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Tonic immobility (TI) is a common uncontrollable autonomic mammalian response to an extremely fearful situation. It is one of the most immediate devastating consequences of rape and remains poorly understood. While controversies over its definition persist among researchers, this also reflects on the care for and support to victims. The study aimed to explore and describe the onset of TI and the meaning attached to the experience among women raped victims in Nigeria. The study design was the qualitative narrative inquiry approach. Criterion and purposive sampling were conducted across four post-rape care facilities in Lagos, Nigeria, to recruit 13 participants. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide to generate data that were thematically analysed. The findings of the study revealed five themes relating to the onset of TI as follows: the first two focused on the experience of TI: (1) the onset of TI prior to rape due to perceived imminent danger, (2) the onset of TI as a self-protection mechanism from further harm) while the last three relate to the meaning-making of the experience of TI (3) self-loathing as a meaning attached to TI, (4) suicidal ideations as a meaning attached to TI, and (5) divine intervention as a meaning attached to TI. Conclusion: The findings underscore the experiences and meanings that participants attach to TI following rape. There is a strong likelihood that tonic-immobility is not an uncommon experience amongst rape victims, but that in the absence of research, specialized care on the condition, and its associated consequences will haunt many women, affecting their psychological well-being and their entire quality of life. Describing the phenomenon as it is experienced by the participants is critical because understanding the condition is the first step toward effective appropriate management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in addressing the issue of rape among underage girls in Nigeria. It highlights the high prevalence of rape cases and the challenges in obtaining verifiable evidence to hold offenders accountable. The article suggests that AI tools such as surveillance devices, facial recognition, DNA matching, and video analysis can be utilized to establish evidence in these cases. It emphasizes the need for comprehensive efforts, including training security personnel and government investment in AI technology, to protect and support victims and deter potential perpetrators. The article also acknowledges the cultural and societal factors that contribute to the persistence of rape cases and calls for raising awareness and encouraging victims to come forward without fear of intimidation. [Extracted from the article]

Research on victim blame in rape has tended to focus on what characteristics cause more victim blame, and the negative effects of victim blaming for victims. Less research has been conducted on the consequences of victim blame for the individual doing the blaming. The current research tests the hypothesis that women blaming other female victims of rape might consequently engage in risk reduction strategies. Using Bayesian modeling, Study 1 examined if blame predicted heightened risk perception, with the results confirming the hypothesized positive relationship. Study 2 examined if blame predicted the change in the number of risk behaviors exhibited by participants over several weeks, with the results showing that there was not the hypothesized interaction between blame and risk over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study analyzes the Moroccan online newspapers' headlines talking about rape crimes in Morocco. Different Moroccan online newspapers are dealt with to find out the way victims of rape are represented. By applying Critical Discourse Analysis which draws upon Halliday's transitivity system and naming analysis, the study seeks to probe into the way female victims of rape are depicted in the headlines of Moroccan online newspapers. The study focuses on the way language is used in headlines because it can play a powerful role in shaping public opinion about rape crimes in Morocco. The results show that the headlines of Moroccan online newspapers focus more on the age of both the offenders and the female victims of rape crimes which contributes to depicting them as being helpless and holding no responsibility and creates a horrible visual image in the minds of the readers about the awfulness of the crimes on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Pumla Dineo Gqola's book "Female Fear Factory," exploring the concept of the female fear factory and its impact on women in various contexts, such as migration, higher education, and pandemics. The book delves into the interlocking relationship between fear and shame, the fluency of fear as a language, and the mythologizing of sexual violence in public discourse and highlights the paradoxes surrounding female fear.

