter sig dock något mer diskreta jämfört med tidigare studier varför deras existens kan ses som mer raffinerad.  Synligheten av brottet och de inblandades könstillhörighet ses som en avgörande faktor i att skildra den strukturella samhällsproblematiken som det sexuella våldet utgör. Studien visar att en förändring av rubrikernas struktur och språk kan utgöra en omgående skillnad i hur ansvar och skuld konstrueras i mediediskursen om mäns våld mot kvinnor. / The study explores how the headlines of Swedish news media contribute to the media discourse on men's violence against women. Through feminist critical discourse analysis, it examines how the structure of headlines constructs responsibility and guilt through rape myths and linguistic functions. Transitivity analysis forms the basis for studying the linguistic functions and is combined with the theory of rape myths. The study examines headlines from Sweden's four largest newspapers: Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, and Svenska Dagbladet when reporting on rape cases that have occurred in Sweden.  The results show that the headlines contain rape myths that, together with linguistic functions such as nominalization and passive voice, contribute to downplaying the perpetrator's responsibility and provide a one-sided view of the violence. The study also reveals that blaming both the victim and the perpetrator occurs through sensational titles and circumstances, as well as linguistic functions, which are also seen to contribute to the perpetuation of rape myths. However, the myths appear somewhat more discreet compared to previous studies, which is why their existence can be seen as more refined.  The visibility of the crime and the gender identity of those involved are seen as crucial factors in depicting the structural societal problem that sexual violence represents. The study suggests that a change in the structure and language of headlines can make an immediate difference in how responsibility and guilt are constructed in the media discourse on men's violence against women.

Ce mémoire de maitrise s’intéresse aux expériences spécifiques des femmes en contexte sectaire. Partout dans le monde, les droits des femmes ainsi que leur liberté ne sont, pour certains, toujours pas acquis ou, dans certains cas, remis en question. Il est établi que certains types de crimes, notamment les agressions sexuelles, sont plus susceptibles d’être perpétrés à l’encontre des femmes, tout comme certains contextes, relations intimes ou conjugales en particulier, sont plus propices à voir se développer différentes formes de violence principalement dirigées contre les femmes. Considérant le fait que ce sont des types de violence que l’on retrouve également en contexte sectaire, il apparait alors pertinent d’étudier l’expérience de femmes au sein de ces communautés. À la lumière de ces éléments, ce mémoire a pour objectif principal de cerner l’expérience des filles et des femmes dans les groupes sectaires en mettant l’accent, le cas échéant, sur les expériences de victimisation, ceci à partir du témoignage d’anciennes membres de tels regroupements. À l’aide d’une méthodologie qualitative, huit entrevues en profondeur, de type entretiens semi-directifs, ont été menées avec d’anciennes membres de groupes sectaires. Les témoignages des participantes ont été analysés selon une perspective féministe, en se basant sur la théorie du contrôle coercitif de Stark (2007). Les résultats permettent de constater que les femmes sont soumises au contrôle coercitif par le leader, lequel est renforcé par les autres membres et parfois la famille, impliqués dans le groupe. Elles sont enfermées dans des rôles souvent issus d’une vision patriarcale de la place de la femme dans la société, les obligeant à répondre aux exigences du leader et de leur communauté d’appartenance. Les femmes rencontrent aussi des difficultés à la sortie du groupe, notamment en lien avec la recherche d’aide formelle. À la lumière des données recueillies, il se dégage un réel besoin de sensibilisation et de formation sur la compréhension des expériences sectaires spécifiques aux femmes dans le but de leur venir en aide tout en respectant ce qu’elles ont vécu. De même, de nouvelles pistes de recherche concernant spécifiquement l’expérience des femmes dans les sectes sont ouvertes, ce mémoire ne faisant, somme toute, qu’effleurer le sujet. Il aura néanmoins permis de montrer que le sujet mérite sans l’ombre d’un doute d’être davantage exploré. / This master's thesis focuses on the specific experiences of women in a cultic context. Throughout the world, women's rights and freedoms are, for some, still not acquired or, in some cases, questioned. It has been established that certain types of crime, specifically sexual assault, are more likely to be perpetrated against women, just as certain contexts, in for example in intimate relationships, are more conducive to the development of various forms of violence directed primarily against women. Considering that these types of violence are also found in cultic contexts, it seems relevant to study the experience of women within these communities. In light of these elements, the main objective of this thesis is to identify the experience of girls and women in cultic groups, with an emphasis on experiences of victimization, if applicable, based on the testimony of former members of such groups. Using a qualitative methodology, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with former female cult members. The participants' testimonies were analyzed from a feminist perspective, based on Stark's (2007) theory of coercive control. The results show that women are subject to the coercive control by the leader, which is reinforced by other members and sometimes by family members involved in the group. Participants are locked into roles that often stem from a patriarchal vision of women's place in society, forcing them to respond to the requirements of the leader and the community to which they belong. Women also encounter difficulties when they leave the group, particularly in relation to seeking formal help. Considering the data collected, there is a real need for awareness and training on understanding the specific cultic experiences of women in order to help them while respecting what they have experienced. Similarly, new avenues of research specifically concerning the experience of women in cults are open, as this thesis only scratches the surface of the subject. Nevertheless, it has had the merit of showing that the subject deserves without a shadow of a doubt to be investigated further.

Thesis (M.A. (Criminology and Criminal Justice)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study intended to explore Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) against women in the Seshego Zone 1 area, which is situated in the Polokwane Municipality of the Limpopo Province. The different types of IPV against women, the prevalence of IPV against women, the causes of IPV against women, the reasons for not reporting IPV against women, as well as the available measures taken to combat this scourge guided this study. This study followed a qualitative research approach, where 17 participants were purposively selected, and this was coupled with snowball sampling. Face-to-face in depth semi-structured interviews were utilised to collect data to explore the IPV against women. The collected data was analysed by means of Inductive Thematic Content Analysis (TCA). The responses were audio recorded and written down to add value to the study findings. Themes and sub-themes were solicited from the participants’ verbatim expressions. This study established that the rate of IPV against women cases are high and has been increasing during the period of study because the victims are not taken seriously when reporting. It was also confirmed that jealousy and poverty are the major causes of IPV against women in the area. The victims often fail to seek support and do not report to the police when the violence takes place. It was also evident that most people seem to lack exposure on the issues of IPV against women and the lack of economic and employment opportunities in the area hinder women empowerment against violence and this should be urgently addressed. This study recommends that the local police should learn to take the cases of IPV against women seriously so that the rate of violence can decrease and the victims of IPV against women should be able to identify the signs and prevalence of this practice to effectively prevent it. Moreover, the victims should be encouraged to report cases to the police, and they must demand progress reports on the cases. As a result, the women continue to suffer due to violence in the study area. Moreover, this study suggests that there must be local support groups for women who experience violence in the community to help in detailing the consequences of IPV against women. This should be aided by various awareness campaigns to alert men that IPV against women is a criminal offence, and it is punishable. The government should also support women to start small businesses to reduce full dependence on their partners, thereby reducing the risks of IPV.