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Deadly Love: Images of Dating Violence in the “Twilight Saga”
Abstract
It has been well established that adolescents face a high risk of dating violence in the United States. One explanation links these behaviors to attitudes and behaviors that are reflected in the media, such as books, movies, and video games that target a teenage audience. In the study presented here, a content analysis of the popular four-book Twilight series provided evidence of behaviors and attitudes that are conducive to dating violence. Cases of physical and sexual abuse, stalking, threats, and intimidation were identified in the text. Given that this book series has been praised for its “wholesome” presentation of teenage romance, these are troubling findings. Implications include the use of the Twilight series in social work, education, and violence prevention efforts.
... Another content analysis explored the way that ideas like paternalism, masculinity, and gender roles feature in the romance narrative Twilight (2005). Collins and Carmody (2011) analyzed all four books in the series, finding repeated instances of violence, controlling behaviors, stalking, jealousy, male aggression, and support of traditional gender roles. The researchers noted that the books emphasize the male love interest Edward's chivalrous behavior and that instances of Edward physically saving the female protagonist Bella from harm have large roles in the plot of the series (Collins & Carmody, 2011). ...
... Collins and Carmody (2011) analyzed all four books in the series, finding repeated instances of violence, controlling behaviors, stalking, jealousy, male aggression, and support of traditional gender roles. The researchers noted that the books emphasize the male love interest Edward's chivalrous behavior and that instances of Edward physically saving the female protagonist Bella from harm have large roles in the plot of the series (Collins & Carmody, 2011). This chivalrous behavior ultimately makes Bella dependent upon male protection and limits her agency, which is reminiscent of benevolent sexism. ...
... The analysis of Fifty Shades of Grey by Bonomi et al. (2013) does not connect Christain's violence with the story's portrayal of gender roles and ambivalent sexism. Additionally, the content analyses by Collins and Carmody (2011) and Godfrey and Hamad (2012) do not explicitly connect fictional media's portrayal of masculinity with ambivalent sexism. There are clearly gendered messages in the media examined by Bonomi et al. (2013), Collins and Carmody (2011), and Godfrey and Hamad (2012), as within these stories violence is perpetrated by the man while the female character responds submissively. ...
... Beauty and the Beast has been described as offering an optimistic romance despite clear warning signs of physical abuse on the part of the Beast (Olson 2013). An analysis of the written Twilight saga includes 11 instances of Edward stalking Bella, 96 instances of Bella's secondary victimization, and 20 instances of Edward showing physical aggression toward Bella (Collins and Carmody 2011). Throughout the Fifty Shades of Grey series, Christian has been found to perpetrate physical, emotional, and verbal abuse against Anastasia (Bonomi et al. 2013;Leistner and Mark 2016;Parry and Light 2014). ...
... Stalking is often romanticized as a form of extreme wanting or desire for the female character. However, stalking is a form of using one's power to control another person (Collins and Carmody 2011). In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast uses the magical rose to see how she reacts to his threats and watches where Belle goes when she leaves the castle. ...
... Although Bella is initially relieved, she is annoyed when she realizes Edward is stalking her. This kind of controlling behavior is also romanticized in instances of Edward referring to Bella as his to protect, disguising control with benevolent patriarchal protection (Collins and Carmody 2011). In Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian becomes frustrated when Anastasia does not reply to his efforts to contact her. ...
Popular romantic fiction dating back to the 1700s often portrays a submissive/virginal female character and an aggressive/beastly male character. This binary portrayal of heterosexual relationships is problematic because it presents a power imbalance within the couple as essential for romance. Although several scholars have described this phenomenon, it has yet to be named and applied to violence prevention work. In response, the purpose of this study is to develop the term “virgin-beast trope” to capture this relationship dynamic and situate this concept within the larger body of relationship violence research. We use three of the most popular romantic fiction films (Beauty and the Beast, Twilight, and Fifty Shades of Grey) to illustrate the virgin-beast trope and demonstrate its continuity from childhood to adulthood. We then use the Abuse Litmus Test to identify examples of relationship abuse embedded within the virgin-beast trope as evidenced in these films. Although unhealthy features of these three relationships are often masked in romanticization, the inherent disproportional power dynamic of the virgin-beast trope results in the male partners using their ‘beastly power’ through threats, intimidation, isolation, and stalking to control the subordinate and virginal female partner. In response, the female partners try to ‘tame the beast’, but ultimately suffer harm as a result. The prominent virgin-beast trope across romantic fiction could be added to existing media literacy education to support more engaging conversations that address relationship violence prevention across developmental stages.
... Physical abuse, sexual abuse and stalking are identified in the texts of the series (Collins, 2011) through counting episodes of abusive behaviors, though their study did not use an external measure of how abuse is defined. In another study the male romantic lead in the series is identified as a compensated psychopath (Merskin, 2011). ...
... A variety of factors have been identified as contributing to the occurrence of teen dating violence, including violence in families of origin, histories of abuse, bullying, and social norms around romance (Ball et al., 2012;Draucker et al., 2012;Foshee et al., 2009Foshee et al., , 1999Martsolf et al., 2012;Mueller et al., 2013;Orpinas et al., 2012). Despite the prevalence of relationship violence in the lives of teens, and the documented negative effect of this violence on their lives, classic and popular culture repeatedly offers teens romanticized positive images of courtship behaviors identical to the behaviors of violent relationships (Collins & Carmody, 2011;Merskin, 2011;Michel, 2011;Silver, 2010). Social work research is well positioned to examine the social norms and expectations in popular culture surrounding partner abuse in the venues of television, music, film and the visual arts. ...
... Considerable attention is being paid to the story by women's studies scholars, much of it focused on what the story can tell us about the current state of feminism (Ames, 2010;Bode, 2010;Silver, 2010). It has been established that the male protagonist in the romance exerts insistent dominanceincluding violence -on the female protagonist (Collins & Carmody, 2011;Kokkola, 2011;Michel, 2011), thus Twilight Saga also has important messages for domestic violence advocates and services providers about the role of violence in intimacy. Horror stories and melodrama, both of which Twilight are in addition to romance, can be viewed as functioning as fairy tales for grown-ups, teaching people what is or is not permissible in sexual relationships. ...
This dissertation is a qualitative study examining the behavior of the main characters in the novels in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga as those behaviors compare to behavior listed in warnings about partner violence. The study found specific behaviors of those fictional characters matching those recognized as behaviors of partner violence in all four novels in the series, including behaviors that are illegal. The commercial success and popularity of the novels, aimed at the young adult reader market, suggests broad social acceptance of the characters’ behaviors in romantic pursuit. Despite over 30 years of anti-violence work, this research suggests that behaviors are socially well accepted as both indicators of romantic attachment and of partner violence, depending on context rather than behavior. The study demonstrates the fluidity of how behaviors are defined as partner violence, or not. These findings also suggest strategies for social work education, practice and research.
... [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Despite the high prevalence of IPV and adverse health impacts, underlying societal conditions create the context for such violence to occur, 12 including the normalization and romanticizing of violence in popular culture (e.g., books, music, film). [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] For example, Eminem and Rihanna's music video-Love the Way You Lie 23romanticizes physical, sexual, and emotional threats, including an intent to kill (i.e., threats to burn down a house), within a couple's romantic relationship. The increasing inclusion of abuse in music videos [20][21][22] prompted a cautionary policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics 24 about the role that depictions of violence, sexual messages, sexual stereotypes, and substance abuse play in behaviors and attitudes of young viewers. ...
... [35][36][37] One of the most popular literary series of all timethe Twilight 38-40 series-normalizes abuse within the context of a romantic relationship, including stalking, physical and sexual assault, emotional manipulation, threats, and intimidation. 13,14 Within the Twilight 38-40 series, Edward, a ''breathtakingly handsome vampire,'' is depicted as ''an obsessed stalker with no interest or friends other than his family and Bella,'' the female protagonist and his romantic focus (Borgia,. 13 Edward routinely orders Bella around, growls, snarls, shouts, and uses aggressive looks and physical gestures, such as aggressively grabbing her; some of his physical control strategies cause bruising. ...