Compared to female rape victims, the literature addressing male rape victims remains a growing area of interest for counselors and scholars. This article aims to review the growing literature on male sexual assault victims. Specifically, the review will examine the literature on male victims of sexual assault in nine sections: (a) an overview of male sexual assault, (b) male rape myths, (c) prevalence, (d) responses to male victimization, (e) populations and perpetrators of male victimization, (f) risk factors, (g) reporting, (h) the impact of sexual assault on men, (i) help-seeking, and (j) implications for counseling. Empirical studies, case reports, and books are included in the review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the successes of the 1960s Anti-Rape Movement, modern state rape statutes continue to prioritize white male perspectives and perceptions of race, ultimately ignoring the intersectional identity of Black women and leaving these victims without legal protection. This Note examines rape law's history of allocating agency along gendered and racialized lines through statutory construction and other discursive techniques. Such legal constructions both uphold and cultivate the white victim/Black assailant rape dyad primarily by making the Black male the "ultimate" and most feared assailant. Rape law's adherence to a white baseline sustains stereotypes of Black men as criminals and predators, which ultimately relegates Black women to a category of lesser and undeserving victims. Re-focusing rape reform and feminist movements on Black female experiences, as well as a rhetorical restructuring of rape laws, can improve rape law uniformity and remove white normativity standards. A departure from the current rhetorical and realized white baseline can eliminate rape law's delineations of femininity that silence women of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our commentary responds to claims made by DiMarco and colleagues in an article published in this journal that the majority of victims of rape are men and that 80% of those who rape men are women. Although we strongly believe that studying male sexual victimization is a highly important research and policy endeavour, we have concerns with the approach taken by DiMarco and colleagues to discuss these incidents. Specifically, we critique their paper by addressing the definitions of rape used by the authors, questioning their interpretation of national victim surveys, evaluating their analysis of the underreporting of male rape, and highlighting the heteronormative framework they use to outline the landscape of male sexual victimization. With this commentary, we call for a holistic, nuanced, and balanced study of male sexual victimization that recognizes the reality of both female-on-male and male-on-male violence, the experiences of survivors, and multi-layered barriers that male victims often encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

238 pp. reviewed by Kanchan Biswas Sarah Lamb, Professor of Anthropology configures her ethnographic studies on gender and identity formation among different age cohorts, with primary focus on west Bengal India. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. The biographies discussed in this chapter also reveal the variations that happen across class which determine women's understandings of sexuality and affection (love). [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Phobia is a mental disorder that can occur following rape and pose a serious threat to women's health. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of paranoia in female victims of rape referred to Isfahan Forensic Medicine Center in 2014. Methods: This descriptive study included 93 women rape victims referred to Isfahan Forensic Medicine Center who were randomly selected. The study tool was the demographic information and mental health questionnaire scl-90. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation, independent t test, one-way analysis of variance in SPSS version 17 were used to analyze the data. Results: This study showed that there was a significant positive correlation between rape and phobia (P < 0.001) so that the prevalence of phobia in people who were raped was moderate to high. Also 9.1% (8 people) of mild phobias (scores 1–0), 79.5% (70 people) moderate phobias (scores 1–1) and 11.4% (10 people) phobias in the range Severe (scores 4–3) reported. Of the seven sub-indices in the phobia section, 52.3% (46 people) had very unreasonable fears. Approximately 52.3% (46 people) were afraid of traveling, 46.6% (41 people) were afraid of being alone. Going, 38.6% (34 people) fear of the market, 51.1% (45 people) anxiety, 12.5% (11 people) feeling of alienation, 1.1% (1 person) fear of fainting in total. Conclusion: Due to the increasing number of rapes in women and the recognition of rape as a factor disrupting mental health, strategies and resources should be provided to prevent rape against women and its adverse