2015 Association for Women in Psychology Conference

The purpose of this structured discussion is to address the issue of sexual exploitation and trafficking among young women in the Bay Area, and explore potential ideas for creating opportunities for healing, restorative justice, and social change that meet this population’s unique needs. “Every day of the year, thousands of America’s children are coerced into performing sex for hire. Some of these children are brutally beaten and raped into submission. Others are literally stolen off the streets, then isolated, drugged, and starved until they become “willing” participants” (California Child Welfare Council (CCWC), 2013, p.5). The presenter will discuss her experience working with these young women and the therapeutic benefits she has observed when incorporating art therapy with the feminist approach and survivor-informed practices to facilitate empowerment and healthy expression. According to Riley (1990), art therapy is helpful with adolescents because the problem becomes externalized within the art image, which shows that the problem is the problem and not the client (p. 249). This discussion will focus on the systems of oppression related to the victims and survivors of sex trafficking in response to race, gender, age, socio-economic status, and psychological resources. Victims whom are forced into captivity and continually abused after previously being abused, induce more harm and trauma to the body, mind, and soul (Herman, 1997, p. 18). Many of them return back to the streets because specialized services are not in place and majority of victims do not have supportive families to return to (CCW, 2013). Participants will explore ideas of community-based interventions and incorporating art as part of the healing process. The goal of this structured discussion is to collaborate with women in the field of psychology and explore therapeutic practices that will aid this unique population in restorative justice, healing, and community change.

Mandated reporting in psychotherapy is a frequently used intervention. Though the intent of the practice is to be therapeutic in its aim to protect children from inadequate or harmful care, the consequences of its execution can contradict its intent. This presentation will examine these contradictions and the ways in which dynamics of oppression, re-traumatization, and colonization are being expressed through mandated reporting laws. Using post colonial race theory, along with relational and social justice perspectives I will discuss the perpetuation and maintenance of a pervasive culture of oppression, where families of color are intruded upon, separated, and demeaned, in a disabling dynamic of powerlessness. The relationships between corporal punishment and discipline, and between families of color and institutional intervention will be observed through a historical lens. The instillation of fear and exhibition of power for purposes of control and capital are tactics that are still preserved in more subtle and nuanced way. This has been observed in my work in school-based and outpatient community mental health settings with primarily African American children and their mothers. Fear and distrust of the “system” (i.e. Therapists power/privilege to report abuse, threat of removal of children form home, the) in the context of therapy displayed by child clients and their mothers often complicates and slows an already vulnerable process of entering and remaining open through treatment. Consideration of the entire family system receives little attention or clinical thought, when reporting situations arise. Emphasis will be given to finding space to think about the impacts of this practice, while considering alternatives and/or modifications to approaching and implementing this intervention, with an interest in portraying and offering a less threatening, more therapeutic stance for families.

Current Research highlights the discrepancy of treatment programs offered for incarcerated domestic violence and sexually exploited victims. New data on traumatic brain injury has highlighted the commonalities between victims and perpetrators in trauma history and social and emotional functioning. Social Justice measures of treatment propose the importance of treating and healing both the victim and the perpetrator through honesty and investigation of the ways in which society fails victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. This societal systemic failure leads the researcher advocate to the importance of early intervention and the inability to reach victims within the multilayered systems of education, legal, and foster care. The facilitators of this structured discussion will present case studies from the Margaret J. Kemp Girls Camp in San Mateo, CA, offering gender responsive programs to encourage rehabilitation for incarcerated adolescent girls and girls who are on probation. Young girls in this program hold current and historical dual roles of both perpetrator and victim. Current research shows young girls who suffer from traumatic histories find themselves vulnerable to becoming further victimized or becoming perpetrators in an effort to gain control and manage the environments they find themselves in. This experience ultimately increases the possibilities for violence, increasing the chances of extreme injury and acquired disability. The presenters will discuss how working with this culturally diverse and socially and economically disadvantaged population informs more appropriate treatment guidelines and intervention strategies. The discussion will open a space for dialogue around the provision of ethical client centered, feminist treatment interventions. Strategies for increasing educational programs in multilayered systems will also be explored.

This interactive lecture format presentation will provide education concerning the growing social problem of abuse within the disability community to persons with disabilities, health care providers, educators and advocates. Research shows a 26% to 90% range for adults with disabilities who have experienced some form of abuse in their lifetime (Hughes et al., 2011). Children with a disability are 1.68 times more likely to have experienced abuse or neglect than children without a disability (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). Although it may be assumed that health care providers would be the first line of defense in this epidemic, it has been found that only 15% of women with disabilities report being asked by a healthcare provider whether abuse was a concern and/or if they wanted education on how they could be safer (Curry et al., 2011). When healthcare providers are not the primary advocates for abuse victims it may fall to persons with disabilities, and other allies, to begin to make changes within the system to help decrease the number of people who experience abuse. Isolation and attitudinal barriers increase vulnerability for abuse. To eliminate these unacceptably high incidence rates we must first have an understanding of the types of abuse which occur, the barriers to reporting abuse and the unique factors which cause increased vulnerability to abuse within the disability community. When people with disabilities attempt to seek assistance, services are often inaccessible to those with varying disabilities, leaving these individuals to stay in abusive situations (Beck-Massey, 1999). Through education people can begin to work together to eliminate barriers to reporting and increase the likelihood that abuse is eradicated. The presentation will end with an open conversation concerning ways in which we can all work together to decrease the frequency of abuse within the disability community.