... 13 Edward routinely orders Bella around, growls, snarls, shouts, and uses aggressive looks and physical gestures, such as aggressively grabbing her; some of his physical control strategies cause bruising. 13,14 Most recently, the Fifty Shades trilogy 27-29 -on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 50 weeks and counting-has been heralded as a means to liberating, erotic, and perverse sexual expression. The Fifty Shades trilogy has caused much public controversy, resulting in the book being banned in libraries across several U.S. states. ...
Background:
While intimate partner violence (IPV) affects 25% of women and impairs health, current societal conditions-including the normalization of abuse in popular culture such as novels, film, and music-create the context to support such violence. Fifty Shades of Grey, a best-selling novel, depicts a "romantic" and "erotic" relationship involving 28-year-old megamillionaire, Christian Grey, and a 22-year-old college student, Anastasia Steele. We argue that the relationship is characterized by IPV, which is harmful to Anastasia.
Methods:
All authors engaged in iterative readings of the text, and wrote narrative summaries to elucidate themes. Validity checks included double review of the first eight chapters of the novel to establish consistency in our analysis approach, iterative discussions in-person and electronically to arbitrate discrepancies, and review of our analysis with other abuse and sexual practice experts. To characterize IPV, we used the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definitions of emotional abuse (intimidation/threats; isolation; stalking; and humiliation) and sexual violence (forced sex acts/contact against a person's will, including using alcohol/drugs or intimidation/pressure). To characterize harm, we used Smith's conceptualizations of perceived threat, managing, altered identity, yearning, entrapment, and disempowerment experienced by abused women.
Results:
Emotional abuse is present in nearly every interaction, including: stalking (Christian deliberately follows Anastasia and appears in unusual places, uses a phone and computer to track Anastasia's whereabouts, and delivers expensive gifts); intimidation (Christian uses intimidating verbal and nonverbal behaviors, such as routinely commanding Anastasia to eat and threatening to punish her); and isolation (Christian limits Anastasia's social contact). Sexual violence is pervasive-including using alcohol to compromise Anastasia's consent, as well as intimidation (Christian initiates sexual encounters when genuinely angry, dismisses Anastasia's requests for boundaries, and threatens her). Anastasia experiences reactions typical of abused women, including: constant perceived threat ("my stomach churns from his threats"); altered identity (describes herself as a "pale, haunted ghost"); and stressful managing (engages in behaviors to "keep the peace," such as withholding information about her social whereabouts to avoid Christian's anger). Anastasia becomes disempowered and entrapped in the relationship as her behaviors become mechanized in response to Christian's abuse.
Conclusions:
Our analysis identified patterns in Fifty Shades that reflect pervasive intimate partner violence-one of the biggest problems of our time. Further, our analysis adds to a growing body of literature noting dangerous violence standards being perpetuated in popular culture.
... It appears few studies have focused specifically on the representation of abusive relationships in pop music. Fleetwood's (2012) analysis of Rihanna and 'erotic violence', explored further below, is a notable exception, and Collins and Carmody (2011) offer an interesting analysis of how dating violence is represented, but in the televised Twilight Saga, rather than in contemporary music. This study therefore aims to address this gap and situates this analysis both in the context of MacKinnon's (1989) work and the recent UK policy and criminal justice interest in 'coercive control'. ...
... This study therefore aims to address this gap and situates this analysis both in the context of MacKinnon's (1989) work and the recent UK policy and criminal justice interest in 'coercive control'. Collins and Carmody (2011) and others suggest that young people are particularly prone to exaggerate gender roles and that violence and love can both be found in adolescent relationships (Lavoie et al. 1995). While this is of course troubling, I make no claims here to establish a causal link or correlation between lyrical representations that eroticise domination and submission and partner behaviours in adolescent relationships. ...
Public awareness and understanding of abusive relationships have increased in recent years, yet a persistent cultural trope in Western culture is that ‘real’ love hurts. This chapter explores how dominance, submission and coercive control continue to be eroticised in the lyrics of contemporary pop music. In an analysis of five recent Top 20 UK tracks, I draw on Ryle’s (The Concept of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Presss, 1949) concept of a ‘category mistake’ to argue that coercive control and abuse are often mis-labelled as ‘willing masochism’ or ‘female empowerment’. However, I argue that castigating the writers and performers of such music neglects how we are all subject to, and potentially co-creators of, the patriarchal practices which eroticise dominance and submission.
... The Twilight series, which is aimed more toward adolescent women, does not include explicit descriptions of sex, but it does still contain problematic messages about sexuality and sexual violence. In an analysis of depictions of dating violence in the Twilight series, Collins and Carmody (2011) found many examples of different types of violence, including stalking, verbal abuse, and sexual violence. Many of these violence acts were perpetrated by the male protagonist, Edward, against the female protagonist, Bella. ...
... Many of these violence acts were perpetrated by the male protagonist, Edward, against the female protagonist, Bella. Collins and Carmody (2011) also found that these violent behaviors were often rationalized or minimized, and sometimes romanticized by the characters. This tendency to normalize violence in romantic relationships is especially problematic given the primary audience of adolescent women. ...
Despite advances in gender and sexual equality, women are still constrained by standards and norms in American culture. Women hear messages that they must remain sexually abstinent, and if they violate these proscriptions, they are met with negative social consequences. The present study examined a potential source for such messages: women-directed Christian dating books, using hypothesis-driven thematic analysis. Based on Moon and Reger’s findings of rape myths, dehumanization and objectification of women, and sexism among mixed-gender dating books, it was expected that the women-directed books would contain both messages of purity culture, which mandates that women either remain virgins or be considered whores, and messages of rape culture, which supports sexual violence and invokes consequences for women who deviate from socially proscribed gendered norms. These hypotheses were supported. Content analysis of both mixed-gender and women-directed Christian dating books revealed themes such as: the belief that sex devalues women; men and women were created for different, complementary purposes; sex should only be for procreation; women are responsible for sexual violence that men perpetrate; women should expect and accept sexual violence as a normal part of life; and women who are not submissive should be derogated. The implications of finding these themes in media meant to convey lessons of purity are discussed.
... Young women, in particular, found monitoring of partners to be very acceptable while males believed sharing sexually explicit pictures was acceptable. This acceptance of boundary violations is supported by media, such as the very popular Twilight Series books and movies that romanticize such behavior (Collins & Carmody, 2011). ...
... Dating violence is heavily influenced by dominant norms of masculinity and femininity (Black & Weisz, 2003;Feldman & Gowen, 1998). The feminist perspective suggests dating violence occurs in a social context that is dominated by males and perpetuated by socialization into traditional gender roles (Prospero, 2007; for a full review of this perspective, see Collins & Carmody, 2011). According to this framework, young men are socialized to use dating violence as a means to control young women. ...
This qualitative study explored gender differences in socially interactive technology (SIT) use/abuse among dating teens from Michigan (N = 23). Focus group transcripts were coded using three categories: (1) type of SIT (e.g., social networking); (2) abusive action (e.g., monitoring); and (3) consequence (e.g., jealousy). Texting and social networking were the most commonly used types of SIT. Spying/monitoring, sexting, and password sharing/account access were the most common abusive actions. Distrust and jealousy were the most frequent consequences. Young men and women differed in their conceptualization of SIT abuse. Most participants agreed that some abusive actions were typical parts of adolescent dating experiences.
... Stalking behaviors are rampant in the popular ''tweenie'' Twilight series (novels and films), which might come as a surprise to some. Throughout the series, there are 14 occasions of stalking documented, most of which were perpetrated by Edward against Bella (the protagonists in the series; Collins & Carmody, 2011). What is as alarming, if not more, as the acts of stalking is the minimizing or romanticizing of the acts (Collins & Carmody, 2011). ...
... Throughout the series, there are 14 occasions of stalking documented, most of which were perpetrated by Edward against Bella (the protagonists in the series; Collins & Carmody, 2011). What is as alarming, if not more, as the acts of stalking is the minimizing or romanticizing of the acts (Collins & Carmody, 2011). Considering the reality that the culture of stalking celebrities is often popularized by the media, people may be socialized into endorsing favorable attitudes to stalking (McCutcheon, Scott, Aruguete, & Parker, 2006;Spitzberg & Cupach, 2007), or even ''misperceive stalking as an expression of dedication, loyalty, or love for a potential mate who has not yet realized his or her true feelings'' (Fox, Nobles, & Akers, 2011, p. 41). ...
