tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/domestic-assault-28855/articlesDomestic assault – The Conversation2023-08-07T11:07:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2089862023-08-07T11:07:17Z2023-08-07T11:07:17ZLinking police and healthcare data could help better identify domestic abuse – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538035/original/file-20230718-19-w6ftpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4608%2C3428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Healthcare professionals can play a vital role in identifying and helping people who are experiencing domestic abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stop-violence-against-womensexual-abuse-human-1465291778">HTWE/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Identifying domestic abuse victims earlier could help to reduce future emergency medical admissions. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00126-3/fulltext">Our new research</a> shows how this could be done before a victim even involves the police by connecting information gathered by the police and hospitals.</p>
<p>Our study showed that many victims of domestic abuse often visit accident and emergency departments before the police get involved. This means that healthcare professionals can play a crucial role in identifying and helping people who are experiencing abuse.</p>
<p>We combined data from the police with data from GPs and accident and emergency hospital admissions. We focused on residents in the South Wales Police catchment area who had experienced domestic abuse between August 2015 and March 2020, and who were given a public protection notification (PPN). This is a document that records safeguarding concerns about adults or children.</p>
<p>Connecting this data with health information gives a wide view of how domestic abuse affects people’s health. Health records are kept in a secure database called the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. </p>
<p>This provides access to different kinds of information, such as records from doctors’ visits, hospital stays, accident and emergency visits, and death records. All data in the databank is anonymous, ensuring that individuals cannot be identified.</p>
<p>Using mathematical models, we then identified the factors that increased the risk of negative outcomes, such as hospital and A&E admissions or death within 12 months of the PPN.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Of the 8,709 people who experienced domestic abuse, 71.8% were women. Within a year of experiencing abuse, 3,544 of the victims had negative outcomes, such as an A&E admission, while there were 48 deaths.</p>
<p>We also found that certain factors increased the likelihood of negative outcomes. These included being younger, having multiple incidents of abuse, getting injured during the abuse, being assessed as high-risk, being referred to other agencies, having a history of violence, experiencing attempted strangulation, or being pregnant.</p>
<p>Pregnant victims, in particular, faced more risks, which affected their own health and the health of their babies. Certain factors like smoking, obstetric issues and taking specific medications (like antidepressants and antibiotics) increased the risk of having a negative outcome after experiencing domestic abuse.</p>
<p>By studying different patterns, we could predict how severe the cases of domestic abuse were in terms of risk. For example, victims who had frequent interactions with the police were at higher risk.</p>
<p>However, victims who had conflicts related to child contact had a lower risk of experiencing negative outcomes. This is because the perpetrator might not be living with the victim. </p>
<h2>What are the implications?</h2>
<p>Our findings show the importance of considering a victim’s health history in identifying domestic abuse. Identifying certain patterns could lead to earlier interventions.</p>
<p>It is crucial for different organisations to work together and share information to identify and help vulnerable individuals effectively. Identifying specific risk factors, like being younger or having a history of violence, could help identify victims more effectively. This would include investigating previous visits to the hospital, conducting thorough assessments for pregnant victims who are at high risk and connecting different pieces of information.</p>
<p>These measures could help prevent further victimisation and ensure that people receive the right support and resources.</p>
<p>Our research highlights the importance of healthcare settings, especially emergency departments, in identifying and addressing domestic abuse. Training programmes could help emergency department staff identify potential cases of domestic abuse, even if the victim does not explicitly disclose the abuse. </p>
<p>By connecting different sources of information and identifying people at high risk, health professionals could take necessary actions and refer victims to support services.</p>
<p>Our study looked at situations where abuse was officially reported, so victims who did not report it were not included. </p>
<p>We did not include cases where women went to the emergency room for obstetric reasons either. This means that the impact of domestic abuse during pregnancy may be underestimated in our findings.</p>
<p>In future, further research should be undertaken to validate the findings of this study in different settings and populations. It would also be helpful to look at information from other sources, such as social services and housing records, to get a better picture of the factors that contribute to domestic abuse and its consequences.</p>
<h2>Protecting privacy</h2>
<p>While linking data from different organisations can be helpful for research, it is also important to protect people’s privacy. If we want to link data at a national level for purposes other than research, we would need a public consultation on what data is shared and to discuss how people’s privacy would be protected. </p>
<p>This is important because if people were afraid that their data would be shared with the police, they might not seek help from emergency services. When victims can be encouraged to talk, however, this study underlines the importance of training A&E staff to recognise and address potential cases of abuse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Kennedy wishes to thank Benjamin Rowe from South Wales Police for his input.
This research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Public Health Research Board (reference number NIHR133680: Unlocking Data to Inform Public Health Policy and Practice).
The study was also supported by Health Care Research Wales through the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research, supported by ESRC through Administrative Data Research Wales, and received infrastructure support through Health Data Research UK.
This study makes use of anonymised data held in the SAIL databank. We would like to acknowledge all the data providers who make anonymised data available for research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amrita Bandyopadhyay wishes to thank Benjamin Rowe from South Wales Police for his input.
This research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Public Health Research Board (reference number NIHR133680: Unlocking Data to Inform Public Health Policy and Practice).
The study was also supported by Health Care Research Wales through the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research, supported by ESRC through Administrative Data Research Wales, and received infrastructure support through Health Data Research UK.
