An Analysis of Advertisements: A Lens for Viewing the Social Exclusion of Women in Police Imagery

This study examines whether there are differential relationships among trauma exposure, familial risk and protective factors, substance abuse, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among incarcerated and non-incarcerated women. A case-control method was used to match 100 incarcerated women with 100 women in the general population. Incarcerated women had a significantly higher risk of trauma exposure as compared with controls, with odds ranging from 1.7 to 3.7. When group was controlled, exposure to sexual or physical trauma significantly increased the odds of PTSD (odds ratio = 5.0; p < .05), as did substance use in response to traumatic distress (odds ratio = 8.9; p < .001). Family-related characteristics did not appear to moderate this relationship. The findings suggest that incarcerated women are at high risk for PTSD given their high rates of trauma exposure and apparent lack of appropriate coping mechanisms; the results support the use of trauma-specific interventions for this population.     

“The Judge Didn't Sentence Me to Be Raped”: Tracy Neal v. Michigan Department of Corrections: A 15-Year Battle Against the Sexual Abuse of Women Inmates in Michigan

This research traces the history of Tracy Neal v. Michigan Department of Corrections, a class action lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections that alleged the sexual abuse of women prisoners spanning more than two decades. The litigation resulted in combined jury verdicts of more than $30 million for the plaintiffs and a $100 million settlement that included extensive injunctive relief. This article examines the abuses and conditions suffered by female inmates in Michigan prisons, the court decisions, jury trials, and settlement. Drawing on interviews from several lead attorneys for the plaintiffs, the article provides an examination of the circumstances, discusses litigation strategy, and highlights lessons from Neal that could be relevant to civil rights scholars and advocates. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact and future implications of this case.     

Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Substance-Using Women Entering Cook County Jail

In the United States, the number of incarcerated women continues to rise each year, with African American women having the highest incarceration rates. Many women enter prisons and jails with an extensive trauma history, though little is known about the percentage of these individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and specific trauma exposures they have had based on factors such as homelessness, degree of substance problems, and race. The present study examines a largely African American substance-using population of incarcerated women to determine the impact of various factors on specific traumas reported. We found that individuals reporting symptoms meeting criteria for PTSD had experienced the highest average number of traumas, and those who had ever been homeless also experienced many and varied trauma exposures compared with those who had never been homeless. Higher substance problems were also associated with more trauma exposure. Fewer than 10 percent of the sample met full criteria for PTSD, though those reporting having ever been homeless and those with higher substance problems were significantly more likely to meet all criteria. Results indicate a need to assess previous homelessness as a method for identifying additional trauma exposures and guiding treatment to women's specific needs and trauma profiles.     

The Gender Paradox in Prison Suicide Rates

Few studies of prison suicide have focused on suicide among female inmates, and even fewer studies have provided comparisons of rates by gender. Using national data on U.S. prisons and suicide, this study examined the “gender paradox” in prison suicide rates by comparing suicide rates of female and male inmates and U.S. residents and then examined characteristics of prisons that reported suicides. Findings indicated that rates of suicide in prison were similar for female and male inmates, but rates were higher for female inmates and lower for male inmates compared to the respective rates for female and male U.S. residents. Prisons that reported female suicides evidenced significant differences in prison conditions, including higher assault rates and mental health service utilization, compared to prisons for males and female prisons without suicide. Implications of the findings for understanding the gender paradox and for prison suicide prevention are discussed.     

浅论农村留守妇女权益的缺失及保障

由于农村留守妇女特殊的生存环境与地位,使其不但承受着来自生产、生活、精神三个方面的压力,难以享受到小康社会的福祉,而且诸多权益难以保障致使其沦落为一个弱势群体。这种现象不但影响着农村留守妇女的全面健康发展,更影响着社会的和谐稳定与新农村建设。所以,通过整合社会资源,建立健全农村留守妇女的制度保障体系,为农村留守妇女提供强有力的权益保障和支持,培养并提高农村留守妇女的权利意识和能力,具有重要的社会意义。     

论湖南农村留守妇女之特性与救助策略

湖南农村留守妇女承受着与全国其他农村留守妇女一样的苦与痛。与此同时,湖南独特的地理位置、人文环境,也造就了她们与众不同的特性。对待湖湘留守妇女的救济,着力点应为大湘西,需采取针对性的举措予以切实救济。     

我国妇女参政议政的历史变迁刍议

妇女解放是人类社会进步的重要尺度,而妇女参政议政则是妇女解放的高级形式。改革开放给妇女参政议政提供机遇和挑战的同时也为妇女参政议政开创了崭新局面,取得了令人瞩目的成就。新时期科学发展观的提出,进一步强调了妇女参政议政的时代诉求,我们必须按照科学发展观的要求进一步提升妇女参政议政的水平,让妇女真正起到"半边天"的作用。     

Gender,Culture and the Law: Approaches to ‘Honour Crimes’ in the UK

This article examines the debate on whether to analyse ‘honour crimes’ as gender-based violence, or as cultural tradition, and the effects of either stance on protection from and prevention of these crimes. In particular, the article argues that the categorisation of honour-related violence as primarily cultural ignores its position within the wider spectrum of gender violence, and may result in a number of unfortunate side-effects, including lesser protection of the rights of women within minority communities, and the stigmatisation of those communities. At the same time it is problematic to completely dismiss any cultural aspects of violence against women, and a nuanced approach is required which carefully balances the benefits and detriments of taking cultural factors into account. The article examines the issues within the context of the legal response to cases involving honour-related violence, arguing that although the judiciary has in a number of cases inclined towards viewing ‘honour’ as primarily cultural rather than patriarchal, in some cases they have begun to take a more gender-based or ‘mature multiculturalism’ approach.

Interrogating ‘invisibilization’ and ‘instrumentalization’: women and current citizenship trends in Canada

This paper examines current citizenship discourses and practices in Canada, focusing on the implications not only of marketization, but also of growing securitization vis-à-vis citizenship, and the gendered ramifications of such developments. The repercussions of marketization and securitization and their interrelations, for women in general, as well as racialized and immigrant women in particular, are outlined and assessed. In this way, we see how women are at the receiving end of highly contradictory processes in that they are both ‘invisibilized’, in other words, rendered invisible, by the Canadian state, but are also are increasingly ‘instrumentalized’, in other words, used in strategic ways. Yet, women also challenge these trends and tactics, thereby interrogating these processes that serve to limit the terms and scope of citizenship in Canada.     

Sex workers’ responses to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This article engages with the voices of women sex workers during the peak of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in New Zealand. The late-1980s saw the formation of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective, a sex worker led organisation that contracted with the government to provide a community-based national response to HIV and AIDS. The article explores the challenges sex workers faced to sustain and implement the use of condoms in their daily professional and personal lives. These included pressure from clients to forego the use of condoms, the risk of carrying condoms amidst the threat of arrest, and the struggle to manage the use of condoms in their personal sex lives. The paper traces both the widespread support for safe sex and the fractures and tensions that emerged as many sex workers mobilised to establish a community-based response to one of the most devastating health crises of the late-twentieth century.