The prevalence, incidence, and impact of the gender-based abuse (GBA) of college women have been increasingly documented since the 1980s, with growing precision in the measurements and expanding identification of tactics. Although there is an obvious class bias in focusing on college women (compared to women of similar ages not attending college), it is important to address GBA among this population as they are at serious risk of sexual abuse (particularly incapacitated rape), intimate partner abuse (IPA), and stalking. This article addresses the stealth nature of the nonviolent GBAs of college women and how these abuses frequently operate under the radar of acknowledgment by society, the abusers, campus officials, the criminal legal system, and sometimes, the survivors.
... In media portrayals of romance, love is often depicted within the contexts of jealousy, control, and violence. Such depictions can particularly encourage women to perceive controlling behaviors as signs of intimacy and affection (Chung 2005, Power et al. 2006, Donovan and Hester 2010, Collins and Carmody 2011, Bonomi et al. 2013, Hayes 2014, Hartwell et al. 2015, Papp et al. 2017. A study on media portrayals of romantic jealousy and communicative responses to jealousy (Frampton and Linvill 2017) conducted a content analysis of the types of romantic jealousy and communicative responses to jealousy in the highest grossing romantic comedy films released between 2002 and 2014. ...
Jealousy in a romantic relationship can have destructive consequences, such as ending relationships and leading to violent behaviors. Despite being heavily studied internationally for nearly three decades, it has not received sufficient attention in Turkish psychology literature. From this point of view, this article aims to address romantic jealousy from various perspectives, with the intention of providing ideas for future studies on the subject. The article discusses jealousy in a romantic relationship, taking various theoretical explanations into account to understand its triggers and forms of expression. It also includes the findings of various studies on jealousy in the international and Turkish literature. Finally, the article provides application and research suggestions based on the information obtained. According to the results of the reviewed studies, although jealousy is a universal emotion, there are intercultural differences in the experience of jealousy. As demonstrated by the reviewed studies, further research is necessary in both international literature and Türkiye to fully comprehend the dynamics of romantic jealousy and prevent its destructive consequences.
... Patterns of intimate partner violence represented in contemporary fiction by women are documented by many researchers. Their studies have focused, for example, on popular series such as Twilight and its representation of a controlling and abusive male partner (Collins and Carmody 2011;Borgia 2014;Brody 2014). Likewise, the Fifty Shades series caused much public controversy over its representation of the central romantic relationship. ...
Newspaper headlines show that awareness of intimate partner violence is a complicated issue that needs further examination. Works of fiction narrated by women trapped in abusive relationships are useful sites for the exploration of what intimate partner violence usually includes, and the identification of subtle behaviours that can be defined as violent and abusive but usually go unnoticed. This article submits two contemporary works of fiction, First Love and the Fifty Shades series, for a study of the covert mechanisms of emotional abuse. To understand such mechanisms, the article engages with feminist as well as postfeminist contemporary thinking on intimate partner violence. The analysis shifts the focus back to the male abuser by carefully depicting how he uses under-recognized, gendered forms of power to abuse his partner. The aim is to elucidate the capacity of first-person narratives to allow access to the abused woman’s mind, while simultaneously provoking questions about the abusers’ behaviours, making them a more powerful tool for understanding intimate partner violence than a newspaper report.
... Literature on films related to DV shows concern about the important role of social messages received by teenagers about love and violence (Kettrey & Emery, 2010;Lenahan, 2009), highlighting that TV series or popular saga, such as Twilights, normalizes, minimizes and romanticizes violent behaviours within romantic relationships (Collins & Carmody, 2011). Considering the potential of media content, many studies have been revealing that non-formal, participatory, multimedia and digital methodologies are effective in promoting PYD. ...
The paper explores the content of 61 video capsules, presenting stories about unhealthy relationships invented, performed and filmed by 534 adolescents, from Spain, Portugal, Romania and Italy. The purpose is to analyse, through a thematic analysis of the video capsules, youth perspectives on what factors, myths and beliefs turn healthy relationships into unhealthy relationships, and what positive assets are managed to solve them. The results show common youth's perspectives on the idealization of romantic love, based on gender stereotypes, identified as a common characteristic of unhealthy relationships. Individuality is misinterpreted as a threat to the stability of dating relationships. Positive assets used by victims to face dating violence (DV) are assertiveness, communication abilities and management of emotions, whereas offenders used assertiveness, empathy and critical thinking. The paper debates the efficacy of intervention programs combining youth positive development and DV prevention approaches based on filmmaking.
... Existing research has identified that sexually violent portrayals are present in the media consumed by adolescents and young adults (Bufkin & Eschholz, 2000;Collins & Carmody, 2011;Gossett & Byrne, 2002;Lee et al., 2010). Almost one-third of songs popular among youths and young adults contain risky sexual behavior (Holody et al., 2016) Hust & Rodgers (2013 conducted a content analysis that showed the overlap between sex and violence in music lyrics popular among teens and young adults. ...
Music media are often studied for its content, specifically sex and violence. However, few studies have approached music media to investigate the overlap of this content, especially considering the current music streaming landscape. Our study explores the co-occurrence of violence, sexual content, and degrading terms toward women in music lyrics. In this content analysis, five coders coded lyrics of 781 stanzas of songs in the Hot 100 Billboard chart throughout 2017 for these three categories. We found that the most common category was sexual content (n = 222, 28.4%), followed by degrading terms toward women (n = 71, 9%), and violence (n = 55, 7%). Additionally, we conducted chi-square and odds ratio analyses, finding that the co-occurrence of violence and sexual content, violence and degrading terms toward women were all significant, while the co-occurrence of sexual content and degrading terms toward women was common but not significant. These results are concerning considering the heavy consumption of popular music among youth and young adults and the potential influence of such exposure. The findings imply that media literacy education may be beneficial for adolescents to recognize and question the gender stereotypic portrayals in music media.
... Even the perception of emotions is filtered through the description of body parts such as the eyes, the appearance, and the reactions of the characters. In conclusion, the present analysis basically provides support for critics' interpretations ( [32]; [7]), namely that the Saga's success was due to a clever marketing campaign rather than to its intrinsic literary merits. ...
The present study draws on corpus stylistics (cf. [38]; [19]; [26]; [20], to name a few) to investigate the narrative style in Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga (2005-2008). In particular, it focuses on keywords generated using Wordsmith Tools version 7 [36], and the BNC as a reference corpus. Qualitative and quantitative analyses show that the most frequent lexical words (nouns, adjectives, and verbs) reflect the writer's focus on carefully selected physical elements of the characters. More specifically, the nouns preferentially denote specific physical attributes of the characters, the adjectives provide a general description of the protagonists and the setting, while the verbs used present the actions of all the characters, their interaction with the other protagonists, and their position in the narrative situation.
... Victoria Collins and Dianne Carmody note that it is particularly concerning that these violent relationships are romanticised in texts predominantly intended for adolescent girls, who already face a high risk of dating violence. 14 In Loving with a Vengeance, Tania Modleski claims that the blurring of the line between affection and violence in romance narratives feeds into cultural assumptions about unequal power relations in heterosexual relationships. 15 Bella and Emily both embody the dominant cultural teaching that young women are not the authors of their own sexual identity, but rather the canvasses on which men paint their own. ...
The dominance of sexual violence and gender inequality in young adult paranormal series, including Stephenie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga (2005–2008) and Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series (2007–2010), reflects a disturbing trend in the way issues of sex and gender are communicated in popular culture. MTV’s television series Teen Wolf (2011–), on the other hand, is noteworthy for its positive representation of healthy sexual relationships. In this article we will explore how Teen Wolf functions as a feminist and queer-friendly text, paying particular attention to how it deals with issues of consent, gender equality and sexual identity. In doing this, we will explore how the characters in the series approach conversations about consent without “killing the mood” and how youth sexuality is discussed without imposing conservative, heteronormative rhetoric or resorting to “slut-shaming.”