This study makes use of anonymised data held in the SAIL databank. We would like to acknowledge all the data providers who make anonymised data available for research.</span></em></p>New research linking police and healthcare data shows that victims of domestic abuse are detectable before the involvement of the police.Natasha Kennedy, Senior research officer and data scientist, Swansea UniversityAmrita Bandyopadhyay, Research Officer and Data Scientist at the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1014652018-08-19T20:37:35Z2018-08-19T20:37:35ZCan collective euphoria last? A month into France’s World Cup victory<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232272/original/file-20180816-2912-ttmjhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C2044%2C1345&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can football really have an impact on society?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnodeuy/41908630870/in/photolist-26RjFTd">Gnodeuy/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been a month since the French football team won the World Cup for the second time in their history. At the time the response seemed phenomenal. In the streets of France, people hugged and danced with strangers. Over a million people gathered on the Champs-Elysées in Paris and in thousands of other cities and towns across the country. The last time a similar mobilisation had been seen was in response to the <em>Charlie Hebdo</em> terrorist attacks in January 2015.</p>
<p>But now all that can seem like ancient history. Social solidarity has splintered. The French President is mired in controversy over the violent behaviour of one of his employees, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/25/emmanuel-macron-says-im-to-blame-over-benalla-assault-scandal">Alexandre Benalla</a>. The country is divided over new anti-immigrant legislation. So were all the predictions that the victory of a multi-ethnic team might create a more inclusive, confident and generous nation – that it might expunge the traumas of terrorism – just wishful thinking?</p>
<p>More generally, is it true, as some of our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315752957_Je_suis_Charlie_la_liberte_au-dela_de_l%27egalite_et_la_fraternite_Interpretation_collective_des_attaques_terroristes_de_janvier_2015_en_France_et_expression_online_d%27un_nexus">studies</a> show, that such a sense of unity lasts just a few days, or was the World Cup victory an event that can have longer lasting social significance?</p>
<p>Was the young French World Cup star <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/15/france-boast-seductive-future-with-kylian-mbappe-their-leading-man">Kylian Mbappé</a>, right when he declared “for me, football is more than just a sport, it’s enough to see the impact it has on society” – and if so, what is the nature of that impact and how does it come about? In order to answer these questions, let us first consider how collective euphoria arises in the first place, and from there consider whether the effects can outlast the events that generate them.</p>
<h2>Shared fate, shared identity, shared euphoria</h2>
<p>A great theorist of nationhood, Benedict Anderson, made the point that <a href="https://www2.bc.edu/marian-simion/th406/readings/0420anderson.pdf">a nation is an imagined community</a>. One of the ways to “imagine” nation, Anderson suggested, is when we open our newspapers and imagine people across the country doing likewise, reading the same stories and reacting in the same way to stories of national triumphs or defeats.</p>
<p>Since Anderson wrote, less and less of us read a newspaper. Media audiences are increasingly fragmented. It is harder and harder to imagine others reading what we read let alone reacting as we do. But national sport is different. When our country wins at the World Cup, we can assume that others will share our euphoria. We sense a commonality of feeling. What is more, that makes it easier to interact with others, even strangers. Unlike everyday experience, we can enter the local shop that we have visited for years without ever talking to the shopkeeper, say “wasn’t that wonderful last night”, and be confident not only that the shopkeeper will understand what we mean, but also smile in agreement.</p>
<p>This is not mere speculation. Studies on collective emotions show that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carmen_Morawetz/publication/259072540_Emotional_entrainment_national_symbols_and_identification_A_naturalistic_study_around_the_men%27s_football_World_Cup/links/02e7e529df3d4543a1000000/Emotional-entrainment-na">emotional entrainment</a>, a feeling of affective attunement and emotional <a href="https://sfp2017.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/Conf_Invit_SFP2017_Abstracts.pdf">synchronization</a> with others during rituals, increases during an international sports event.</p>
<p>Moreover, the effects don’t just end with the event. In an unpublished study conducted in New Zealand by the second author along with colleagues in Belgium, Australia and New Zealand before and after the 2016 Rugby World Cup final which the All Blacks won, people described how their interactions with strangers increased in quality and quantity after the All Blacks’ victory. Their sense of positivity and of well-being improved as much because of their sense of connection with other New Zealanders as because of the result itself.</p>
<p>To put it more formally, national sporting success gives rise to a sense of shared national identity and shared identity transforms social relations between people.</p>
<h2>Frenchness: not just an idea</h2>
<p>As has been shown in a range of research, it leads to greater <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317901527_La_beaute_est_dans_la_rue_Four_reasons_or_perhaps_five_to_study_crowds">trust, respect, cooperation, helping and solidarity</a>. Moreover, the resultant sense of unity – that everyone is aligning their efforts and pulling together – is a source of collective empowerment. Members of a united group feel confident about their ability to thrive in a troubled world. Finally, the sense of connection in an increasing atomised world combined with the sense of efficacy in an increasingly perplexing world are a source of joy and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699931.2015.1015969">excitement</a>.</p>
<p>The key point here is that collective euphoria is not a result of losing identity and losing reason in the crowd, as Le Bon’s 1895 work on classical tradition of <a href="http://envole.net/enote/doc/20080418_Gustave_le_bon_psycho_des_foules_alcan.pdf">crowd psychology</a> would suggest. Rather, such <a href="http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/Durkheim_emile/formes_vie_religieuse/formes_elementaires_1.pdf">“effervescence”</a> (to use Durkheim’s 1912 term) reflects the way that an imagined identity is made manifest in the crowd.</p>
<p>For the millions celebrating on the Champs-Elysées, Frenchness was not just an idea. It was an intense shared experience. But what happens to that identity when the celebrations end?</p>
<h2>Defining the nation</h2>
<p>Our own research on collective participation suggests that being part of the crowd can <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pops.12260">increase</a> the significance of identity and identity related practices in everyday life. Just as being part of a religious crowd impacts religious identity, so being part of a national crowd may increase national identity. The implications of this are neither positive or negative in themselves, it depends on how the identity is understood, and what are the consequences of its definition, and how that definition is used.</p>
<p>There are two dimensions to this. The first has to do with the content of identity: concretely, what does it mean to be French? And what effect did the World Cup have on the way that Frenchness is understood? The answer to this questions is complex and multi-faceted. One key aspect of this, which must not be underplayed, has to do with gender.</p>
<p>As Stanford psychologist and former basketball player <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/29/style/the-sexes-the-violence-bowl-one-woman-s-view.html">Mariah Burton Nelson wrote in 1994</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We need to take sports seriously – not the scores or the statistics, but the process. Not to focus on who wins, but on who’s losing.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2007 Michael Messner, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at the University of Southern California, <a href="http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4464-out-of-play.aspx">noted</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sport was a male-created homosocial cultural sphere that provided men with psychological separation from the perceived ‘feminisation’ of society, while also providing dramatic symbolic ‘proof’ of the natural superiority of men over women.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It follows that, to define national identity through sport is to reinforce patriarchy across all sectors of society. Thus, whatever the result on the pitch, the result off the pitch is that women become the losers.</p>
<h2>The hidden face of celebrating sport: abuse on women</h2>
<p>This is certainly documented in the statistics on gender violence. As the cameras linger lovingly on World Cup celebrations, the spike in <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sports/foot/coupe-du-monde/france-championne-du-monde/coupe-du-monde-il-y-a-aussi-les-champions-des-lourds-denonce-une-jeune-femme-apres-une-agression-sexuelle-dans-la-foule-des-champs-elysees_2855497.html">assaults on women</a> is hidden. There is by now ample evidence that attacks on women increase during World Cup tournaments, and not just in France.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-england-gets-beaten-so-will-she-the-link-between-world-cup-and-violence-explained-99769">'If England gets beaten, so will she' – the link between World Cup and violence explained</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232277/original/file-20180816-2921-1rkcudf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘If France get beaten, so will she’. Campaign against domestic abuse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.earthlymission.com/if-your-country-get-beaten-so-will-she/">Earthly mission</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One <a href="http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/65383/2/cdworldcup.pdf">striking study</a> of domestic abuse in Lancashire (a county of approximately 1.5 million people in Northern England), across the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cup tournaments revealed a 26% increase in reports of domestic abuse when England won or drew, and a 38% increase when England lost. Abuse reached its peak when England exited the tournament. To cite a powerful campaign, aimed at raising consciousness of these issues in England during the 2018 World Cup: “If England gets beaten, so will she”. Certainly, any analysis of the impact of the World Cup which fails to address such gender issues will be not only deficient but complicit.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-england-gets-beaten-so-will-she-the-link-between-world-cup-and-violence-explained-99769">'If England gets beaten, so will she' – the link between World Cup and violence explained</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Boundaries of identity</h2>
