我国家庭暴力犯罪的特征及其对策

家庭暴力是世界各国所面临的最复杂和冲突最激烈,同时也是最为隐蔽的一个严重社会问题。它所具有的普遍性、隐蔽性、逆变性、举证难、处理难等特征,决定了消除家庭暴力,应积极推进“社会性别特别关注”战略,将性别问题纳入决策主流;创设以政府为主导、多机构参与的反家庭暴力综合机制;深化“女性素质工程”,努力提高妇女自身的素质;加快我国《家庭暴力防治法》的立法进程,为规制家庭暴力、切实保护妇女的合法权益提供法律依据和社会支持。     

嫖宿幼女罪再思考——一种国际公约的视角

嫖宿幼女罪自其设立之时就在学者中间存有争议,近年来发生的几起影响较大的嫖宿幼女案,更将争论推向社会各界。在这些争论中,更多的意见是废除嫖宿幼女罪,将嫖宿幼女并人奸淫幼女,以强奸罪论处。从国际公约的视角来看,嫖宿幼女罪的罪名确属不当,然而,将嫖宿幼女合并于奸淫幼女的意见也值得商确,事实上也难以实现。综合考虑各种因素,建议废除嫖宿幼女罪,将嫖宿幼女当作强迫幼女卖淫,以强迫卖淫罪论处。     

The association between childhood sexual abuse and sexual coercion in men: a test of possible mediators

ABSTRACT

We examined the associations between childhood sexual abuse (CSA), childhood physical abuse (CPA), sexual domain variables, antisocial tendencies, and sexually coercive behaviour in a non-forensic sample of 173 heterosexual men. CSA was associated with paraphilic interests and experiences, a more extensive sexual life history, and early antisocial tendencies. CPA was associated with paraphilic interests and experiences, more self-reported delinquency, higher sensation seeking, and early antisocial tendencies. Sexual domain variables (e.g. number of sexual partners, sexual interest in sadomasochism) mediated the link between CSA and sexually coercive behaviour, but antisocial domain variables (e.g. delinquency, sensation seeking) did not. Of the two sexual domains examined, extensive sexual life history rather than paraphilias mediated the association between CSA and sexually coercive behaviour. These results suggest CSA and CPA are associated with both sexual and antisocial outcomes, and that, for some victims of CSA, having an extensive sexual life history may account for the association between CSA and sexually coercive behaviour later in life.     

Our wildest imagination: violence,narrative, and sympathetic identification

ABSTRACT

At this polarizing moment in American politics identifying with the experiences of others feels especially difficult, but it is vital for sharing a world in common. Scholars in a variety of disciplines have argued that narratives, and especially literary ones, can help us cultivate this capacity by soliciting sympathetic identification with particular characters. In doing so, narratives can help us to be more ethically and political responsive to other human beings. This is a limited view of the potential for narratives to solicit sympathetic identification, and it prevents us from identifying and grappling with our resistances to identifying with others. In this article I propose a more expansive view – inspired by Elizabeth Costello, a character in JM Coetzee’s novel of the same name – that there are no bounds to our capacities for sympathetic identification. Through critical readings of Waiting for the Barbarians and Animal Farm I explore the possibility that we might identify with people who cause others to suffer, and perhaps even with animals too. Both sorts of identification engender fierce resistance. Identifying with those who cause suffering demands that we grapple with our own capacities for cruelty and violence. Identifying with animals demands that we confront what is animal in ourselves – the perilous instincts that, unmoderated, incline us to aggression. Acknowledging and working through – without rejecting or disavowing – our capacities for cruelty and our animal instincts is necessary for the practices of sympathetic identification upon which sharing a world depends.     

‘Without Education You Can Never Become President’: Teenage Pregnancy and Pseudo-empowerment in Post-Ebola Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the emergence of ‘teenage pregnancy’ as a new policy focus in post-Ebola Sierra Leone and explores how Sierra Leoneans interpret the problem of ‘teenage pregnancy’. I argue that the new policy focus is not indicative of changing or new problems. Rather, ‘teenage pregnancy’ has created opportunities for donors and the Government of Sierra Leone to continue cooperation in gender politics. At the same time, Sierra Leoneans are clearly concerned about ‘teenage pregnancy’, and many agree with sensitization campaigns that responsibilize young women and girls while downplaying structural factors that render them vulnerable to arrangements involving transactional sex.     

Feminism in the Humanitarian Machine. Introduction to the Special Section on ‘The Politics of Intervention Against (Conflict-Related) Sexual and Gender-based Violence’

ABSTRACT

The prevention and mitigation of sexual and gender-based violence in (post-) conflict societies has become an important humanitarian activity. This introductory article examines the analytical discourses on these interventions, the institutionalization of SGBV expertise in international politics, and the emancipatory potential of anti-SGBV practices. It argues that the confluence of feminist professional activism and militarized humanitarian interventionism produced specific international activities against SGBV. As part of the institutionalization of gender themes in international politics, feminist emancipatory claims have been taken up by humanitarian organizations. The normal operating state of the humanitarian machine, however, undercuts its potential contribution to social transformation towards larger gender equality in (post-) conflict societies.     

Violence in the city that belongs to no one: urban distinctiveness and interconnected insecurities in Nairobi (Kenya)

ABSTRACT

Rapid urbanisation in the global South has prompted attention to the causes and dynamics of urban violence. Yet, much research tends to either analyse urban violence without attention to the broader conflict complexes of which it forms a part, neglecting linkages between different forms of urban violence and between urban and rural dynamics, or conversely study violence in cities without acknowledging the particularities of the urban context. In this article, we conceptualise urban violence, theorise how it is shaped by urban dynamics and explore its manifestations in Nairobi, Kenya. We find that while Nairobi is not uniquely violent inside Kenya, violence takes on distinct urban forms given city-level processes, and also that urban violence has led to policies that increase securitisation and militarisation of the city. Our analysis thus improves knowledge of how criminal and political violence is shaped by and shapes the stability of developing cities.     

Majoritarian values and women’s rights: police and judicial behavior in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan

This paper analyzes judicial and police behavior in dealing with cases of family violence and divorce in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. Police and judges deliberately violate existing legal provisions to prevent women from divorcing or filing charges against their husbands in cases of domestic violence. While the law does not recognize religious marriages in Tajikistan, judges often rule to protect women’s living space after the dissolution of such unions. Drawing on rich interview and archival data, this behavior is explained by showing that judicial and police behavior reflects their biases, which in turn are a reflection of majoritarian norms in these countries. Since current laws are derived from Soviet codes, which were never internalized by the population, police and judges bend them to fit their understanding of social justice.