... Entre estos estudios resaltan diversas modalidades de acercamiento cualitativos entre los que se puede mencionar: entrevistas (Conde, Machado, Gonçalves, & Manita, 2012;Rodríguez-Morales, 2004;Schäfer, 2008), cuestionarios (Riehl, Thomas, & Willi, 2003), lecturas de texto (Leal, 2007), el análisis visual (Collins & Carmody, 2011) los relatos de vida (Esteban, 2011), cartas de amor (Rodríguez & Pérez, 2007), la construcción de narrativas sobre experiencias amorosas (Caro, 2008) y el método de producciones narrativas (García & Montenegro, 2014). Así como los estudios de Valdez, González, Sánchez, Mejía y Vargas (2005) y Nina (2009, los cuales giran en torno a las redes semánticas con adolescentes. ...
Resumen: Contar historias sobre el amor es una práctica de la vida cotidiana. Las personas desarrollan historias de amor a lo largo de la vida, que se convierten en marcos de referencia respecto a cómo lo conceptualizan. Se estudiaron las experiencias amorosas utilizando las historias, en particular historias escritas. La muestra se compuso de 15 participantes: (5) abuelas, (5) madres y (5) hijas. Al analizar las narrativas de manera transversal, se mantiene la mirada del amor ideal, el amor de entrega y la noción de que la felicidad personal depende del amor. También se analizan otras temáticas emergentes como: primera experiencia, matrimonio, familia, transición de vida y búsqueda del verdadero amor. Se encontraron divergencias mayormente en las hijas, quienes no reconocen la violencia en las relaciones de pareja, entre otros elementos. Se sugiere para futuras investigaciones, estudiar la perspectiva masculina sobre sus experiencias amorosas.
... The media has long been implicated as a societal-level determinant of dating and DV, because of the ubiquity of media images that portray women as highly sexualized, as subordinated to men, in gender stereotypical ways and for reinforcing permissive attitudes about the appropriateness of using violence against women (Bronstein, 2008;Collins, 2011). For example, recent scholarship has documented that Meyers' The Twilight trilogy, a top-grossing series of novels and films which was initially marketed to YAs but has experienced crossover appeal across age-groups, has normalized and romanticized abusive relationships (Borgia, 2014;Collins & Carmody, 2011), justified men's use of controlling tactics against their female partners, and reinforced that violence was an inherent part of masculinity (Durham, 2012). Across media genres (including newspapers, magazines, and television), domestic and dating violence has been portrayed as blaming victims for their perceived role in the abuse, downplaying the potential seriousness of abuse, insinuating that controlling and abusive behaviors are part of all romantic relationships, and focusing on the pathology associated with the individual behaviors of perpetrators (Storer & Strohl, 2016). ...
Teen dating violence (TDV) is a significant social justice issue. The prevention of TDV requires interventions across ecological systems levels including the macro-level. The media has been implicated as influencing societal-level narratives about TDV. Using critical discourse analysis methodology, the purpose of this study is to unpack the dominant cultural narratives about TDV in young adult (YA) literature, a media genre that is marketed to adolescents. Data include YA novels with a central focus on TDV (n = 8). Through these novels, the language of gender inequality was supplanted by a postfeminist rhetoric of choice, personal responsibility, and self-help.
... In addition to reviewing content analysis studies related to sexual content in media, we also sought out content analysis studies examining other variables in media such as violence (e.g., Collins & Carmody, 2011;Monk-Turner et al., 2004), gender (e.g., Collins, 2011;England, Descartes, & Collier-Meek, 2011;Neuendorf, Gore, Dalessandro, Janstova, & Synder-Suhy, 2010;Lindgren & Lelievre, 2009;Sorsoli et al., 2008), health and sexual health (e.g., Hether & Murphy, 2010;Hust, Brown, & L'Engle, 2008), and romantic relationships (e.g., Hefner & Wilson, 2013). Many of these studies provided general guidance and reinforced recommendations worth following in our analyses. ...
Young adults and college students who receive limited information about certain facets of sexuality, such as how to initiate sex and communicate consent, may turn to television and film for models. In fact, previous research suggests that young adults seek out media content such as television and film to obtain information about sexuality particularly in the absence of other sources of information. As such, it is important to understand the types of actions and behaviors modeled in mainstream media with regard to sexual activity. The overarching goal of the current study was to examine how sexual consent is depicted in mainstream film. However, we found there was limited information to guide the methodological design of such a study. Drawing on previous research, we developed a unique set of analytic procedures for conducting such a specific content analysis. The current article details our methodological approach including (1) how we developed our analytic procedures, (2) our rationale for developing these procedures, and (3) justification for deviating from previous procedures. This article concludes with a discussion regarding limitations of our study and lessons learned for conducting similar studies in the future.
... In media representations of heterosexual romance, love often occurs within the context of jealousy, control, and violence (Bonomi et al. 2013;Collins and Carmody 2011;Hayes 2014). The prevalence of Bviolent romance^in the media may encourage some women to conflate controlling behaviors with signs of intimacy and love (Chung 2005;Donovan andHester 2010 Fraser 2005;Hayes 2014;Power et al. 2006). ...
Romance and control are often conflated by the media, and individuals may believe that certain controlling or jealous behaviors by men toward women are romantic and can be a sign of love and commitment in heterosexual relationships. The current study explored three types of romantic beliefs among women: endorsement of the ideology of romanticism, highly valuing romantic relationships, and the belief that jealousy is good. The goal was to determine whether these beliefs would be related to finding controlling behaviors romantic as well as to reported experiences of both physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV). We surveyed 275 heterosexual-identified women, aged 18 to 50, and measured their endorsement of romantic beliefs, the extent to which they romanticized controlling behavior, and experiences of physical and psychological abuse within their current or most recent romantic relationship. Romantic beliefs were related to romanticizing controlling behaviors, which, in turn, was related to experiences of IPV. There was also a significant indirect relationship between romantic beliefs and experiences of IPV. The data indicate that seemingly positive romantic ideologies can have insidious negative effects. Findings may be useful for clinicians and those who advocate for prevention of IPV as they illustrate a need to refocus traditional ideas of healthy relationships at the societal level.
... Research surrounding Stephanie Meyers' popular series focuses largely on the interplay of romantic relationships with abuse. The common theme in several studies is that the novels portray an abusive relationship paradigm rather than a loving one (Collins & Carmody, 2011;Durham, 2011;Schachar, 2011). Durham (2011) states, ...
This thesis examines the “ultra-low brow” exploitation films of rape-revenge horror in order to locate the cultural discourses inherent in all cultural artifacts. The films follow a two-part, formulaic narrative wherein a young woman is stalked, raped, and either killed or left for dead. The result of the first half of the films dictate their second halves. If the woman lives she takes personal revenge on her assailants and if she does not her parents become avengers in her stead. The genre itself provides fertile ground for examination as a number of generic conventions and archetypes are at work in creating the personage of the woman-as-avenger. Adaptation and simulation of social ills is at the heart of these cultural artifacts as they simultaneously address and deal with a social problem, but do so in a way that fails the real victims of the real social problem. The resulting torture of the rapists has been seen as having feminist connotations similar to the “final girl” in Carol Clover’s analysis of slasher films. This is problematized as the films recreate, often shot-for-shot, the woman (or parents) taking the place of the rapists – enacting Sisyphusian-like, ironic punishment. The violent, masculine paradigm used in the attack is thus appropriated for vengeance. The viewer may sympathize with the goals of the avenger(s) but is ultimately be left with a false consciousness surrounding the real social problem of rape.
... 15 Other popular fiction series, such as the Twilight 24-26 series, also normalize abuse within the context of romantic relationships, including stalking, physical and sexual assault, emotional manipulation, threats, and intimidation. 27,28 For example, within the Twilight 24-26 series, which achieved enormous popularity among teenage girls, Edward, a ''breathtakingly handsome vampire,'' is depicted as ''an obsessed stalker with no interest or friends other than his family and Bella,'' the female protagonist and his romantic focus. 27 Edward routinely orders Bella around, growls, snarls, shouts, and uses aggressive looks and physical gestures, such as aggressively grabbing her; some of the physical control strategies cause bruising. ...
Background:
No prior study has empirically characterized the association between health risks and reading popular fiction depicting violence against women. Fifty Shades--a blockbuster fiction series--depicts pervasive violence against women, perpetuating a broader social narrative that normalizes these types of risks and behaviors in women's lives. The present study characterized the association between health risks in women who read and did not read Fifty Shades; while our cross-sectional study design precluded causal determinations, an empirical representation of the health risks in women consuming the problematic messages in Fifty Shades is made.