<p>The second dimension of identity definition has to do with the boundaries of identity: concretely, who is regarded as part of the nation and who is not. There is an intimate connection between national inclusion and collective action. The nature of collective responses to events is something like the proverbial canary in the cage, telling us who we do and don’t see as part of the national community. As the data suggests <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315752957_Je_suis_Charlie_la_liberte_au-dela_de_l%27egalite_et_la_fraternite_Interpretation_collective_des_attaques_terroristes_de_janvier_2015_en_France_et_expression_online_d%27un_nexus">in our studies</a> conducted after the French mobilisations after the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Paris in January 2015, the massive mobilisations after the attack on Charlie Hebdo derived from the fact that the magazine was held up as a quintessential French institution, enshrining free speech, irreverence and anti-authoritarianism, the French “Liberté”.</p>
<p>Millions encapsulated this by bearing and repeating the slogan “Je suis Charlie”. Yet after the attacks on a kosher grocery in Vincennes and on a policewoman – Clarissa Jean-Philippe – in Montrouge, the response was far more muted.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232278/original/file-20180816-2915-qm6kk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the few memorials (here in Toulouse) to all the victims in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archives-toulouse/27856624891">Archives municipales de Toulouse/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>These were not seen as attacks on France and Frenchness (thus invoking a response across the nation) but on far narrower categories – Jews and police – whose place in the “nation” appeared to be perceived as far more ambivalent, certainly not emblematic.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the effects of massive affective mobilisations sweep off dissonant voices, as we already know from the unanimous support to the Patriot Act after 9/11, for example. In January 2015, there was little cost for those who failed to respond to the Vincennes or Montrouge attacks. But those who resisted identifying with “Je suis Charlie” were silenced during the mobilisation, excoriated and had <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01251253/document">their own Frenchness placed in question</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, in July 2018, staying away from the victory World Cup celebrations and denouncing the many sexist assaults on women during those celebrations was discouraged and frowned upon.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Report on sexual assaults during the celebration of the 2018 World Cup victory.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What it means to be French</h2>
<p>But it is not only that collective action reflects a pre-existing sense of national identity. It also serves to form national identity. If the celebrating crowd is the imagined national community made manifest, can we read off from the nature of the crowd (and the team which it celebrates) who is French and what it means to be French?</p>
<p>One of the consequences of the French traditional understandings of the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/load_pdf.php?ID_ARTICLE=ANPSY_124_0575">républicanisme</a> is the insistence that nationhood is single and undifferentiated (assimilationist, rather than <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Serge_Guimond/publication/270883336_Les_representations_du_multiculturalisme_en_France_Decalage_singulier_entre_l%E2%80%99individuel_et_le_collectif/links/54e36d6a0cf282dbed6bdaed/Les-representations-du-multiculturalis">multicultural</a>).</p>
<p>One is either French or one isn’t. As the French ambassador to the US recently put it “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/22/trevor-noah-world-cup-france-africa">to us, there is no hyphenated identity</a>”. Apparently, one cannot be African-French, one is either African or French.</p>
<p>As a result, it becomes difficult for players – and those in the wider population as well – to celebrate both their heritage and their nationhood. To be fully part of the celebrations, to join fully in the crowd and the nation, they have to give something up. As the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-05080-022">acculturation literature</a> shows, that creates a serious impediment to integration.</p>
<p>Another tack has been to celebrate the French victory as a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/07/who-wins-when-france-claims-the-world-cup/565508/">victory of immigrants</a>. In a world of increasing anti-immigrant sentiment and agitation, there is something very beguiling about a “good news” story showing how migrants contribute to the nation. What could be more powerful than the fact that 80% of the French team were of African origin to support the argument that immigrants should be welcomed and cherished rather than rejected and feared? But to argue that immigrants are good for the nation is very different from arguing that immigrants are of the nation. To argue that the World Cup is a victory of immigrants is to imply that players whose parents come from Africa are not entirely French.</p>
<p>So, the ability of the World Cup victory to create a kinder vision of Frenchness is, at least in part, constrained by existing conceptions. Either one is French and so not African, or else one is an African immigrant and so not entirely French. Neither option is wholly satisfactory.</p>
<h2>Arguing for the future</h2>
<p>What, then, does all this mean for the future? What will the effect of the World Cup victory be on French society, if any? By now, it is hopefully clear that this is the wrong question – or at least, that it implies too deterministic a view of social processes.</p>
<p>The core of our argument is that the social impact of the World Cup, both in relation to the short term celebrations and longer term effectiveness, is achieved through the way that it shapes national identity.</p>
<p>What the World Cup represents is a resource that can be used to help tell a national story. It is clearly something of relevance to the nation and it is clearly an exemplar national triumph. By weaving the victory into one’s story of France, one clearly gains an edge. At the same time, there are multiple ways of relating how the World Cup relates to France and about how the French triumph was achieved. We need to be well aware of the potential toxicity of some of these narratives – which, for instance, root national achievement in masculinity and physical domination. We need to be equally aware of the potential progress which some narratives can achieve – for instance, by rooting national achievement in the recognition and celebration of diversity. Finally, we need to be aware of how World Cup narratives relate to other discourses of national identity (such as <em>le républicanisme</em>) and how these constrain or else enable what can be said.</p>
<p>There is nothing pre-determined about which narrative will prevail. But one thing is for sure. If we ignore the World Cup and if we refrain from arguing over national identity we abandon the field to others whose political projects may not be our own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreea Ernst-Vintila received fundings from the Agence nationale de recherche (ANR) for the XTREAMIS «Xenophobia, Radicalism in Europe, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia – Deradicalisation and Prevention» project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Reicher ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>For the millions celebrating on the Champs-Elysées last month, Frenchness was not just an idea, it was an intense shared experience. But what happens to that identity when the celebrations end?Andreea Gruev-Vintila, Maîtresse de conférences en psychologie sociale, Université Paris Nanterre – Université Paris LumièresStephen Reicher, Professor of Psychology, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/818672017-08-23T15:45:15Z2017-08-23T15:45:15ZWhy home, even when there’s war, is the most dangerous place for women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183130/original/file-20170823-13293-ha7usf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Congolese women in the eastern town of Bunia. Even in conflict zones women are more likely to face violence in their homes than outside.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Murizio Gambarini</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After decades of advocacy, a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/sexual-violence-in-conflict">global summit</a> was finally convened in London three years ago to find a way of ending sexual violence in conflict situations. The aim was to focus attention on this often-overlooked aspect of warfare.</p>
<p>While this is right and good, over emphasising conflict-related sexual violence runs the risk of making us lose sight of the fact that a war zone is not the most dangerous place for a woman. Her home is.</p>
<p>Nearly a third <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf">(30%) of women worldwide</a> in intimate relationships will experience violence at the hands of their partners. This is according to the World Health Organisation, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the South African Medical Research Council.