Restorative justice approaches to sexual assault and intimate partner violence move us away from a primarily punitive criminal justice model toward a more holistic focus on survivors, the community, and society. This structured discussion seeks to engage participants in conversations about the many ways that a restorative justice model could be applied to sexual assault and intimate partner violence in the US and abroad. Four guiding questions will be used to promote discussion: 1) What does restorative justice mean in the context of sexual assault and intimate partner violence?; 2) How do restorative justice approaches align with survivor-centric, trauma-informed models of intervention?; 3) What are the implications of a restorative justice approach for prevention efforts?; and 4) How can we ensure that prevention and intervention efforts are culturally informed and appropriate? Three speakers will lead the discussion by sharing lessons learned from their own work in the field. The first speaker will describe culturally responsive approaches to therapy and intervention for survivors of sexual assault and sex trafficking. The second speaker will consider the benefits of a public health perspective for framing prevention and intervention efforts for sexual assault and intimate partner violence. The third speaker will offer insights into community-based intervention, prevention, and research models to address sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Throughout the discussion, participants will be encouraged to address the root causes of violence; consider survivor-centric, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate models of prevention and intervention; and discuss the myriad ways that we, as feminists, can be involved in restoring justice for those affected by sexual assault and intimate partner violence both at home and abroad.

What is wrong with the current response to gender violence? How should that response be different? To answer these questions, the Re-Imagining multimediaproject will be launched as part of Media for Change’s (MfC, mediaforchange.org) series, Changing the Conversation. MfC is a new non-profit and open-access online resource founded by documentary filmmaker Sanjeev Chatterjee to recognize and support the work of activists in using media for social change. Toward this end, Re-Imagining emerged from interviews on and around the 2014 conference CONVERGE: Re-imagining the Movement to End Gender Violence (http://www.law.miami.edu/academics/converge/index.php?op=0), where Arrested Justice author Beth Richie raised the same questions in her keynote address. Re-Imagining introduces the public to the ways in which the dominant response to domestic violence and sexual assault are criminal law centered, the dominant responses have failed to address structural inequalities, and the system intersectionality of the criminal justice system, welfare system, and child welfare system has had a negative impact (Dorothy Roberts, 2012) on women of color. In the multimedia content, leading scholars and activists Dorothy Roberts, Mimi Kim, Leigh Goodmark, Beth Richie, Joan Pennell, Donna Coker, and others speak to these problems and suggest alternative community responses, including Transformative Justice and Restorative Justice. The next iteration of Re-Imagining will likely include on-site videos with organizations involved in alternative responses to gender violence, including Transformative and Restorative Justice. The site will ultimately link to many other websites recognizing interlocking oppressions and working to diminish the carceral state. At the AWP Conference, we hope to dialogue with feminist psychologists about our evolving tool for sparking critical conversations and actions. Our goal is a general shift from dominant, crime-centered, gender violence responses, towards strengthening community-based strategies and alternatives.

The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN, 2009) reports that a sexual assault occurs every 2 minutes in the United States. Many of these assaults occur on college campuses. One study found that between 20-25% of women will experience an attempted or completed sexual assault by the time she graduates; 90% of the time she will know the offender (Fisher, Cullen & Turner, 2000). Additionally, in a study of nearly 1600 colleges with a population greater than 1000 students, 55% of students had at least one reported sexual assault, and the total number of 3900 reports in 2012 reflects a 50 percent increase from 2009 (Anderson, 2014). Because a large number of sexual assaults are unreported, this jump in reports may not necessarily indicate an increase in sexual assault, but rather a willingness on the part of survivors to trust the universities’ administration to support them after reporting. By Title IX standards, universities are legally required to respond to sexual assault reports. Unfortunately, in many instances, the university’s handling of these cases is problematic. For example, some schools expel students found guilty of cheating, but dispense far less severe punishments for students found guilty of sexual assault. Survivors of sexual assault who seek justice through appropriate university channels are disappointed and angry when their institutions fail to effectively address the issue. When this occurs, some survivors find other ways to restore justice, such as participation in Take Back The Night protests or becoming a survivor’s advocate. Finding ways to empower themselves after an assault may not help survivors find the retribution they seek, but it can promote positive healing. In this structured discussion, participants are encouraged to discuss universities’ institutional barriers in reporting sexual assault and brainstorm ways we can help survivors seek a personal sense of restorative justice. References Anderson, N. (2014, July 1). Sex offense statistics show U.S. college reports are rising. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sex-offense-statistics-show-us-college-reports-are-rising/2014/07/01/982ecf32-0137-11e4-b8ff-89afd3fad6bd_story.html Fisher, B.S., Cullen, F.T., & Turner, M.G. (2000). The Sexual Victimization of College Women. National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (2009). Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.rainn.org/statistics

The Clery Act requires college campuses and universities to report information about crime on and near their campuses. This structured discussion will explore how recent revisions to the Clery Act may adversely impact victims of sexual violence. Recent revisions to the Clery Act require most university employees to report all details of a sexual violence incident, including the identities of both the perpetrator and the victim, regardless of whether the victim requests that his or her identity remain confidential. The structured discussion will be led by a faculty member and will include the perspectives of student-services employees and current students. For example, a Peer Educator at the Violence Prevention and Women’s Resource Center (a student center that provides services for students who have experienced sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking) will describe training he received in which he was instructed how to discourage students from disclosing experiences of sexual assault victimization. A current student will describe how a student that has experienced sexual assault can no longer turn to a faculty member without being told that an investigation will take place the moment they disclose any information regarding the incident. She will describe her perspective that this policy may create a hostile setting for students, leaving them feeling abandoned and isolated.