Methods:
Females ages 18 to 24 (n=715), who were enrolled in a large Midwestern university, completed a cross-sectional online survey about their health behaviors and Fifty Shades' readership. The analysis included 655 females (219 who read at least the first Fifty Shades novel and 436 who did not read any part of Fifty Shades). Age- and race-adjusted multivariable models characterized Fifty Shades' readers and nonreaders on intimate partner violence victimization (experiencing physical, sexual and psychological abuse, including cyber-abuse, at some point during their lifetime); binge drinking (consuming five or more alcoholic beverages on six or more days in the last month); sexual practices (having five or more intercourse partners and/or one or more anal sex partner during their lifetime); and using diet aids or fasting for 24 or more hours at some point during their lifetime.
Results:
One-third of subjects read Fifty Shades (18.6%, or 122/655, read all three novels, and 14.8%, or 97/655, read at least the first novel but not all three). In age- and race-adjusted models, compared with nonreaders, females who read at least the first novel (but not all three) were more likely than nonreaders to have had, during their lifetime, a partner who shouted, yelled, or swore at them (relative risk [RR]=1.25) and who delivered unwanted calls/text messages (RR=1.34); they were also more likely to report fasting (RR=1.80) and using diet aids (RR=1.77) at some point during their lifetime. Compared with nonreaders, females who read all three novels were more likely to report binge drinking in the last month (RR=1.65) and to report using diet aids (RR=1.65) and having five or more intercourse partners during their lifetime (RR=1.63).
Conclusions:
Problematic depictions of violence against women in popular culture-such as in film, novels, music, or pornography-create a broader social narrative that normalizes these risks and behaviors in women's lives. Our study showed strong correlations between health risks in women's lives-including violence victimization-and consumption of Fifty Shades, a fiction series that portrays violence against women. While our cross-sectional study cannot determine temporality, the order of the relationship may be inconsequential; for example, if women experienced adverse health behaviors first (e.g., disordered eating), reading Fifty Shades might reaffirm those experiences and potentially aggravate related trauma. Likewise, if women read Fifty Shades before experiencing the health behaviors assessed in our study, it is possible that the book influenced the onset of these behaviors by creating an underlying context for the behaviors.
Popular media representation of ‘stalking’ often focuses on the romanticised notion of crime, with a young man fighting to be with his love interest. However, the media representation will often forget to show the psychological and physical impact that stalking has on its victims. Due to unclear legislative definitions of stalking, claims of ‘stalking movies’, especially in cases when stalking is not viewed negatively, can create confusion for the audience. The COVID-19 pandemic saw the usage of popular streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Disney+ increase, especially among the younger generations in society. The confusion created by ‘stalking movies’ can significantly impact adolescent perceptions of love and romance, leading them to duplicate what they have seen. The normalisation of stalking behaviours could lead to the escalating number of cases of adolescent perpetrators of stalking.KeywordsAdolescentStalkingSteaming servicesPopular cultureRomance and thriller moviesMisconceptions
Dating violence among adolescents is a severe public health issue that has escalated rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article explores young people’s responses to social media trends normalizing dating violence. Through analysis of the “pretend to punch your girlfriend” trend on the social media platform TikTok, this study asks: how do youth make sense of dating violence on social media? And what do their emotional responses reveal about emerging attitudes towards dating violence and relationship equity? This study explores the “feeling rules” constructed by youth in response to dating violence online through a mixed-method analysis of user comments. This article concludes with platform design solutions to regulate the rise of dating violence on social networks.
The music video for Eminem and Rihanna's hit single “Love the Way You Lie” (2010) reproduces commonly held myths about intimate partner violence (IPV), primarily that many women instigate their abuse or even enjoy it. Music video culture has been of concern to parents, researchers, and policymakers because youth are considered developmentally susceptible to gendered sexual scripts. However, some scholars suggest that audience members, rather than being passive consumers, are practical actors who filter information according to first- and secondhand experiences. This study examined how young adults' respond to the depiction of IPV in the music video for “Love the Way You Lie.” Findings indicated strong emotional response, a tendency to filter media through personal experiences, and a continuation of gendered blame. However, participants also demonstrated critical analysis. Thus, even when depictions are sensational or reinforce myth-based beliefs and gendered biases, young adults are capable of being critical consumers of popular culture.
This paper considers the Twilight novels alongside the Vampire Academy books, as young adult readers regularly invoke these series as touchstones of the contemporary adolescent Gothic genre. The abiding appeal of these vampire novels is related to the ways they reflect the experiences of young adults with the rapacity and greed displayed in our time, especially in our recent financial crises. This paper examines the limitations of Stephenie Meyer's resolution to the conflicts attending growing up among vampires through a comparative analysis of her novels and those of Richelle Mead. The theories of psychologist Melanie Klein about infant development are used to show that these two series represent different responses to the greed of our times. Klein's insights distinguish Meyer's Bella Swan and Mead's Rose Hathaway with respect to their psychic integration and in the way each models a process for readers of dealing with a society structured by vampiric rapacity. Bella learns to control herself in the stage Klein calls persecutory anxiety, but without the larger-scale integration that betokens maturity. She displays an acceptance of the fundamental nature of her world, with no attempt to revise or improve it beyond gaining peace for her own household. Rose achieves a better balance on the personal level, and she works to effect change in the fabric of her society. Her actions convey a message of hope to readers with respect to the struggles they must undergo in their own world. The contrasting way of dealing with societal greed that is exemplified by these books is especially important to young adults who are in the process of developing their personal identity, providing them with assistance with the anxiety attending their changing attitudes to financial responsibilities.
The music video for Eminem and Rihanna's hit single “Love the Way You Lie” (2010) reproduces commonly held myths about intimate partner violence (IPV), primarily that many women instigate their abuse or even enjoy it. Music video culture has been of concern to parents, researchers, and policymakers because youth are considered developmentally susceptible to gendered sexual scripts. However, some scholars suggest that audience members, rather than being passive consumers, are practical actors who filter information according to first- and secondhand experiences. This study examined how young adults' respond to the depiction of IPV in the music video for “Love the Way You Lie.” Findings indicated strong emotional response, a tendency to filter media through personal experiences, and a continuation of gendered blame. However, participants also demonstrated critical analysis. Thus, even when depictions are sensational or reinforce myth-based beliefs and gendered biases, young adults are capable of being critical consumers of popular culture.
There is an abundance of research from cultural, critical and feminist criminology that has recognized media as a vehicle to propagate various forms of gender inequality and violence against women. Likewise, there has been extensive research on how childhood products and toys replicate the patriarchal construction of gender. However, these bodies of research have been relatively silent on how the commodification of culture is consumed and reified by the very population it oppresses (i.e. women). Here, we argue that violence against women is commodified and eagerly consumed in an age of neo-liberalism, legitimizing the patriarchal power structures that subordinate women. Our goal is to begin a discussion of female consumption of the commodification that gives consent and facilitates the patriarchal perpetual power system. Using examples from media and the consumer market, we hope to begin a broader discussion of how patriarchy, gender roles and inequality are reinforced through everyday banal consumption by both sexes. However, this banal consumption by females not only lends to the legitimization of the heteronormative patriarchal status quo but also makes them active participants in the continuation of inequality and power structures inherent within this patriarchal society.
This research draws into question the effects that neoliberal policy reforms — with an emphasis on individual and measurable “competencies” — has on new teachers teaching sexuality education in Quebec. While we examine professional competencies that teachers can use to define their mandate for teaching sexuality education as a beginning professional, we also detail the ways in which the competencies constrain pedagogical practice. Our argument is that while there are avenues for teachers to use the professional competencies for sexuality education, neoliberal reforms atomize teachers in a search for accountability. As a result, for fear of generating controversy, potentially contentious issues like sexuality education are not readily addressed. This atomization restricts both teachers and the field — the policy circumscribes sexuality education as personal rather than cultural. As such, we are left impotent to address cultural issues of sexuality education.