Globally, about <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf">38% of all women murdered</a> die at the hands of their intimate partners.</p>
<p>South Africa is a case in point. According to a 2016 health and democratic <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report%2003-00-09/Report%2003-00-092016.pdf">survey</a>, a fifth (21%) of women over 18 years old in intimate relationships have experienced physical violence from a partner; 6% experienced sexual violence from a partner. And a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shanaaz_Mathews/publication/26754902_Mortality_of_Women_From_Intimate_Partner_Violence_in_South_Africa_A_National_Epidemiological_Study/links/0fcfd510224ab97739000000/Mortality-of-Women-From-Intimate-Partner-Violence-in-South-Africa-A-National-Epidemiological-Study.pdf">retrospective national study</a> published in 2009 put the South African mortality rate from intimate partner violence at 8.8 per 100 000 women – twice as high as the USA.</p>
<p>Not that America is a safe place for women. The Centre for Disease Control’s 2010 National Intimate Partner and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/cdc_nisvs_ipv_report_2013_v17_single_a.pdf">Sexual Violence Survey</a> found that 9,4% of women have been raped by intimate partners in their lifetime. 15,9% of women have experienced sexual intimate partner violence other than rape, and nearly 33% of women have been subjected to physical violence at the hands of their partners. </p>
<p>Shocking new findings show that even in conflict-affected countries infamous for the high rates of sexual violence perpetrated by fighting forces and where soldiers and rebel fighters are a daily danger to women, their husbands and boyfriends are the bigger threat. A <a href="http://tilz.tearfund.org/%7E/media/files/tilz/sgbv/2017-tearfund-does-faith-matter-en.pdf?la=en">baseline household survey</a> done in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) showed that women reported very high levels of intimate partner violence – much higher than the rate of sexual violence perpetrated by soldiers and militias.</p>
<h2>DRC research</h2>
<p>The baseline household survey was done in 15 communities in the Ituri Province of the DRC and 769 people were interviewed.</p>
<p>It was conducted by <a href="http://www.tearfund.org/">Tearfund</a> and <a href="http://www.healafrica.org/">HEAL Africa</a> as part of a project called “Engaging with Faith Groups to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in <a href="http://www.whatworks.co.za/about/global-programme/global-programme-projects/innovation-projects/item/36-engaging-with-faith-groups-to-prevent-violence-against-women-and-girls-in-conflict-affected-communities">Conflict-affected Communities</a>”. This project is funded by UK aid from the UK government, via the What Works to Prevent Violence Against <a href="http://www.whatworks.co.za/">Women and Girls</a> Global Programme. The funds are managed by the South African Medical Research Council. </p>
<p>The eastern DRC is still racked by ongoing violence from different rebel groups. This has been going on for decades, and the eastern DRC is known for high rates of very violent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093280/">sexual attacks</a> perpetrated by soldiers as well as rebels.</p>
<p>The survey showed that non-partner sexual violence – which would include sexual violence perpetrated by soldiers and rebels – was very high – 20,8% of women reported non-partner sexual violence within the last year. This is much higher than the <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf">global figure of 7%</a> for lifetime experience of non-partner sexual violence. </p>
<p>This outcome of the survey was expected. What wasn’t was the shocking finding that more than two thirds (68.7%) of the women who reported having experienced non-partner sexual violence in the last 12 months, said that the perpetrator was a known person or a family member. Only in 6% of the cases was the perpetrator a militia member or another unknown person.</p>
<p>As shocking was the very high levels of intimate partner violence: 68.8% of women in relationships who took part in the survey reported having experienced some form of intimate partner violence in the previous 12 months, and 38,4% had been sexually violated by an intimate partner in the last year. Over 68,2% of men in relationships reported perpetrating intimate partner violence.</p>
<h2>War versus the home</h2>
<p>While still under researched, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4124472/">there is evidence suggesting</a> that intimate partner violence increases during times of conflict, is more common in couples that experienced or were affected by armed conflict. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the survey confirms that, even in areas affected by conflict, intimate relationships are the biggest and most consistent threat to a woman’s safety. </p>
<p>What this underscores is that yes, there is need to address the abuses suffered by women at the hands of those waging war. But what musn’t be forgotten is that, for many women all over the world, their homes are the battle front.</p>
<p>Feminist theories explaining violence against women have gained increasing traction in the past few decades. They explain that such violence is a result of male power within <a href="https://libcom.org/files/Theorizing%20Patriarchy%20-%20Sylvia%20Walby.pdf">patriarchal society</a>, revealing the relationship between gender and power. Even sexual violence is about power, as through the act men aim to prove their dominance and control over women.</p>
<p>Addressing this imbalance in society is difficult. One possible avenue through which it can be done is religion and religious institutions. Religion is able to <a href="http://home.ku.edu.tr/%7Embaker/cshs503/durkheimreligiouslife.pdf">influence behaviour</a> and motivate and facilitate <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism/oclc/3064861">social change</a>. While research has shown us that religious institutions are usually <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15570274.2016.1215837?journalCode=rfia20">patriarchal institutions</a>, upholding the status quo that is <a href="http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/portals/0/files/extracts/justice_not_silence_extract.pdf">detrimental to women</a>, the opposite can also be true. Tearfund and HEAL Africa, focusing on religious leaders to act as catalysts to prevent violence against women and girls in Ituri province, are banking on this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisabet le Roux consults for Tearfund UK as research lead on the project "Engaging with Faith Groups to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict-affected Communities". </span></em></p>Shocking new findings show that even in conflict-affected countries where soldiers and rebel fighters are a daily danger to women, their husbands and boyfriends are the bigger threat.Elisabet le Roux, Researcher, Unit for Religion and Development Research, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/821152017-08-13T23:15:33Z2017-08-13T23:15:33ZAcid attacks are on the rise and toxic masculinity is the cause<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181443/original/file-20170808-27875-1r11p0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lucia Annibali, victim of an acid attack in Italy, walks in Rome earlier this year. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A spate of acid attacks has earned London the dubious recent distinction of being called “the acid capital of Britain.” There have been more than 100 acid attacks reported in 2017 alone, with at least one a day in the city, and <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/london-acid-attack-capital-uk-10795265">there are suggestions</a> the true figure is much higher. </p>
