Longer Term Impact of Bystander Training to Reduce Violence Acceptance and Sexism

ABSTRACT

Many bystander programs to prevent violence have been developed and evaluated in college populations. An exception is the randomized controlled trial of Green Dot, found effective in reducing violence rates and violence acceptance in 26 high-schools (2010–2014). In ‘Life’s Snapshot’, 10,727 seniors were recruited from these same schools with the goal of determining the longer-term efficacy of bystander training. Students in intervention schools could have up to three years of Green Dot exposure. Seniors from intervention versus control schools had significantly lower scores (p <.01) indicating less violence acceptance or sexism for two of five measures. Seniors’ self-reports of bystander training received confirmed these findings. These cross-sectional analyses suggest that some reductions in violence acceptance associated with bystander programming may be maintained into early adulthood.     

Reactions to Affirmative Action: Group Membership and Social Justice

A program designed for either women, visible minorities, or disabled persons was rated by 264 women and men respondents. An analysis of variance revealed that reactions to affirmative action varied according to the sex of the respondent and the group targeted by the policy. Further analyses were conducted to examine the effects of two social justice concerns on support for affirmative action, that is, scope of justice (extending fair treatment onto others) and perceived threat on behalf of nondesignated groups. According to findings, the link between social justice concerns and reactions to the policy was affected by the group targeted by affirmative action. Furthermore, both social justice concerns were not equally important predictors of attitudes toward affirmative action for women and men respondents.     

Women as Active Citizens: Glasgow and Edinburgh c.1918–1939

This article examines evidence of active political engagement by women in Edinburgh and Glasgow in the inter-war years of the twentieth century. While discussing the wider context of women's political activities in this period, in terms of party politics and the range of women's organisations in existence, it focuses in particular on Women Citizens’ Associations, Societies for Equal Citizenship and Co-operative Women's Guild branches. Comparing interventions by such women's organisations in the two cities around the selected themes of political representation, housing, ‘moral and social hygiene’, and contraception, the article demonstrates that women's organisations participated in public debates and campaigns to advance what they perceived as women's interests. Temporary alliances around issues such as the regulation of prostitution and provision of contraceptive advice brought together a range of women's organisations, but class differences in perspectives became increasingly apparent in this period, particularly in Glasgow. The issues addressed by women's organisations covered the spectrum of ‘equal rights’ and ‘welfare feminism’, although they did not necessarily identify as feminist. Common to all organisations, however, was a commitment to active citizenship, with women becoming a recognised part of local political networks in this period, although they remained poorly represented in parliament.     

Repairing rifts or reproducing inequalities? Agroecology,food sovereignty,and gender justice in Malawi

ABSTRACT

This Malawi study examines whether agroecology can be effectively used by smallholders to address food sovereignty. We build on the concept of the metabolic rift, arguing that repairing this rift includes social relations. Agroecological methods can be important strategies, but are labour and knowledge intensive, and require addressing power dynamics within and beyond households in order to address food sovereignty. The case study included participatory methods of dialogue, experimentation and horizontal learning to foster change. We argue that feminist concepts of intersectionality and participatory praxis are central to mobilizing agroecology to build food sovereignty and work to transform social relations.     

Manning the State: European Early-Nineteenth-Century Masculinities in the New Norway of 1814

Gender historians have identified the period around 1800 as a crucial time for transforming elite masculinities in Europe: there were shifts away from ideals of polite gentlemen towards more martial forms of manhood; and this was a transition period away from more fluid notions of masculinity and an emphasis on the mixing of male and female towards a period of upholding stricter binaries between male and female. This article contributes to scholarship on the intersection of masculinities and states by centring on the formation of a new, partially independent Norway around 1814, when the Norwegian constitution was crafted. I use the analysis of Norway as an entry to exploring broader European trends at that time. As this article will show, Norwegian ideals of masculinity suitable for state office are a good illustration of more general interpretations of elite manhood in northern Europe. Norwegian constructions did offer a twist, however, as they idealized the Norwegian elite male as rough, unsophisticated, and natural. In contrast with other forms of elite state-bearing European masculinity, which emphasized advancement and cultivation, Norwegian masculinity was celebrated for its lack of refinement.