consequences, including phobia and early diagnosis and treatment of this complication and other complications Be allocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the assumption that there is a particular way newspapers often use language to represent female rape victims (FRVs) and the insufficiency of existing studies on the linguistic representation of FRVs in Nigerian newspapers, this study critically discusses the linguistic and discursive tools that are deployed by selected Nigerian newspapers to represent FRVs in their reports. Aspects of Halliday's transitivity system and Lazar's notion of feminist critical discourse analysis served as framework. The framework was complemented with the use of Voyant tools to determine the preponderance of word choice in news reports. Rape reports published between January, 2020 and December, 2020 by The Punch, The Guardian, Vanguard and Daily Trust were purposively retrieved and constituted the data for this study. Data engagement revealed that FRVs were imbued with five representations: patriarchal preys, object of sexual gratification, anonymized and pseudonymized victims, objects of pity and victims of dual jeopardy. The social implications of these representations aligned with patriarchal practices such as androcentrism, incest, mental abuse and sexual assault while the gender biases implicated in the representation included the projection of female as inferior, powerless and emotional beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we compared changes in female rape myth acceptance (RMA) between 1998 and 2018 in two separate samples of college students from the same university in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The primary measure was the Attitudes Toward Rape Victims Scale (ARVS). First, we examined the factor structure of the ARVS with confirmatory factor analysis, finding good fit for a four-factor model comprising Assigning Blame or Responsibility to the Victim (Blame/Responsibility), Considering the Victim as Deserving of Sexual Violence (Deserving), Undermining the Victim's Credibility (Undermine Credibility), and Trivializing the Experience or Denigrating the Victim (Trivialization/Denigration). Second, we used profile analysis, a type of multivariate repeated-measures ANOVA, to examine the main and interactive effects of Survey Year, Gender, and ARVS Subscale and Item within each subscale. At the subscale level, we found large main effects for Survey Year, Gender, and Subscale, with lower scores for the 2018 sample, women, and Deserving and Trivialization/Denigration, relative to Undermine Credibility and Blame/Responsibility. We also found interactions between Survey Year and Subscale and Gender and Subscale, indicating non-parallel profiles for the 1998 versus 2018 samples and women versus men. We found similar patterns at the item level within each subscale. These results indicate a substantial decline of female RMA in college students over a 20-year period, replicate the well-established gender difference in female RMA, and demonstrate that RMA varies by item content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we extend prior research on objectification theory by integrating fear of rape into a mediation model predicting depression in college women. With a sample of 496 U.S. college women 18–37 years-old, we examined three aspects of fear of rape (taking rape precautions, safety concerns, and fear of men), along with body shame and appearance anxiety, as potential mediators in the linkage of interpersonal sexual objectification through body surveillance to depression. We found that sexual objectification was associated with more body surveillance, which in turn was related to more body shame, greater appearance anxiety, more rape precautions, greater safety concerns, and more fear of men. Body shame, appearance anxiety, and fear of men were related to more depression whereas taking rape precautions was related to less depression and safety concerns was not related to depression. Direct relations between sexual objectification and depression, body shame, and the three aspects of fear of rape also emerged. A majority of indirect effects was also significant. Our results suggest that women's fear of rape is an additional explanatory variable in understanding how interpersonal sexual objectification is related to women's mental health concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because female rape survivors who are listened to and believed have been found to have fewer difficulties, it is essential that researchers examine factors that influence the social reactions survivors receive. The present experiment included 397 female U.S. college-students who were randomly assigned to read a vignette that either reflected an acknowledged rape survivor (i.e., used the word "rape" to describe the incident) or described an unacknowledged rape survivor (e.g., used the word "miscommunication" to describe the incident). The college women then