<p>There’s a common misconception that acid attacks take place only in developing countries. They are, in fact, a worldwide phenomenon. Acid attacks have been reported in the U.K., Canada, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/29/acid-attacks-italy-gessica-notaro">Italy (27 registered assaults in 2016)</a> and other industrialized countries. Approximately 1,500 acid attacks are recorded worldwide annually. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia and Uganda are countries with the highest reported incidence.</p>
<p>More than two-thirds of recent victims in the U.K. are men. But globally, 80 per cent of acid attack victims <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23631395">are women and girls.</a> Acid violence is categorized as a form of gender-based violence because gendered roles and hierarchies within families and society not only motivate perpetrators to commit the crime, but also provide them with a sense of impunity. </p>
<h2>Attackers aim to disfigure victims</h2>
<p>Perpetrators usually intend to disfigure rather than kill their victims. The patriarchal reasoning that a woman’s appearance is her only asset often drives acid violence. Even in the U.K., where most victims are men, a gang member admits quite easily in a YouTube documentary produced by VICE that although he has attacked both men and women with acid, he would <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/acid-attacker-victims-deserve-it-knife-weapon-gangs-police-documentary-a7846241.html">“prefer to use acid on a girl nine out of 10 times” because “they love their beauty.”</a></p>
<p>Acid attacks are often specifically used to ruin a woman’s future romantic prospects, her career, financial security and social status. This perverse logic for acid attacks appears to hold water everywhere in the world. In 2008, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4696598/Acid-attack-victim-Katie-Piper-describes-life-sentence.html">Katie Piper’s ex-boyfriend</a> hired an attacker in London to specifically throw sulphuric acid on her face to make her unattractive to other men and destroy her modelling career.</p>
<p>Perpetrators of acid violence are almost always men, and toxic masculinity —the desire to permanently victimize someone while demonstrating his own power and brutality —is almost always the underlying cause regardless of whether the victim is a woman, man or transgendered person. </p>
<h2>Boys, men, need strong education programs</h2>
<p>None of the policies and interventions aimed at responding to acid violence have engaged meaningfully with this fact. Proactive prevention strategies must involve sensitizing men and boys to the effects of gender-based violence, including acid attacks, and incorporating them into prevention activities. </p>
<p>Such approaches should be prioritized – or at least simultaneously implemented – as reactive strategies such as policing acid sellers and purchasers, and seeking longer jail sentences for perpetrators, which countries like Great Britain, Italy, Bangladesh and India are currently pursuing.</p>
<p>Perpetrators use acid because it is easy to purchase, easier to use than knives or guns, and because it has devastating consequences upon victims. Perpetrators also use other corrosive substances to disfigure their victims. This is true for recent attacks in the U.K. and in Montreal in 2012, when <a href="http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/as-attacker-released-tanya-st-arnauld-says-acid-assault-still-haunts-her-1.2645331">Tanya St-Arnauld’s</a> ex-boyfriend used a household cleaning liquid to attack her.</p>
<p>This means that in countries where acid is not widely available or expensive, perpetrators will find destructive alternatives (kerosene, for example) that have the same disfiguring effect. Keeping purchase records of such common products will be difficult, if not impossible.</p>
<p>Governments and acid violence prevention NGOs have advocated for social, medical and legal reforms that have assisted in improving health, education and training, human rights, laws and psychosocial services for acid attack survivors. But to date, none of them have developed programs that authentically acknowledge or address the root cause of acid violence. </p>
<p>In some countries, state responsibilities have been supplemented or even replaced by NGOs, even though the latter cannot replace the former’s role in protecting citizens. Stronger state involvement is critical not just in service provision to survivors but also in prevention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was made possible by a research grant from SSHRC (Insight Grant # 435 2014 1847) awarded to Professor Bipasha Baruah. The authors acknowledge that there is no conflict of interest.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aisha Siddika does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Acid attacks, mostly against women, are increasing globally, and toxic masculinity is to blame. It’s time for social, medical and legal reform to stop the scourge.Dr. Bipasha Baruah, Professor & Canada Research Chair in Global Women's Issues , Western UniversityAisha Siddika, Alumni, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/660522016-10-10T04:52:55Z2016-10-10T04:52:55ZPaid domestic violence leave: how do other countries do it?<p>It’s hard to leave an abusive relationship if you don’t have an <a href="http://dfvbenchbook.aija.org.au/understanding-domestic-and-family-violence/economic-abuse/">income</a>. So, keeping your job can make the difference between escaping and being trapped in a violent relationship.</p>
<p>But holding down a job can be hard if your boss doesn’t allow you time off to move house, deal with crises, meet with lawyers or even work from a different location so your abuser can’t find you at work.</p>
<p>Some employers do offer such flexibility but unions are now calling for a statutory right to <a href="http://theconversation.com/domestic-violence-leave-gains-support-but-lets-do-it-right-51251">paid domestic violence leave</a>.</p>
<p>In its submission to the Fair Work Commission’s awards <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/awards-agreements/awards/modern-award-reviews/4-yearly-review/common-issues/am20151-family-and">review</a>, the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-domestic-violence-leave-must-be-enshrined-in-modern-awards-20160622-gpp6zf.html">Australian Council for Trade Unions</a> (ACTU) is seeking ten days of <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/sites/awardsmodernfouryr/common/am2051-sub-actu-010616.pdf">paid family and domestic violence leave</a> in all modern awards.</p>
<p>Such measures would cost employers. The ACTU’s proposals have drawn criticism from the Australian Industry Group. The group’s chair, Innes Willox, <a href="https://www.aigroup.com.au/policy-and-research/mediacentre/releases/Union-domestic-violence-leave20.9.16/">argues</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Paid domestic violence leave is extremely uncommon internationally. The only country that is known to have paid domestic violence leave at a national level is the Philippines, but the entitlement is not well-known in the country or well-enforced. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is certainly true that most jurisdictions do not grant workers a statutory right to paid domestic violence leave. But while domestic violence leave is not common, there are considerable moves to introduce paid domestic leave provisions in Canada, New Zealand and the US.</p>
<h2>Global shift</h2>
<p>Workplace laws in many countries, include Australia, already require employers to take various steps to manage employees who are experiencing domestic violence. Such laws include domestic violence criminal laws, work health and safety laws, anti-discrimination laws and some industrial relations laws.</p>
<p>In 2015, the UK <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-psychological-abuse-law-a6789271.html">amended its domestic violence laws</a> to make psychological abuse a crime but did not introduce a statutory right to domestic violence leave.</p>
