The main topics of VAW

1

• The main topics of VAW

Giovanna Tagliacozzo
2
Which kind of information the essential issues
to know violence extension and nature

• Focus on physical and sexual violence (partner
  and non partner)
• Focus on domestic violence (Psychological and
  verbal violence, Economical violence, Stalking)
• Focus on
• Victims violence perception as a crime
• Seriousness (injuries and type of injuries,
  perceived seriousness, feeling of life in danger,
  use of medicines and therapy to cope with
  violence)
• Intensity (one or more times violence occurred,
  repetitiveness)
• Violence dynamics (arms, alcohol abuse of
  perpetrators)
• Reporting behaviour and women capacity of seeking
  for help (shelters, with whom women speak of
  violence, police relationship...)
• Children witness of violence
• Violence in pregnancy

3
Which kind of information the essential issues
to understand violence risk factors

• Abuse in WOMEN background
• Mother abuse history
• Childhood victimisation
• Abuse in the PARTNER background
• Experience of violence in childhood
• Witness of father violence against own mothers
• Individual factor risks partners related
• partners alcohol abuse
• Partner violent outside family too
• Social factor risks partner related
• Women considered as an object to denigration and
  berate

4
Le list can be composed

• intimate partner violence
• harmful traditional practices, including female
  genital mutilation/cutting
• female infanticide and prenatal sex selection
• early marriage, forced marriage, dowry-related
  violence
• crimes against women committed in the name of
  honour
• maltreatment of widows
• femicide
• sexual violence by non-partners
• Sexual harassment and violence in the workplace
  and elsewhere
• trafficking in women.

5
But- The list of violence forms can be not
exhaustive- Some countries may have or not to
have some violence forms- some violence forms
are temporally contextualized- Other countries
dont have the possibilities to collect data on
them- Some crimes are not easy to collect in a
population surveys
Le list can be composed

• intimate partner violence
• harmful traditional practices, including female
  genital mutilation/cutting
• female infanticide and prenatal sex selection
• early marriage, forced marriage, dowry-related
  violence
• crimes against women committed in the name of
  honour
• maltreatment of widows
• femicide
• sexual violence by non-partners
• Sexual harassment and violence in the workplace
  and elsewhere
• trafficking in women.

6
From violence definition

• Different forms of violence
• Verbal (critics, humiliations,)
• Psychological (downgrating, blackmail,
  intimidation)
• Economic (control of expenditure, no acces to
  money, no information on income)
• Stalking
• Physical
• Sexual

7
Psychological violence

• Most forms are not evident (threatening,
  downgrading, intimidation, limitation of freedom,
  excessive jealousy)
• Women rarely recognized it as violence
• Furthermore its not visible from a social point
  of view, so its difficult for women to speak
  about it and give vent to owns feeling
• Its culturally accepted that a woman has not to
  be autonomous thoughts, that she has to do what
  her husband is asking or that she is or thinks
  to be what her husband tell her.
• It could be measured considering the different
  aspects of the daily life

8
Psychological violence

• denigration
• behaviour control
• segregation strategies
• intimidations
• heavy financial restraint
• suffered by partners side

9
Now, I would like to ask about some situations
that can happen in relationships. Would you say
your husband/partner/ boyfriend

• Get angry if you talk to other men?
• Humiliate or offend you in front of other people,
  for example
• Treating you as if you were stupid, making fun
  of your ideas, or telling personal things about
  you?
• 3 Criticise you for how you look, how you dress
  or how you do your hair, for example by saying
• That you are unattractive, Inadequate?
• 4 Criticise you for how you look after the home,
  for How you cook, or how you educate your
  children, for example by saying that you are
  incapable and good for nothing?
• 5 Ignore you, not talk to you, not listen to
  you, for example by not considering what You have
  to say or not answering your questions?
• Insult you or say horrible things to you that
  make you feel bad?

10

• Try to limit your relationship with your family
  or with your friends?
• Prevent you or try to prevent you from working?
  
• Prevent or try to prevent you from studying or
  doing other things that get you out of the house?
  