answered questions about their own levels of rape myth rejection and indicated on measures of positive social reactions, negative social reactions, and victim blame how they would respond to the hypothetical rape survivor. The results demonstrated that the female participants' answers on positive social reactions and victim blame were a function of both the survivors' acknowledgment status and the participants' rape myth rejection. The interaction was not supported for negative social reactions, but this non-finding may have stemmed from a restricted range of variance and overall low scores on that variable. The results are discussed in the context of both individual and systemic interventions that may lead to more positive, helpful, and affirming responses to survivors via the reduction of rape myths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. In Colombia, the violation of human rights since sexual violence has been a constant. This type of violence has been potentiated and made invisible in the context of the armed conflict in the country. This research seeks to understand the conceptualization of sexual violence by women victims of the armed conflict, in order to make their voices known for the clarification of truth and reparation. Method. The study is carried out under the qualitative methodology which makes it possible to analyze the context, identify the phenomenon and understand the meaning that the social actors print to their actions and to the lived reality. Information was collected through indepth interviews to find out the personal stories of the victims, 21 in-depth interviews were conducted and a focus group with 13 victims in the North- Western and Caribbean regions. Conclusion. The victims do not conceive a unique definition of sexual violence, for them there are different types and definitions of it, which are directly related to their feelings and the meaning they have attributed to their experience in the multiplicity of sexual assaults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual assault is highly prevalent and a significant public health problem. The responsibility for sexual assault lies solely with the perpetrator, yet interventions to change perpetrators' behavior are scarce, making research focused on identifying factors that increase risk for sexual victimization a necessary complement to work on sexual aggression. The present study used mixed-method methodology to develop a measure of sexual assault risk called the Sexual Assault Script Scale (SASS). In three separate studies, we surveyed 1031 U.S.undergraduate heterosexual or bisexual women on the extent to which they believed certain contextual and interpersonal features were likely to be present during an assault. Factor analytic models replicated across studies ultimately yielded a 27-item measure with four internally consistent subscales: Stereotypical Assault Scripts, Acquaintance Assault Scripts, Assault Resistance Scripts, and Date/Friend Assault Scripts. Structural regressions revealed significant associations of the subscales with measures of prior sexual victimization, alcohol risk, number of sexual partners, and sociosexuality, providing support for the criterion validity of the measure. The SASS may prove to be a cost effective, easy-to-administer tool for assessing women's scripts and identifying those women who may be at increased risk for victimization, thus providing opportunities for targeted prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black women experience higher rates of sexual assault or rape than their White counterparts and the U.S. Department of Justice finds only one Black woman out of 15 will report her rape. This article reviews the literature on the ways in which Black women's sexual assault disclosure experiences are framed by their unique social space at the margins of society due to systemic oppression based on race, gender, and class (Settles, Pratt‐Hyatt, and Buchanan). We situate this review around three major areas of marginalization: (a) the delegitimization of Black women as victims of rape, (b) the social construction of Black women as inordinately strong, and (c) the sanctioning of intraracial sexual assault disclosure. Despite a call for action by Angela Davis in 1985, Black women's unique and varied intersectional experiences around sexual assault and disclosure are understudied. We implore scholars to continue this important research and conclude this article with insights on future research and activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses John Milton's reference to the biblical story of Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, in his poem "A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle." Topics covered include the similarities between Dinah and the Lady of Milton's masque, both as rape victims who are silent or have been silenced, the masque's relation to the legal rape narrative of fourteen-year-old Margery Evans in 1631, and the Deuteronomic law on rape.