<p>In Canada, only one province – <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/manitoba-approves-bill-to-offer-victims-of-domestic-violence-leave-from-work/article29255554/">Manitoba</a> – has paid domestic violence leave. Under that <a href="https://web2.gov.mb.ca/bills/40-5/b008e.php">law</a>, employees experiencing domestic violence leave to five paid days of leave and a further five days of unpaid leave. </p>
<p>The federal Canadian government is <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/feds-studying-paid-leave-for-domestic-violence-victims-in-manitoba-ontario/article31610882/">considering</a> providing federal employees a right to paid domestic violence leave. Other Canadian provinces, such as <a href="http://www.ontarioemployerlaw.com/2016/04/15/new-paid-and-unpaid-leaves-proposed-for-ontario-employees/">Ontario</a>, are also considering whether paid and unpaid domestic violence leave should be on their books.</p>
<p>While unpaid leave is available in some jurisdictions within the US, such as the Illinois <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2502">Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act</a>, other states provide employees access to existing paid leave. </p>
<p>This is not in addition to other leave, but instead enables employees to access existing leave in new ways. In <a href="http://mn.gov/gov-stat/images/2014_05_11_wesa_fact_sheet.pdf">Minnesota</a> and the state of <a href="http://lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRights/LeaveBenefits/FamilyCare/DomViolence/default.asp">Washington</a>, employees are allowed to use their sick leave if they are experiencing family violence.</p>
<p>The US Congress is considering far more expansive laws that will increase employees’ overall entitlement to leave, such as an <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/932/text">act</a> that would provide employees a right to paid leave to help escape domestic violence.</p>
<p>While New Zealand does not currently have a statutory right to paid domestic violence leave, many employers do offer employees such leave anyway. In New Zealand, the prevalence of paid domestic violence leave is influencing public debate on the question of whether or not New Zealand’s statutes should enshrine such a <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11598860">right in law</a>.</p>
<h2>The Australian situation</h2>
<p>The Australian Industry Group is right to say that paid domestic violence leave is uncommon internationally. </p>
<p>Australia’s Fair Work Act does not provide workers a right to domestic violence leave. But <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fwa2009114/s65.html">Section 65 of the same law</a> does give employees a right to demand flexible working arrangements. </p>
<p>Under this rule, workers can request that their boss adjust their hours of work, work patterns or work location. The employer may refuse the request only on “reasonable business grounds”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employee-entitlements/national-employment-standards">National Employment Standards</a> (NES) – ten minimum employment entitlements that have to be provided to all employees – in the Fair Work Act do not currently provide for domestic violence leave.</p>
<p>However, the Victorian <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/cdn.workplaceexpress.com.au/files/31.%20RCFV_Full_Report_Interactive.pdf">Royal Commission into Family Violence report</a> has recommended the NES include an entitlement to paid family violence leave for employees (other than casual employees) and an entitlement to unpaid family violence leave for casual employees. </p>
<h2>Employers lead the way</h2>
<p>While Australia has been slow to adopt domestic violence leave in statute, employers within Australia have led the way in providing employees such leave. </p>
<p>The paid domestic violence leave included in Victoria’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/paid-domestic-violence-leave-setting-a-world-standard-20121026-28b1w.html">Surf Coast Shire Council</a> in Torquay was one of the first agreements to include such leave in the world. This agreement provided survivors of domestic violence an extra 20 days a year of paid leave.</p>
<p>Since this agreement has been struck, the number of enterprise agreements to include paid domestic violence leave has risen to cover thousands, if not tens of thousands of workers. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/cdn.workplaceexpress.com.au/files/31.%20RCFV_Full_Report_Interactive.pdf">Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence</a> report, released in March 2016, identified 840 enterprise agreements that contained a family violence provision of some kind, most of them providing
for family violence leave. </p>
<p>The public sector is embracing paid domestic leave, with Victoria set to offer employees 20 days paid leave, South Australia 15 days and Queensland ten days.</p>
<p>It is encouraging to see employers lead the way, but Australian workers should have guaranteed access to domestic violence leave. </p>
<p>At a minimum, workers should be able to access their personal/sick leave when they confront domestic violence and, when that runs out, people should receive additional support. We must find ways to give survivors and their children the economic security they need to escape violence and begin to rebuild their lives.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Harpur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s uncommon internationally for workers to have a statutory right to paid domestic violence leave, but things may be shifting.Paul Harpur, Senior Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/636462016-09-06T20:06:53Z2016-09-06T20:06:53ZTo a modern audience, Othello is simply another story of domestic abuse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136692/original/image-20160906-21893-uzdqnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Othello calls himself 'an honourable murderer', but can a modern audience still accept this claim?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/whats-on/othello-1/?parent=whats-on">Bell Shakespeare’s production of Othello</a> is touring Australia until December 2016. What does the recent <a href="http://www.rcfv.com.au/">Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence</a> tell us about the Venetian general’s murder of his wife Desdemona, and his subsequent suicide? How might the <a href="http://files.rcfv.com.au/Reports/Final/RCFV-All-Volumes.pdf">commission’s recommendations</a> have prevented the violence in Shakespeare’s play? And how does a 21st-century perspective on family violence deepen our insights and pathos on viewing the play?</p>
<p>Othello’s abuse of Desdemona matches the Commission’s description of family violence as a multifaceted pattern of escalating behaviour rather than a single event.</p>
<p>Having been mistakenly told that Desdemona is having an affair with his lieutenant Cassio, Othello repeatedly verbally abuses Desdemona in sexual terms – he calls her a public whore, a commoner, a strumpet and a devil.</p>
<p>He makes increasingly violent threats to harm and kill Desdemona. “She’s gone, I am abused, and my relief / Must be to loather her” quickly escalates to “I’ll tear her all to pieces!” and “chop her into messes.”</p>
<p>The abuse escalates again when Othello publicly strikes Desdemona. In the final murder scene Othello terrorises Desdemona by directing her to pray, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Othello: I would not kill thy soul</p>
<p>Desdemona: Talk you of killing?</p>
<p>Othello: Ay, I do…Thou art to die.</p>
<p>Desdemona: Kill me not, kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight, but half an hour, while I say one prayer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Othello kills Desdemona by smothering her with pillows in their matrimonial bed.