• Tell you how to dress, do your hair, or behave
  in public?
• Constantly doubt your faithfulness?
• Follow you or watch your movements in a way that
  scares you?
• Constantly check how much and how you are
  spending?
• Prevent you from knowing the figure of the family
  income?
• Prevent you from using your own money or the
  family's money?
• Damage or destroy your things or other objects
  or personal belongings of yours?
• Hurt or threaten to hurt your children?
• Hurt or threaten to hurt people that are close
  to you?
• Hurt or threaten to hurt your animals, if you
  have any?
• Threaten to kill himself?

11
Nature of violence - Stalking

• tried in a nagging way to talk to the woman
  against her will
• repeatedly asked for appointments to meet her
• waited for her outside home or at school or at
  work
• sent messages, telephone calls,
• e-mails, mails or undesired presents
• followed her or spied her
• adopted other strategies

12
Nature of violence physical violence

• ranked from the less to the most serious one
• threat to be physically hit
• to be pushed, grabbed
• to be yanked or knocked with an object
• to be slapped, kicked, punched or
• bitten
• attempted strangulation, of a choking,
• burning
• threats with weapons
• Other physical violence

13
Nature of violence sexual violence

• rape
• other form of rape (anal or oral penetration)
• (only if woman says no at rape question)
• attempted rape
• sexual intercourses with a third party
• undesired sexual intercourses, suffered
• for fear of consequences
• degrading and humiliating sexual activities
• (only for partner violence)
• other sexual violence forms not included before

14
Author of violence

• Current
• Previous
• Husband
• Cohabitant
• Fiancé

Partner Non partner

• Unknown persons
• Acquaintances
• Friends
• Colleagues
• Family friends
• Relatives
• Others

15
Occurrence period

• partner violence
• the period is identified by the relationship
• non partner violence
• since 16teen years old
• before 16teen years old
• forced sexual activities by everyone
• physical violence by parents

16
Reference period

• the life course
• the 12 last months (before the interviews)
• But many other periods can be used
• before 20 years ago
• 10-20 years ago
• 5-10 years ago
• the last five years.

17
Intensity of violence

• More complex issue
• How to ask numbers of incidents
• Do women remember well?
• Subjective dimension in quantifying series of
  incidents
• How to count series of incidents

18
Intensity of violence

• numbers of incidents
• How many times did it happen? /_/_/
• dont know/dont remember
• how often did it happen?
• every day/almost every day
• one or more times a weeks (1-3)
• one or more times a month (1-3)
• one or more times a year
• only in particular periods of the year but in
  repetitively way
• dont know/dont remember dont answer/refuse

19
Intensity of violence

• Until now is more useful
• An indicator of violence occurred once/more than
  once
• Working progress
• indicator of frequency calculating the percentage
  of violence suffered 1, 2, 3, more than 3 times
• (where the last category includes also the
  answers related to how often it happened)
• or
• Indicator translating the number value, sometimes
  very high, for example 30, 45, 97 in the
  qualitative items.

20
Victims and offender characteristics

• geographical area
• victims characteristics
• age
• civil status
• level of education,
• professional status, etc
• offenders characteristic

21
Violence Seriousness

• Critics aspects
• information on the last episodes
• ambivalence of seriousness measure
• reporting behaviour
• getting in touch with shelters or other
  specialised agency
• Injuries and types of injuries
• use of alcohol or medication
• Use of professional counselling to cope with
  violent experience
• regarding to the incident as a crime
• Possibility of ranking the screening questions
• Use of frequency
• Use of violence length (duration)

22
Violence details

• Episode contextualization (Place, period of the
  year)
• Authors characteristics
• Episode details
• Seriousness and consequences of violence
• Victim behaviors and reaction
• Relation with police
• Seeking for help
• Violence story in case of domestic violence
• including violence when the victim is pregnant
• children witness of the violence
• children as victims of violence
• Attempts to escape from violence
• Economic loss and cost
• Consequences

23
Questionnaire sections

• SCR_NP Non partner violence screening
• REP_NP Non-partner victimisation report
• CRT_PR Characteristics of current intimate
  partner
• SCR_PR Actual partner violence screening
• SCR_EX Former partners violence screening
• CRT_EX Characteristics of violent previous
  intimate partner
• REP_PR Partner victimisation report
• H History of violence in the family of origin
  endured by the partner of the interviewee
  and by the interviewee