2015 Association for Women in Psychology Conference

Young women in the United States receive many messages about the appropriate way to be an empowered woman. Since the 1980s, or what has been deemed the "postfeminist" society, the popular media has linked women’s empowerment with highly sexualized displays and behaviors. The ways in which the pressures to exemplify this “sexy” empowerment influence women’s actions and choices have been explored in a number of contexts. One understudied context is that of violence prevention. While young women receive pressure to enact “sexy” displays of femininity, messages around violence prevention (particularly sexual assault) encourage women to actively avoid any bodily displays that might be read as "sexy." This in-depth qualitative study of 25 women aged 18-35 explores the extent to which women recognize this tension and the ways it emerges as they discuss personal experiences related to safety concerns, risk and violence. In semi-structured interviews, women were asked about their thoughts and practices surrounding femininity, sexuality as well as the safety practices in which they regularly engage. Thematic analysis was conducted to extract major patterns and differences in women’s reasoning about femininity and sexiness and the ways they related to empowerment and/or vulnerability for violence. A major tension in women’s femininity narratives emerged as women positioned themselves as invulnerable and agentive actors in attenuating risk, yet simultaneously constructed their feminine bodies as inherently and unavoidably at risk for violence. Interviewees actively worked to distance themselves from the “other women” who may become victims, by disaggregating the category of “woman” from femininity, delegitimizing “woman” as a category of relevance for them, and reconstructing femininity in terms of strength and individuality. Women of color were less likely to reproduce the tension between femininity and empowerment suggesting that messages equating femininity with sexiness and/or vulnerability for violence are most pervasive for white women, while women of color rely on alternative narratives of womanhood and strength. The endorsement of feminist ideology at times worked to also provide an alternative narrative of womanhood that was not opposed to strength. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

Feminist Liberation Psychology (FLP) uses a problematizing praxis to explore social justice issues within our communities; this is the praxis of wicked questioning. We use these processes to interrogate injustices and to examine limit situations so that other possibilities are imagined. Limit situation connotes more than the intersectionality of oppressions to include analysis of how power circulates such that people simultaneously inhabit a range of powers to act even in the face of intense power over situations. In moving through intersectional spaces, we exercise and maintain individually maintained moments of empowerment. It is in these moments where empowerment resonates. The challenge for transformative praxis is to create the conditions wherein participants see not only how they are within these limit situations, but also what can be done to shift these situations on personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels within our cultures; this forms a key component of FLP Forum Theatre. We share the results of what happens when we place the authority of voice and narrative at the core of our change work by using the praxis of FLP Forum Theatre with young mothers occupying various identity markers for marginalization. We share the lessons learned from using FLP Forum Theatre to create change, on personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels and to show implications for generative restorative justice. Feminist Liberation Psychology praxis examines limit situations from the inside out to create sustained conditions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural change; such change is essential for a transformative restorative justice model.

The word “slut” has typically been used to describe a woman whose behavior is inconsistent with gender norms (Poole, 2013). Researchers have suggested various motivations for “slut-shaming”: intrasexual competition (reducing the value of a sexual rival; Vaillancourt & Sharma, 2011), retribution for non-conformity to feminine scripts (Jost, 2001; Poole, 2013), and female-on-female control of sexuality (Baumeister & Twenge, 2002). While researchers have examined how people view “sluts” (Crawford & Popp, 2003; Fugere et al., 2008), minimal research has explored the perceptions of the “shamers”. One prior study has shown that “shamers” are generally disliked (Papp et al., 2014), and we hoped to expand upon that idea with this project. In this study, we used mock Facebook profiles to illustrate the relationship between the “slut” and “shamer”. Participants were assigned to one of four conditions, in which the socio-economic status (SES) and clothing of the target were randomized. We altered the “slut’s” SES and clothing because these variables may affect how someone is perceived (Kraus et al., 2011; Montemurro & Gillen, 2013; Vaillancourt & Sharma, 2011). Participants responded to measures of person perception (“slut” and “shamer”) and social distance (“slut” and “shamer”), were asked to evaluate the “shamer’s” remark, and indicated if they identified as feminist. SES, clothing, and feminist identity significantly impacted how participants viewed “sluts” and “shamers”. Participants wanted more social distance from the “shamer” if she shamed the conservatively dressed “slut” and wanted more social distance from the high SES “slut” when she dressed provocatively. Participants were more likely to perceive the tone of the “slut-shaming” comment as serious if the “slut” had high SES and dressed provocatively. Women who did not identify as feminists wanted greater social distance from the “slut”, and feminist-identified participants did not find “slut-shaming” justified regardless of the attire of the “slut”.

This paper will discuss how social support operates within online self-injury groups for young adults. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is described as direct and deliberate destruction of one’s own body (e.g. cutting or burning oneself) in the absence of suicidal intent (Nock & Favazza, 2009) and for reasons not socially or culturally sanctioned (such as piercing or tattooing). The behavior is often preceded by emotional distress and followed by a subjective sense of relief, so it can be conceived of as a coping mechanism. While early research and popular media have stereotypically linked NSSI to Caucasian females only, it is prevalent across genders, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses (Klonsky, 2011). This makes accessing these diverse voices imperative to understanding this behavior. This paper will also discuss the stigma surrounding NSSI, something very familiar to those who self-injure. Because of the likelihood of encountering stigmatization, many have turned to the Internet as a safe, anonymous place to talk about their struggles with self-injury and gain social support from similar others (Lewis et al., 2012). This phenomenological research aims to understand how social support operates within online self-injury groups and whether this support is perceived to affect the frequency of users’ self-injury. Participants were ten young adults (ages 18-25) of all genders to ensure the voices of non-gender-conforming individuals could be heard. This research utilized a qualitative questionnaire distributed via email exchange with participants. Data has been collected and is currently under analysis by methods of constant comparison and content analysis. It is my hope that this research will enhance the understanding of how online groups may play a role in supporting young adults who self-injure in their recovery.