On subsequently learning there had been no affair, he kills himself.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136693/original/image-20160906-6101-tcxr6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Othello and Desdemona by Alexandre Marie Colin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The commission reports strangulation as a common method used by male perpetrators to kill female victims. It also reports:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a demonstrable link between family violence, homicide and suicide … a large number of men who died from suicide in Victoria between 2009 and 2012 had a history of family violence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Othello suicides not because he killed Desdemona, but rather because he killed her on the mistaken understanding that she had desired and loved another man. The implication is that if she actually had an affair with Cassio, Othello would have considered the killing justified, and not taken his own life.</p>
<p>The Commission shows the causes of family violence to be complex. Factors shaping it include gender inequality and community attitudes towards women:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Stereotypes about men and women are reinforced through practices such as social tolerance of discrimination and the idea that violence against women is sometimes justified by women’s behaviour – for example, if a woman has sex with another man.</p>
<p>Deeply embedded societal beliefs – for example, the belief … that men’s intimate partners and children are their possessions to do with as they please; that women are inferior to men – influence men’s choices to commit sexual and other acts of violence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the Shakespeare play, Iago, when describing Desdemona’s secret marriage to Othello to her father Brabantio, characterises it as an act of theft. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags. <br>
Thieves, thieves!<br>
…you’re robbed.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Desdemona herself adopts the narrative of being the property of others, saying she has preserved her body for Othello “from any other unlawful touch”.</p>
<p>The commission noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Societal beliefs also affect victims’ perceptions of the criminality of such actions. Women and children, like men, are socialised in a world where such beliefs are embedded in language, the family and other common social institutions and practices … often women believe that the violence is their own fault. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Desdemona attempts to manage Othello’s violence trying to woo him back. She accepts his abuse as “my wretched fortune” asking, “What shall I do to win my lord again?”</p>
<p>Venetian society is barely aware of male violence towards women. Iago’s abuse of his wife Emilia, for instance, is not commented on or apparently even noticed by the other characters. The only rebuke of Othello is made by Lodovico (representative of the Venetian duke and senate) who, observing Othello strike Desdemona, tells him to “make amends” – but makes no other intervention.</p>
<p>Desdemona herself struggles to identify or understand her abuse. Before she dies Emilia asks her “O, who hath done this deed?”; Desdemona replies, “Nobody; I myself.” And indeed, one victim told the Commission:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I didn’t have a language to describe what was wrong in my relationship.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136695/original/image-20160906-6114-1iwk7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Othello’s Lamentation (1857), by William Salter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Folger Shakespeare Library, via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the end of Othello – after the deaths of Desdemona, Othello and Emilia – Lodovico describes the tragedy as the result of Iago’s villainy and Othello’s failings, rather than due to societal attitudes towards women, or systemic violence. </p>
<p>The commission noted that too little effort is devoted to preventing the occurrence of family violence in the first place. Instead society reacts to family violence as a one-off crisis, after the event. </p>
<p>Gender equality, it noted, will also reduce family violence: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Intimate partner violence is likely to be higher when women lack autonomy and men dominate decision-making in public life, as well as in families and relationships.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Can a modern audience, viewing Othello through a 21st century framework of family violence, still see the play as a tragedy? A view of family violence as an act of male entitlement, reflective of social beliefs of women as property, removes the tragic glory from Othello’s suicide. </p>
<p>We cannot accept his claim that he was “one that loved not wisely, but too well”.</p>
<p>Nor his claim to be “an honourable murderer… For naught did I in haste, but all in honour.”</p>
<p>Indeed, the tragedy of the play could have been prevented by recognising Othello’s controlling behaviour towards Desdemona as violence arising out of societal attitudes as much as Othello’s personality. </p>
<p>There is no tragedy in his mistaken murder of Desdemona. There is no honour in killing her even if she was unfaithful. A modern view of family violence leaves Othello as nothing but a killer acting out the narrative of gendered violence of the 16th century Venetian society presented by Shakespeare. We are left without a tragedy and just a murder. </p>
<p>For a 21st century audience informed by the findings of the Royal Commission, the pathos of the play comes from how unnecessary and preventable – yet inevitable within the story – are the deaths. And how such deaths continue today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Shepherd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies. But in the light of 21st-century understandings of abuse, the play is recast as a textbook case of domestic terrorism.Matthew Shepherd, Lecturer Dispute Resolution Advocacy, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618092016-07-04T07:44:03Z2016-07-04T07:44:03ZFactCheck Q&A: are Indigenous women 34-80 times more likely than average to experience violence?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129148/original/image-20160704-19118-1vh1r1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Was Marcia Langton right about the rate of violence experienced by Indigenous women?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MSOW9GSqsA0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&A June 27, 2016 – watch from 3:30.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>Some proportion of that [funding] was supposed to be for preventing violence against Indigenous women, which ranges between 34 times the national figures to, you know, in the worst areas, 80 times. So … it’s a high-priority issue. <strong>– Professor Marcia Langton, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4463066.htm">speaking on Q&A</a>, June 27, 2016.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Prominent Indigenous academic Marcia Langton told Q&A that violence against Indigenous women ranged from between 34 times the national figures to up to 80 times in the worst areas, saying funding was needed for services “to stop the violence”.</p>
<p>Is that correct?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>When asked for sources to support her statement, Langton sent The Conversation a <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/21-40/rip37.html">series</a> of <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=6442458606">links</a> to a <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/A06006790A9C4474CA2577360017A885?opendocument">range</a> of <a href="http://anrows.org.au/sites/default/files/Fast-Facts---Indigenous-family-violence.pdf">articles</a>, <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20116&LangID=E">speeches</a> and <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/publications_archive/archive/violenceagainstwomen">reports</a> on the <a href="http://webtv.un.org/search/panel-discussion-on-violence-against-indigenous-women-10th-meeting-32nd-regular-session-of-human-rights-council/4942947545001?term=violence">issue</a>. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=6442458606">report</a> she referred to, published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2006, said that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Indigenous females and males were 35 and 22 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family violence-related assaults as other Australian females and males, respectively. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>An <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/indigenous-women-subject-to-horrifying-levels-of-violence/news-story/f0fa9afc26a618bc4bc9d6a7d6e5adc2?login=1">analysis</a> she referred to, authored by Curtin University researcher Hannah McGlade and published in The Australian newspaper in 2016, said that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal women here are 37 times more likely to be hospitalised than non-Aboriginal women for non-fatal family violence-related assaults. In the Northern Territory the rate of hospitalisation is up to 86 times higher for Aboriginal women. In central Australia, this figure is 95 times more likely for Aboriginal women.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Langton also referred The Conversation to figures reported by the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council (NPY Women’s Council) that said that its domestic and family violence service had</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a client base of 519 women, which from a total population of 6000 (accepting that at least half are men/boys and a large number of those are children), puts those at risk of domestic violence above the national average of one in three. It also means that there are very few individuals whose lives are not affected by domestic violence, either as direct victims, child witnesses of violence or as family members of victims and users of violence. NPY Women’s Council calculates that Aboriginal women in the region are around 60 times more likely to be victims of domestic homicide than are non-Aboriginal women.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She also referred to a <a href="http://www.ntcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1Cross-Sector-Orientation-Dr-Howard-Bath-March-2014.pdf">report</a> by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in the Northern Territory that said that Aboriginal women in the NT are 80 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of assault.</p>