This paper explores using popular fiction as a teaching tool in sociology classes. Using three popular series (Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey, and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) we cultivate a lively academic environment and vibrant discussions in the classroom. We explain how students relate to these texts and become engaged with sociological concepts, specifically gender theory. By using popular culture to explain theory we are able to dissect difficult concepts and make them palpable in the classroom.
The article is an introduction to a project achieved with 15 teenagers from 16 to 18 years old on the issues of conflict and violence in their relationships. This paper describes the theories (dating violence in a interactionist perspective) and the narrative and action techniques adopted during the analysis. Furthermore, some cases will be illustrated.
A partir de nuestro quehacer en una investigación sobre las experiencias y comprensiones en torno al amor romántico en mujeres jóvenes feministas realizada con Producciones Narrativas, en este artículo sistematizamos algunas de las reflexiones metodológicas que nos hemos venido planteando a lo largo de este proceso. En una primera parte contextualizamos la investigación de la que parten estos cuestionamientos, ilustrando tanto aspectos relativos a la temática de estudio como al diseño metodológico. A continuación profundizamos sobre cuatro aspectos que han sido objeto de interés tanto en los debates sobre epistemologías feministas como en nuestro propio proceso de investigación: 1) reflexividad, 2) articulación, 3) relaciones de poder y 4) transformación social. Por cada uno de ellos, valoramos las potencialidades y límites que encontramos en la metodología de Producciones Narrativas, ilustrando algunas de las tensiones concretas que nos encontramos en nuestra práctica de investigación.
This article seeks to challenge the conventional reading of the Twilight saga as a regressive influence on young women. We argue that by drawing on themes of governmentality and fantasy, it is possible to open up the debate to consider Twilight as a text offering a fantasy space of transcending the limitations of neoliberal subjecthood. In particular, the article focuses on the figure of the vampire Edward Cullen as the carrier of anxieties around the boundaries of the autonomous subject and highlights the ways in which Bella Swan's desire for transformation to vampire speaks to a specific set of normative neoliberal ideals for young women in the 21 st century. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.
SmartSafe Technology-facilitated stalking: findings and resources from the SmartSafe project
College freshman and sophomores with histories of high school dating violence were invited to participate in a study about that experience. The shared experience described by ten participants was that of being controlled. Control is established by creating a sense of responsibility and is maintained by angry outburst, threats to self, and guilt. Participants described an expectation of constant contact that included techno vigilance. In their stories, young women miss good and better times, hope for "the ideal romance", and continue to care and have concern for their abuser who is described as "troubled".
The relationship between dating violence and anger experience and expression were investigatedin samples of 17 men who reported at least one incident of physical aggression toward afemale dating partner (DV) and of 16 men who reported a nonviolent interaction history (NV).Participants completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and performed thearticulated thoughts during simulated situations (ATSS) paradigm while listening to anger-arousingaudiotapes. Participants' thought articulations were coded for anger-related affect,other negative emotions, and aggressive verbalizations. Results indicated that relative to NVmen, DV men scored significantly higher on STAXI Trait Anger, Anger In, and Anger Out scalesand lower on STAXI Anger Control. DV men articulated more aggressive verbalizations duringATSS anger arousal than did NV men. However, the groups did not differ on the number of angryverbalizations. The findings are interpreted in the context of social learning theories of partnerviolence.
Violence is often used to control the behavior of others. Some scholars hypothesize that this motive is particularly common when men attack their female partners. To measure the control motive we determine whether the offender in assaults threatened the victim before the attack; threats typically are used to control others' behavior. We predict a statistical interaction involving offender's gender, victim's gender, and offender-victim relationship. Analyses based on data from the revised National Crime Victimization Survey reveal such an interaction, suggesting that assaults by husbands against their wives are more likely than other assaults to be motivated by efforts at control.
Objective
To examine adolescents' use of and attitudes toward accessing health information through the Internet.
Design
Cross-sectional, school-based survey.
Participants
A socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 412 suburban New York 10th graders (mean [SD] age, 15.8 [0.68] years).
Main Outcome Measures
Accessing the Internet for health information.
Results
Half (49%) of the sampled adolescents had used the Internet to get health information. Topics most often explored through the Internet included sexually transmitted diseases; diet, fitness, and exercise; and sexual behaviors. Adolescents found Internet information to be of high value (using a composite gauging worth, trustworthiness, use, and relevance), with no significant differences related to sex, ethnicity, or mother's education. When considering 11 separate health topics, girls found it more valuable to have information on birth control, diet and nutrition, exercise, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and dating violence. Only for alternative medicine were there differences by ethnicity, and there were no differences based on mother's education for the value of having specific health information available through the Internet.
Conclusion
For adolescents, the Internet is an accessed and valued information source on a range of sensitive health issues.
The relationship between dating violence and anger experience and expression were investigated in samples of 17 men who reported at least one incident of physical aggression toward a female dating partner (DV) and of 16 men who reported a nonviolent interaction history (NV). Participants completed the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and performed the articulated thoughts during simulated situations (ATSS) paradigm while listening to anger-arousing audiotapes. Participants' thought articulations were coded for anger-related affect, other negative emotions, and aggressive verbalizations. Results indicated that relative to NV men, DV men scored significantly higher on STAXI Trait Anger, Anger In, and Anger Out scales and lower on STAXI Anger Control. DV men articulated more aggressive verbalizations during ATSS anger arousal than did NV men. However, the groups did not differ on the number of angry verbalizations. The findings are interpreted in the context of social learning theories of partner violence.
The authors used structural equation analyses of data obtained from a survey of 345 college undergraduates (232 women, 113 men) to test a predictive model of dating aggression based on the background-situational model proposed by Riggs and O'Leary (1989). Results offer initial support for the background-situational model. Among men and women, dating aggression was directly related to the individual's attitudes about dating aggression, history of aggressive behavior, and conflict within the relationship. However, the predicted association between family of origin violence and attitudes toward aggression and general aggressive behavior was found only among women. Among men, the predictors explained more than 60% of the variance in the latent variable of relationship aggression; among women, 32% of the variance was explained. Discussion focuses on the utility of the background-situational model for understanding etiological factors of dating aggression and indentifying targets for interventions aimed at reducing the problem.
The Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory was modified and used to assess the occurrence of psychological abuse in 1,625 college-age males and females. Six reliable factors were extracted from the scale reflecting the following concepts: positive behaviors, diminishment of self-esteem, verbal abuse, social and emotional control, jealousy, and withdrawal. Males currently involved in a relationship at the time the questionnaire was administered reported higher levels of psychological abuse and fewer positive behaviors than did females. However, the occurrence of psychologically abusive behaviors within a relationship were likely to result in a lower relationship satisfaction rating for both males and females. In addition, women in more formally committed relationships were most likely to report psychological abuse. Finally, the termination of a relationship was associated with an absence of positive behaviors, rather than a high frequency of negative behaviors. These findings are discussed with respect to physically abusive relationships.
An 18-item stalking inventory and personal interviews with knowledgeable proxy informants and victims of attempted femicide were used to describe the frequency and type of intimate partner stalking that occurred within 12 months of attempted and actual partner femicide. One hundred forty-one femicide and 65 attempted femicide incidents were evaluated. The prevalence of stalking was 76% for femicide victims and 85% for attempted femicide victims. Incidence of intimate partner assault was 67% for femicide victims and 71% for attempted femicide victims. A statistically significant association existed between intimate partner physical assault and stalking for femicide victims as well as attempted femicide victims. Stalking is revealed to be a correlate of lethal and near lethal violence against women and, coupled with physical assault, is significantly associated with murder and attempted murder. Stalking must be considered a risk factor for both femicide and attempted femicide, and abused women should be so advised.
Six types of parent and partner violence were compared as possible models for violence in the romantic relationships of 608 college students (164 men, 444 women). Participants used the Conflict Tactics Scale to report violence to and from the present partner, as well as violence from mother to father, father to mother, mother to participant, father to participant, and past partners to participant. Stepwise multiple regression revealed that violence to the present partner was explained by both partner and parent models of violence for men (R2 = .39) and women (R2 = .51), with violence from the present partner found to be the most powerful model. Violence received from the mother was the most powerful parental model for violence in the present romantic relationship, but for women it was associated with receiving violence, whereas for men it was associated with both receiving and inflicting violence.
