Femininsm

Victim blaming and self-blame are common experiences for women who have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse. This thesis employs a comprehensive mixed-methods approach from a critical relativist feminist epistemology which includes a review of the literature of victim blaming of women, the development and initial validation of a new psychometric measure of victim blaming of women (BOWSVA Scale), two qualitative studies exploring understanding of victim blaming and self-blame with women who have experienced sexual violence and professionals who work in sexual violence support; resulting in a final discussion proposing a new integrated model of victim blaming of women. Research aims and methodology

Study 1: Interviews with women who have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse This study utilised a semi-structured interview framework to explore the way women construct their understanding and experiences of victim blaming and self-blame through talk. Through interviews with nine women aged 19 to 76 years old, participants were asked to consider why they thought women were blamed for sexual violence, why women might blame themselves for sexual violence along with their own experiences of being blamed by others and blaming the self. The study sought to provide a more nuanced view of the experience of victim blaming and self-blame from women who had experienced diverse forms of sexual violence throughout the lifespan. The interview data was analysed using critical discursive analysis from a feminist perspective to search for patterns and themes in the way women talked about victim blaming and self-blame of themselves and other women.

Study 2: Interviews with professionals who support women after sexual violence and abuse This study utilised a semi-structured interview framework identical to the first study to explore the way the professionals working with the women construct their understanding and experiences of working with women who have experienced victim blaming and self-blame after sexual violence. Through interviews with eleven professionals working in rape centres and sexual violence support services, participants were asked to consider why they thought women were blamed for sexual violence, why women might blame themselves for sexual violence along with their own professional techniques used to try to deconstruct victim blaming and self-blame narratives of women they support. The study sought to provide a comparison between women who have experienced sexual violence and the professionals who support them. The main comparison being; do women seeking support and the professionals supporting them have a similar understanding of victim blaming and self-blame – and how do the professionals try to help women to understand that it was not their fault?


Study 3: Development and validation of a psychometric measure of victim blaming of women subjected to sexual violence and abuse Evaluation of the existing measures used in the victim blaming literature (Updated IRMAS, Mcmahon & Farmer, 2010; AMMSA, Gerger et al., 2007; RMAS, Burt, 1980; PVBS, Cramer et al. 2013) found that none of the existing psychometric measures were specifically built to measure the amount of blame being apportioned to the female victim and to the male perpetrator in common scenarios of sexual violence towards women. Instead, the psychometric measures were found to be testing for constructs such as sexism, rape myths, victim characteristics, perpetrator myths and general attitudes towards sexual violence. This finding led to the development and validation study of the Blame of Women subjected to Sexual Violence and Abuse Scale (BOWSVA Scale). In this study, previous measures were evaluated using concept mapping and content analysis to discover the gaps and problems with previous measurement approaches to victim blaming. The BOWSVA items containing manipulated sexual violence scenarios in which women were assaulted by men, were then developed after a team of peer experts were consulted for face validity. The resulting BOWSVA items were tested on over 450 adults in the general population to generate enough data to conduct factor analysis to develop and test the items as a psychometric construct to measure the apportioning of blame to women who have experienced sexual violence or abuse. A 7-factor solution was derived and accepted in principle, with much more research required to continue to validate the measure and items.

This essay maps the epistemological terrain trans* studies may face as it is widely incorporated into queer studies programs, often housed within women's studies departments. Over the past two decades, queer studies and women's studies have rapidly professionalized, producing new modes of disciplinary power that may seek to either include or cite trans* studies, often without fully welcoming its specific material and political investments. Under such conditions, trans* studies may find itself heard largely as a "but" —an epistemic blockage, a distraction from proper objects, a hindrance to customary methods—that must be disciplined.

Epistemología (Escritos Compilados) es una obra que pretende asentar un hito dentro del análisis del conocimiento que, actualmente, poseemos sobre los estudios y extensiones del campo epistemológico en las distintas áreas del saber. El investigador Francisco Díaz Céspedes y otros notables exponentes letrados de la epistemología, analizan los fundamentos, principios y modelos epistémicos de connotados intelectuales del mundo occidental, tales como: Simone de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger, Jean Piaget, Paul Feyerabend, Michel Foucault, entre otros. A su vez, se intenta demostrar que la epistemología, también puede dar apertura académica hacia otros campos de investigación, tales como: la Historia de la Ciencia, la Política, el Feminismo, la Pedagogía y la Inclusividad

Women artists, motivated by feminist theory and feminist movement, have started to ask for equality in connection with the Art Workers' Coalition's (AWC) Statement of Demands, which was developed in 1969 and published in its final form in March 1970 . Much development has been since quite remarkable, with many effects on people and societies. And Street art, which is not to be imprisoned in galleries or museums where too many people have no access, has been a strong canal for feminist demands. It has awakened minds, brought freedom and inspired women around the world to revolt and to fight for their rights. It is still constantly reminding the world to take into account women's rights.
This article tries to highlight the role of Street art in diffusing feminist issues through the world but especially in the Arabic speaking world.
It is extracted from other papers that can be found on the researcher's page on Academia Site.

A proposal for a feminine perspective as a strategy to counteract a perceived incompatibility of life drawing with contemporary practice. Life drawing is placed within it’s historical context, emphasising it’s association with the academy and the concept of the nude as a sign for fine art and high culture. A feminist reading of life drawing traditions positions life drawing as a male orientated practice and references social assumptions relating to life modeling, and their significance today. The positioning of objective geometry as a masculine perspective is questioned, and the inversion of gendered stereotypes is found to be unsatisfactory. The definition of  a specifically feminine perspective, as  the antithesis of masculine,  and as biological  and essentialist in nature, is rejected in favor of an individual and subjective response. It is argued that approaches marginalised within the life drawing room, including those responses associated with femininity, within the binary opposition system, offer an appropriate and contemporary alternative to outmoded life drawing practice.
The methodology examines specific works by Carole Scheemann, Joan Semmel and Fiona Banner as examples of  alternative depictions of the female body.  The project is based on the figure within the life drawing room and focuses on an exploration of drapery as a metaphor for the figure. Experimentation with projected shadows is rejected in favour of paper cutouts which question the polarity of positive and negative, presence and absence. Further development of the installation extends its exploration of ambiguity inherent within oppositions. A video showing the shape of the figure outlined in pencil references the containment of the figure and combines a sense of private ritual with performance. A sound recording of the models voice is used to evoke a sense of empathy with the model, while reflecting thematic concerns. An alternative and relevant response to the life drawing room is demonstrated through the application of a subjective feminine perspective.