Native women and girls suffer sexual violence at the highest rate of any demographic in the United States—primarily perpetrated by non-Native assailants. In this essay, we explore how dominant Euro-American discourses regarding trauma, sexual violence, and indigenous peoples complicate this epidemic. These discourses individualize trauma, assign it an unrealistic linear timeline that presupposes a stable subject position, and ignore the experiences of women of color. Such rhetoric renders Native bodies as disposable and disguises structural oppression by blaming women for the sexual violence committed against them. Ultimately, we argue that rhetoric of survivance, which combines survival, endurance, and resistance to assert Native presence over historical absence and perceived oblivion, creates a space in which communities disproportionately affected by violence can simultaneously practice collective coping methods while also challenging dominant discourses. To advance this argument we conduct a rhetorical analysis of the illustrated handbook, What to Do When You're Raped: An ABC Handbook for Native Girls, which was produced by a Native American women's organization to address sexual violence. We explore how four central characteristics of survivance—infinitive temporality, storytelling, collective agency, and structural critique—assert Native presence and make visible the problem of sexual violence against Native women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various scholars have noted that the label "victim" frequently elicits connotations of stereotypical, passive femininity—especially when the crime entails rape or other forms of sexual violence. In three online experimental studies, British respondents were recruited to test whether written information about a sexual assault led observers to perceive the victim as more feminine in terms of character traits and facial appearance. Study 1 (n = 139) compared observers' perceptions of a male victim to a man accused of sexual assault and a control condition. Study 2 (n = 165) was a conceptual replication, replacing the male with a female target. Study 3 (n = 278) extended Study 1 by adding a condition with a male victim of physical assault and another with a man who had engaged in consensual homosexual sex in order to assess whether feminizing effects were unique to victimization by sexual assault. Results revealed partial support for the feminization hypothesis. Male and female victims were consistently attributed fewer proscriptive masculine traits than target persons in other conditions, as well as more prescriptive feminine traits than target persons in the accused condition. Results for the feminization of facial features were inconsistent. We discuss potential implications of the results for sexual violence awareness-raising campaigns and understanding victims' potential identity struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates violent stranger rapes and the factors leading these cases to sexual homicides. Variables relating to modus operandi characteristics on one part and offender behavior on the other part are examined using conjunctive analysis of cases configuration to identify the different combinations leading to a lethal outcome. Using a French sample of 1263 cases of violent rapes and 303 cases of sexual homicides involving female adult victims, we find that blows given by offenders and information about physical resistance of victims are strongly associated intentional and non-intentional sexual homicides. Psychoactive substance consumption by offenders as well associal isolation are in a lesser extend also associated with the lethal outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rape myths are false beliefs about sexual violence that encourage blaming the victim and exonerating the offender. Within the framework of the Ambivalent Sexism Theory, we tested a model investigating the effect of each dimension of ambivalent sexism on the endorsement of each rape myth, and in turn the effect of each myth on the attribution of responsibility (to the perpetrator vs. to the victim) in case of sexual violence. Participants were 264 students (54.9% females). Results showed that hostile sexism toward women fostered the endorsement of each myth, whereas benevolence toward men enhanced the myth 'He didn't mean to' and this increased the perception of the victim's responsibility. Implications in developing interventions to de-construct rape myths are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case of R v Clarkson (1971) concerns the complicity of three non-participating observers to a vicious gang rape. The observers were charged with 'encouraging' the rape, but this was rejected by the Court of Appeal on the ground that two of them had been 'mere' observers, and there was no evidence that they had encouraged the perpetrators by word or gesture. This case is regularly cited to this day, without critical comment, as a limit on complicity under English common law. In this article, I want to challenge the Court of Appeal's judgment and argue that the two observers should have been found complicit. My argument is based on the special nature of rape, and the capacity for a male observer to compound the female victim's humiliation by their mere presence. My argument is even more justified in the case of Clarkson, I argue, because it took place on a British army base abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited research in South Africa that has analysed the experiences of child and youth victims of crime and sexual victimisation who accessed formal response services through the victim empowerment programme. The primary aim of this article is to explore children and youth's experiences of accessing the Victim Empowerment Programmatic services, through the criminal justice system in South Africa. The focus of the article is on childrens' disclosure, reporting and social support. The participants in the study are male and female victim/survivor of crime between the ages of 12–17 years who has been through a Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) for at least 12 months. The Victim Empowerment Programme is a governmental programme located within the National Department of Social Development in South Africa. The full study is a mixed method study but the children's(youth) participation in the study is limited to qualitative methods. The data analysis utilised a thematic approach and ATLAS.ti software. The findings revealed four themes, namely, (1) children's (as youth) perceptions of the presence and frequency of rape in communities, (2) disclosure and reporting rape; (3) interlinkage of disclosure and reporting of child rape and child sexual victimisation; and (4) seeking social and professional support to deal with the trauma of child (youth) rape and child sexual victimisation. The findings showed that children (youth) perceive their community environments as unsafe spaces where they are exposed to crimes such as rape and burglary; that there are delays in disclosure of sexual victimisation and victims/survivors are still dealing with the trauma of rape as they report the crime and navigate the pathways of the criminal justice system. In conclusion, this study confirms the delay in disclosure of childhood (youth) sexual victimisation and identifies the complex tension for children (youth) who disclose, that they are often pressured to report the crime, and journey through an adversarial criminal justice system, and so 'breaking the silence' is often unpredictable and emotionally and psychologically costly for children and youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of genital injury resulting from sexual assault has been an area of interest to the scientific and health care community. The present study was conducted to assess female rape victims and their genital injuries. Materials & methods: The present retrospective study was conducted in the department of Gynaecology. It consisted of 28 female patients of rape victims. All suspected victims were examined in gynecology and forensic medicine department. A through vaginal examination was performed by gynecologist. Results: Age group 20-25 years had 16 females and age group 25-30 years had 7 females and 30-35 years had 5 females. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Tanner staging- hair stage II was seen in 8, hair stage III in 20, V- shaped notches were single in 4, multiple in 24. Notches were at 6 o clock position in 5, 9 o clock position in 6 and at both positions in 17. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Conclusion: The number of rapes is increasing day by day. A through gynecological examination is required to confirm the crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overwhelming majority of rapes goes unreported. To better understand the sociocultural mechanisms behind why underreporting may occur, three studies (total n = 1,481) examine how women's endorsement of honor values influence the perceptions of rape. Using vignettes that varied the closeness of the perpetrator of a sexual assault (i.e., stranger, acquaintance, or husband), we found that women who endorse honor values of womanhood were less likely to label a forced sexual act as "rape" and to suggest that the victim discloses the rape to others, including to the police. This was especially true the closer the victim was to the perpetrator (e.g., husband vs. stranger). Our findings highlight the effects of honor values on perceived sexual assault and the consequences of disclosure, and may aid in understanding barriers to rape reporting and areas for intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the potential of embodied research practice among women survivors of rapes committed during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1990s. As similar research in the past has often been subjected to incapability to describe the trauma expressed by research participants in the format of verbal testimonies, this study explores the potentials of turning from words toward the body. Stories are being brought forward by the help of different forms of dramatic tools and body expressions, using movement, voice and visual portrayals. By the time this research practice became personally harmful and traumatizing for me as a researcher, I responded with a performative/performed essay entitled Canned. This one hour-long monologue was staged not aiming to become just another portrayal of war crimes in the Balkans, but rather as a dissemination tool to reflect the research and the position of the researcher in this and similar traumatizing contexts. I explore the potential of ethnodrama as a format for distributing research outcomes in order to display to the audience how certain mainstream narratives have been 'canned' and reproduced by women survivors and their surrounding society but are also preserved and guarded within specific social institutions, including academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual aggression is prevalent and damaging in our culture, and sources of support or blame following an attack of this kind can be important influences on the recovery process. This pair of studies investigate the nature of women’s blame reactions towards survivors of sexual aggression, as well as the potential for provision of sympathy and support. Specifically, we focused on the previously neglected role of female self-objectification. It was expected that increased self-objectification would lead to decreased sympathy and support, and more rape victim blame. However, results of Study 1 showed that chronic self-objectification was actually related to higher levels of sympathy and support for a rape victim. Study two built upon the limitations of study one, and examined similar questions. It was expected that women who engaged in greater self-objectification would again show greater sympathy and support for the victim, replicating study one’s results, and this was supported with a different scale. The overall relationship between self-objectification and sympathy and support was driven by body-relevant control beliefs. Implications