To investigate how teenagers deal with conflict in romantic relationships, 869 high school students (mean age 16, range 14–19), experienced in romantic relations, completed a conflict tactic scale (adapted from Rands et al., 1981, and Straus, 1979). A principal components analysis revealed six factors, which in descending frequency of use were Compromise, Distraction, Avoidance, Overt Anger, Seeking Social Support, and Violence. Conflict tactics varied as a function of demographic characteristics. Specifically, older teens used Compromise more than younger; girls used Compromise and Overt Anger more and Distraction less than boys; African-Americans used Violence more and Compromise less than European-Americans, whereas Asian-Americans used Distraction and Avoidance more than European-Americans. To assess predictors of conflict tactics, teens also completed scales assessing self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965), immature and mature defense mechanisms (Araujo and Steiner, 1998, under review) and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (Achenbach, 1966). Each of these was singly and jointly associated with the use of conflict tactics. In multiple regression analyses, the externalizing problem score best predicted Overt Anger and Violence in dealing with romantic conflict, the internalizing problem score best predicted Avoidance and Distraction; whereas the mature defense mechanism score was the best predictor of seeking Social Support and Compromise.
This study analyzed the portrayal of dating violence in teen magazines published in the United States. Such an investigation is important because previous research indicates that dating violence is a serious problem facing adolescents, teen magazines overemphasize the importance of romantic relationships, and teens who read this genre frequently or for education/advice are especially susceptible to its messages. Results indicated that although teen magazines do frame dating violence as a cultural problem, they are much more likely to utilize an individual frame that emphasizes the victim. Results were discussed as they apply to the responsibilities of professionals working with adolescents.
Adolescents' responses to the Youth Dating Violence Survey have previously been documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1996). The present study on dating violence examined the responses of thirty-seven adolescents enrolled in an alternative high school program. Many reported psychological victimization in a dating relationship: their partners did something to make them feel jealous, damaged their possessions, said things to hurt their feelings, insulted them in front of others, tried to control them, threatened them, blamed them for bad things the dating partners did, and brought up something from the past to hurt them. In terms of perpetrating psychological abuse in a dating relationship, over half of the adolescents reported that they hurt their dating partners' feelings, insulted them in front of others, did something just to make them jealous, tried to control them, and damaged their possessions. Many of the adolescents had also been victims of physical violence in their dating relationships; they reported being scratched, slapped, slammed or held against a wall, kicked, bitten, forced to have sex, choked, and pushed, grabbed, or shoved, as well as having their arms twisted and fingers bent. Some perpetrated physical violence in dating situations, such as scratching their dating partners, hitting them with a fist or something hard, throwing something that hit their dating partners, kicking them, slapping them, physically twisting their arms, slamming or holding them against a wall, bending their fingers, biting them, choking them, and pushing, grabbing, or shoving them. The findings confirm that dating violence among adolescents is a serious health problem that needs to be addressed.
To examine adolescents' use of and attitudes toward accessing health information through the Internet.
Cross-sectional, school-based survey.
A socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 412 suburban New York 10th graders (mean [SD] age, 15.8 [0.68] years).
Accessing the Internet for health information.
Half (49%) of the sampled adolescents had used the Internet to get health information. Topics most often explored through the Internet included sexually transmitted diseases; diet, fitness, and exercise; and sexual behaviors. Adolescents found Internet information to be of high value (using a composite gauging worth, trustworthiness, use, and relevance), with no significant differences related to sex, ethnicity, or mother's education. When considering 11 separate health topics, girls found it more valuable to have information on birth control, diet and nutrition, exercise, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and dating violence. Only for alternative medicine were there differences by ethnicity, and there were no differences based on mother's education for the value of having specific health information available through the Internet.
For adolescents, the Internet is an accessed and valued information source on a range of sensitive health issues.
This study focuses on the relationship between an individual's dissatisfaction with the level of power they have in their dating relationships, parental violence they experienced during their childhoods, and their dating violence perpetration. A sample of 352 male and 296 female undergraduate college students completed a dating violence survey, including selected subscales from the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) and the Relationship Power Scale. Findings show that relationship power dissatisfaction is associated with the use of violence in dating relationships for both men and women. However, parental violence emerged as an even stronger predictor of dating violence perpetration. Findings also indicate that male perpetration of dating violence is related to mother's violence, whereas female perpetration of dating violence is related to father's violence. The results indicate the importance of including gender in the study of dating violence perpetration.
Early sexual initiation is an important social and health issue. A recent survey suggested that most sexually experienced teens wish they had waited longer to have intercourse; other data indicate that unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier. The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that portrayals of sex on entertainment television (TV) may contribute to precocious adolescent sex. Approximately two-thirds of TV programs contain sexual content. However, empirical data examining the relationships between exposure to sex on TV and adolescent sexual behaviors are rare and inadequate for addressing the issue of causal effects.
We conducted a national longitudinal survey of 1792 adolescents, 12 to 17 years of age. In baseline and 1-year follow-up interviews, participants reported their TV viewing habits and sexual experience and responded to measures of more than a dozen factors known to be associated with adolescent sexual initiation. TV viewing data were combined with the results of a scientific analysis of TV sexual content to derive measures of exposure to sexual content, depictions of sexual risks or safety, and depictions of sexual behavior (versus talk about sex but no behavior).
Initiation of intercourse and advancement in noncoital sexual activity level, during a 1-year period.
Multivariate regression analysis indicated that adolescents who viewed more sexual content at baseline were more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced noncoital sexual activities during the subsequent year, controlling for respondent characteristics that might otherwise explain these relationships. The size of the adjusted intercourse effect was such that youths in the 90th percentile of TV sex viewing had a predicted probability of intercourse initiation that was approximately double that of youths in the 10th percentile, for all ages studied. Exposure to TV that included only talk about sex was associated with the same risks as exposure to TV that depicted sexual behavior. African American youths who watched more depictions of sexual risks or safety were less likely to initiate intercourse in the subsequent year.
Watching sex on TV predicts and may hasten adolescent sexual initiation. Reducing the amount of sexual content in entertainment programming, reducing adolescent exposure to this content, or increasing references to and depictions of possible negative consequences of sexual activity could appreciably delay the initiation of coital and noncoital activities. Alternatively, parents may be able to reduce the effects of sexual content by watching TV with their teenaged children and discussing their own beliefs about sex and the behaviors portrayed. Pediatricians should encourage these family discussions.
Domestic violence has been an intense area of study in recent decades. Early studies helped with the understanding of the nature of perpetration, the cycle of violence, and the effect of family violence on children. More recently, studies have focused on beginning to evaluate domestic violence interventions and their effects on recidivism. This article acknowledges the importance of what we have learned about the prevalence and impact of domestic violence and explores the need for more focused effort to pinpoint interventions that are effective with perpetrators and victims. Methodological issues relevant to past intervention studies are also discussed and future research directions are outlined.
To assess over time whether exposure to sexual content in 4 mass media (television, movies, music, and magazines) used by early adolescents predicts sexual behavior in middle adolescence.
An in-home longitudinal survey of 1017 black and white adolescents from 14 middle schools in central North Carolina was conducted. Each teen was interviewed at baseline when he or she was 12 to 14 years old and again 2 years later using a computer-assisted self interview (audio computer-assisted self-interview) to ensure confidentiality. A new measure of each teen's sexual media diet (SMD) was constructed by weighting the frequency of use of 4 media by the frequency of sexual content in each television show, movie, music album, and magazine the teen used regularly.
White adolescents in the top quintile of sexual media diet when 12 to 14 years old were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse when 14 to 16 years old than those who were in the lowest SMD quintile, even after a number of other relevant factors, including baseline sexual behavior, were introduced. The relationship was not statistically significant for black adolescents after controlling for other factors that were more predictive, including parental disapproval of teen sex and perceived permissive peer sexual norms.
Exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines accelerates white adolescents' sexual activity and increases their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse. Black teens appear more influenced by perceptions of their parents' expectations and their friends' sexual behavior than by what they see and hear in the media.
To evaluate the long-term impact of adolescent dating violence (ADV) on behavioral and psychological health.