<h2>Sorting out the technical terms</h2>
<p>It’s worth noting that “domestic violence” and “family violence” are related, but different terms. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/06_2014/sap_updated_26june.pdf">“Domestic violence”</a> refers to acts of violence (physical, sexual, emotional and psychological) that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship. It tends to involve an ongoing pattern of behaviour aimed at controlling a partner through fear. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/06_2014/sap_updated_26june.pdf">“Family violence”</a> is the most widely-used term to identify the experiences of Indigenous people because it includes the broad range of marital and kinship relationships in which violence may occur, rather than just intimate relationships. In order to cover both definitions, commentators often use the expression “domestic and family violence” in Australia.</p>
<p>Langton used the broad term “violence against Indigenous women” as part of a wide-ranging discussion about funding for domestic violence services, so we have checked a range of data on both domestic and family violence. </p>
<h2>Are Indigenous women 34 to 80 times more likely to experience domestic and family violence?</h2>
<p>It is difficult to measure the full extent of domestic and family violence against women as most incidents go unreported, but we know that Indigenous women are much more likely to experience domestic and family violence than non-Indigenous Australian women.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/programs-services/reducing-violence/the-national-plan-to-reduce-violence-against-women-and-their-children-2010-2022">The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022</a> quotes a figure of Indigenous females being up to 35 times more likely to experience domestic and family violence than non-Indigenous Australian women. And the Productivity Commission’s 2011 <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/overcoming-indigenous-disadvantage">Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage</a> report says Indigenous women and girls are <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/09_2014/dss012_14_book_tagged_reduced.pdf">31 times more likely</a> to be hospitalised due to domestic and family violence related assaults compared to non-Indigenous women and girls.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/06_2014/sap_updated_26june.pdf">The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 – 2022</a> quotes the 2009 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Social Survey as finding that around a quarter of all Indigenous women have experienced physical violence in the last 12 months and that nearly all of them knew their perpetrator.</p>
<p>We also know that Indigenous people are <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/21-40/rip37.html">disproportionately victims and offenders in homicide incidents</a>, and that most of these occur between family members.</p>
<p>There is <a href="http://www.ntcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1Cross-Sector-Orientation-Dr-Howard-Bath-March-2014.pdf">evidence</a> to support the claim that Indigenous women are up to 80 times more likely to experience violence in the “worst areas”. There is also <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/indigenous-women-subject-to-horrifying-levels-of-violence/news-story/f0fa9afc26a618bc4bc9d6a7d6e5adc2?login=1">anecdotal evidence and media</a> <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/violence-against-aboriginal-women-80-times-worse/story-e6frfkp9-1226661209335">reporting</a> to support this assertion.</p>
<p>We know that rates of domestic and family violence are higher in remote Indigenous communities, and that there are even greater barriers to reporting violence to authorities in small remote communities than there are in regional area and metropolitan centres. Anecdotal evidence from community leaders in remote communities does back up this claim.</p>
<h2>Why are Indigenous women more likely to experience domestic and family violence?</h2>
<p>There are various explanations as to why rates of domestic and family violence are more prevalent in Indigenous communities. Many accept that the impact of <a href="http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/Global/State%20pages/Tasmania/Safe%20from%20the%20start/FINAL%20REPORT%20A%20Spinney%20Oct%202013.pdf">colonisation</a>, ongoing <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/ctg-rs21.pdf">trauma</a> from the displacement of Indigenous people from their traditional lands and kinship groups, the removal of children from their families, and the ongoing negative relationship between Indigenous people and the criminal justice system have all contributed to heightened levels of violence. </p>
<p>For others, the <a href="http://webtv.un.org/search/panel-discussion-on-violence-against-indigenous-women-10th-meeting-32nd-regular-session-of-human-rights-council/4942947545001?term=violence">low expectations</a> that mainstream society has for Indigenous Australians, the high rates of unemployment and poverty, and substance misuse are more likely explanations.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>The available evidence on domestic and family violence suggest Marcia Langton is broadly correct. There is <a href="http://www.ntcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1Cross-Sector-Orientation-Dr-Howard-Bath-March-2014.pdf">evidence</a> for the higher end of the claim, including anecdotal evidence and media reports.</p>
<p>Getting accurate data on the true extent of domestic and family violence is notoriously difficult. <strong>– Angela Spinney</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>I agree with most of the comments made in this article, particularly that much of the domestic and/or family violence in Indigenous communities goes unreported. The reasons for this are complex. To add further weight to the article, it is useful to include the data below that confirms Marcia Langton’s assertion is broadly correct. </p>
<p>In NSW, the domestic assault rate per <a href="http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/">100,000 population averaged 388.7</a> for the period April 2015 to March 2016. </p>
<p>However, there were significant fluctuations across the state. In Walgett, for example – where the population is approximately half Indigenous and half non-Indigenous – the rate was 2339.2 domestic assaults per 100,000. In Moree, where the population is approximately 25% Indigenous and 75% non-Indigenous, the rate was 1738.6 per 100,000.</p>
<p>This suggests that in NSW, the rate of domestic assaults in areas with high Indigenous populations far outstrips the state average.</p>
<p>Data <a href="http://www.pfes.nt.gov.au/Police/Community-safety/Northern-Territory-crime-statistics/Statistical-publications.aspx">reported</a> by the Northern Territory police reveal a similar dynamic at work in that state. In Tennant Creek, for example – where the population is approximately half Indigenous and half non-Indigenous – the rate of domestic violence assault was 4,451.8 per 100,000.</p>
<p>It’s not possible to drill down to the rate of domestic violence assault among Indigenous people versus non-Indigenous people using this data set. However, if we were able to separate Indigenous versus non-Indigenous Australians, my experience as a researcher in this field suggests it would be unsurprising to find the rate for Indigenous populations at levels described by Marcia Langton. <strong>– Kyllie Cripps</strong></p>
<p><em>UPDATE: This article was updated on July 5 to include more data sources that Marcia Langton sent to The Conversation. The new sources include figures from the NPY Women’s Council and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in the Northern Territory. The sentence in the verdict that formerly read “There is less statistical evidence for the higher end of the claim, but there is anecdotal evidence that, tragically, this figure may well also be correct” now reads “There is <a href="http://www.ntcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1Cross-Sector-Orientation-Dr-Howard-Bath-March-2014.pdf">evidence</a> for the higher end of the claim, including anecdotal evidence and media reports.”</em></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Spinney has received funding from AHURI and ANROWS.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyllie Cripps receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
</span></em></p>Was academic Marcia Langton right about the rate of violence against Indigenous women?Angela Spinney, Lecturer/Research Fellow in Housing and Urban Studies, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.