and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of one young woman's ability to speak out, nine men living in Greater Manchester were convicted in 2012 for sex trafficking of underage girls. Reports revealed that numerous vulnerable teenagers had been coerced into keeping quiet about this in exchange for various rewards, but, through one victim's account, we can visualize the torture endured at the hands of these men. In an interview on ITV, Girl A constructs her identity as a survivor who describes how she has been preyed upon. To show how she perceives her world, herself, and other participants, this article applies a Critical Discourse Analysis informed approach. The focus is on the TRANSITIVITY patterns (Halliday and Matthiessen 2014) employed in her discourse and that of the interviewers, with the aim of providing insights into how this system shapes the representation of a particular experience, in this case rape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits earlier theorisations of cinematic voyeurism and gender-based violence in considering the cross-media connections between cinema and non-consensual pornography online. In particular, it looks at how the remake of a significant rape-revenge film, I Spit On Your Grave (1978/2010), explores the role of technology in the perpetuation of female victimisation. By making a visible connection between the female character’s physical rape and the violation of her subjectivity performed through filming her without her consent, the film raises a larger social/media issue, which I call media rape. In offering a theorisation of this phenomenon, the article analyses the operation of the website creepshots.com, which distributes non-consensual photos of women. The comparison between these two texts promotes an understanding of the visual and discursive continuities between cinema and online spaces in relation to media rape and rape culture more generally. At a time when the distinction between the creators of and audiences for media content is less straightforward within the context of online media, sadistic scopophilia needs to be reconsidered in relation to medium specificity. Although it is already problematic in the cinematic context, when it extends to online media sadistic scopophilia becomes a human rights violation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health symptoms differ among women with forcible rape (FR) compared to drug- or alcohol-facilitated/incapacitated rape (DAFR/IR) histories, but differences in suicidal ideation are unknown. The differences in suicidal ideation based on FR and DAFR/IR history were examined in national samples of college (n = 2,000) and household-residing (n = 3,001) women. For both college women and household-residing women, FR and DAFR/IR were associated with recent suicidal ideation. Differences emerged when examined indirectly through recent posttraumatic stress disorder, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse. Therefore, it is important to examine both FR and DAFR/IR when assessing suicidal ideation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the novel "La fuerza de la sangre," by Miguel de Cervantes is presented. It outlines the characters and explores their characteristics, role and symbolic significance in the story. An overview of the story which depicts the life of a rape survivor who married the perpetrator is also given.

This paper examines the ways in which girls and women are using digital media platforms to challenge the rape culture they experience in their everyday lives; including street harassment, sexual assault, and the policing of the body and clothing in school settings. Focusing on three international cases, including the anti-street harassment site Hollaback!, the hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported, and interviews with teenage Twitter activists, the paper asks:Whatexperiences of harassment, misogyny and rape culture are girls and women responding to?Howare girls and women using digital media technologies to document experiences of sexual violence, harassment, and sexism? And,whyare girls and women choosing to mobilize digital media technologies in such a way? Employing an approach that includes ethnographic methods such as semi-structured interviews, content analysis, discursive textual analysis, and affect theories, we detail a range of ways that women and girls are using social media platforms to speak about, and thus make visible, experiences of rape culture. We argue that this digital mediation enables new connections previously unavailable to girls and women, allowing them to redraw the boundaries between themselves and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2018, a seven-year old girl, Zainab Amin, was raped and murdered in district Kasur, Punjab province, Pakistan. The cold-blooded incident shocked the people across the country. It raised an outcry for speedy 'justice for Zainab.' After few weeks of search when the suspect of the crime was arrested, he was tried in an Anti-Terrorism Court, which sentenced him to death. While the sentence was well-deserved, questions arose relating to the criminal procedural aspect of the trial. These questions included the suspect's confession before trial, the in-camera trial being completed within four consecutive working days, the cross-examination of 56 witnesses, and the paucity of time given to the defence counsel. In this paper I argue that although such heinous offences should be awarded legally warranted punishment, the courts must ensure that the special criminal procedure does not let go the principle of due process. I take Zainab's case as an example to see whether the principle of due process and procedural rights of the suspect were ensured as required for a fair trial. The paper puts to critical light the chronological facts of the case (as reported in the press) and relies on applied jurisprudence to underscore the potential/danger of letting go the due process and procedural rights in speedy trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]