From a diverse sample of older adolescents who completed Project EAT in 1999 (wave 1) and 2004 (wave 2; mean age 20.4), 23 male and 102 female adolescents reporting ADV were compared with 671 male and 720 female adolescents reporting no ADV.
ADV was positively associated with cigarette smoking and suicide attempts for both sexes, binge-eating and suicidal ideation in male adolescents, and smoking marijuana and high depressive symptoms in female adolescents in analyses unadjusted for wave 1 outcomes. In analyses adjusted for wave 1, in female adolescents, ADV was significantly associated with smoking cigarettes, marijuana use, and high depressive symptoms and marginally associated with suicide attempts; in male adolescents, ADV was significantly associated with smoking cigarettes and marginally associated with binge-eating and suicidal ideation. ADV was significantly associated with an overall high-risk profile (presence > or = 3 health outcomes) for both sexes; results remained significant in female adolescents after adjusting for wave 1.
ADV is associated with greater likelihood of problematic health factors and increases nonspecific risk toward behavioral and psychological impairment in youth, particularly female adolescents.
Dating couples are tied to each other's friends who have expectations about dating, such as who constitutes an acceptable date and how to balance friendship and dating. We explore the place of friends in dating conflicts (i.e., conflicts and violence associated with heterosexual teen dating) and ask: (a) How are friends implicated in teen dating/violence not only as targets or confidants, but also as participants in conflict that stems from their friends' relationships, and (b) in what ways do dating conflicts conserve or challenge the power of gender and sexual conformity that underlies heterosexual dating and dating violence?
Prior research has established that violence in dating relationships is a serious social problem among adolescents and young adults. Exposure to violence during childhood has been linked to dating violence victimization and perpetration. Also known as the intergenerational transmission of violence, the link between violence during childhood and dating violence has traditionally focused on physical violence. This research examines the relationship between experiencing and perpetrating dating violence and exposure to violence in the family of origin. Specifically, the current research examines gender differences in the relationship between exposure to violence during childhood and physical and psychological abuse perpetration and victimization. Data were collected from a sample of approximately 2,500 college students at two southeastern universities. Findings indicate that childhood exposure to violence is a consistent predictor of involvement in relationships characterized by violence for males and females. The implications of the current research on policy are discussed.
A questionnaire probing experiences with abuse between dating partners, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (1974) were administered to 171 college students. It was hypothesized that more traditionally masculine males (as identified by the Bem Sex Role Inventory) would be more likely to report having abused dating partners than would those males who were less clearly sex-typed. Further, it was hypothesized that those women who were more clearly traditionally feminine would be less likely to report having been abused in a dating relationship than would those women who were less clearly sex-typed. Both hypotheses were supported.
This study examined the contribution of a new relationship power construct—satisfaction with relationship power—to physical violence by men against their dating partners. One hundred and fifty-six dating college males participated in this study. As hypothesized, satisfaction with relationship power, but not the amount of perceived relationship power, was related to dating violence by men. Confirming the conceptualization of psychological and physical abuse as means of gaining control in relationships, dissatisfaction with relationship power predicted psychological and physical abuse. Some men became physically abusive in response to dissatisfaction with relationship power; others progressed from psychologically to physically abusive behaviors. Men at greatest risk of escalating from psychological to physical acts of control over their partners were those who had been exposed as children to their fathers physically abusing their mothers.
This article traces the tides of three waves of feminism that have flowed within the United States and highlights the critical contributions of theoretical insights from these waves to expand and enhance social workers’ understanding of the lives of women and the social environment. In particular, the article highlights the specific contributions of a set of core concepts (gender, care, power, difference, and diversity) that emerged within feminist theory and analysis during the second and third waves of U.S. feminism to social work’s understanding of women’s lives and the social environment and to assessment of the person—environment interaction.
Social work as an academic discipline has long included women and gender as central categories of analysis; the social work profession, started and maintained largely by women, has been home to several generations of feminists. Yet, social work is curiously and strikingly absent from broader multidisciplinary discussions of feminist research. This article explores contemporary feminist social work research by examining 50 randomly selected research-based articles that claimed feminism within their work. The analysis focused on the authors’ treatment of the gender binary, their grounding in theory, their treatment of methodology, and their feminist claims. Feminist social work researchers are invited to reconceptualize feminisms to include third-wave feminist thought and more explicitly engage theory and reflexivity in their work.
Studies of adults report inconsistent findings as to whether males or females are more likely to use violent behaviors toward their partner. Although partner violence frequently begins during adolescence, few dating violence studies involve adolescents and even fewer report findings by gender. This study examines gender differences in adolescent dating violence. Data are from self-administered questionnaires com- pleted by 81% of the adolescents in the eighth and ninth grades in a primarily rural school district in North Carolina. The significant find- ings are that (1) females perpetrate more mild, moderate and severe violence than males towards partners even when controlling for violence perpetrated in self-defense; (2) females perpetrate more violence than males out of self- defense; (3) males perpetrate more sexual dating violence than females; (4) males and females sustain equal amounts of mild, moderate and severe dating violence; (5) females sustain more sexual dating violence than males; (6) females sustain more psychological abuse than males from their partners; and (7) females receive more injuries than males from dating violence. These findings suggest that adolescent dating violence prevention programs are warranted and that unlike most dating violence prevention programs, both males and females should be
This study investigated gender and age differences in the perceptions of dating violence using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Focus groups were conducted to develop culturally appropriate questionnaires consisting of dating scenarios that may lead to dating violence. The participants were asked to provide their perceptions and behavioral reactions to the dating scenarios. The study found that young adolescent boys were significantly more likely to respond aggressively toward dating partners than were young adolescent girls, women, and men. These findings have implications for practitioners who are charged with preventing dating violence among adolescents, specifically boys.
This study examined the relationship of African American middle school youths’ help-seeking intentions related to dating violence with their levels of violent victimization and perpetration. When faced with the possibility of dating violence, youth expressed a willingness to seek assistance from adults. Girls victimized by more violence reported a greater willingness to turn to friends for help, in addition to parents, than girls victimized by less violence. Boys who perpetrated more violence reported a greater willingness to turn to friends, in addition to parents, than those boys who perpetrated less violence. Implications for developing culturally sensitive prevention programming are discussed.
This qualitative exploratory study uses discussion groups with 24 Canadian teens aged 14 to 19 to cast new light on aggression in teen dating relationships. Data collected confirm that violence is present in numerous ways and that the teens' explanatory models still attribute part of the responsibility to victims. The teens suggested individual, couple, and social factors, such as the influence of peers and pornography. Findings indicate that future research should study forms of abuse specific to teens and that prevention programs should address nonconsensual violence as well as the consensual use of violence in sexual relationships.
This paper attempts to synthesize general issues pertaining to masculinity and male sexuality using essentialist and postmod- ern theoretical ideologies. According to essentialist ideologies, the construction of male gender requires one's molding into a masculine role, which presupposes autonomy, competition, and aggressiveness, and the suppression of the innate human needs for connectedness, intimacy, and self-disclosure, which have been traditionally devalued as feminine traits. Alterna- tively, postmodern ideologies call for the deconstruction of essentialist notions of male sexuality and the reconstruction of a more balanced androgynous ideology drawing from the his- torical, social, and cultural determinants of sexuality and cher- ishing both masculine and feminine traits. The historical, social, and cultural perspective may be viewed as an overarch- ing umbrella encompassing economic and power issues, an arena where the inequality wars are being waged, primarily those of gender, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, race, and social stratification. The reconstruction process is attained by helping one re-narrate his/her lifelong sexual narrative.
This reprinted chapter originally appeared in
What Causes Men's Violence Against Women?, 1999, (pp. 18-35). The authors address the conceptualization of partner violence in its many forms and discuss macrosocietal, biology-related, gender-role-related, and inter-gender relational explanations for violence. Also explored is partner violence from a feminist perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the prevalence and correlates of dating violence (VI) among high school students. 337 female and 294 male 9th–22th graders from a suburban, a rural, and an inner city school completed a questionnaire. Dating VI proved to be a significant problem. 15.7% of female Ss and 4.4% of male Ss reported sexual VI; 15.7% of females and 7.8% of males reported physical VI; and 24.6% of females and 9.9% of males reported severe dating VI. The VI tended to occur within the context of a relatively long-term relationship, did not cause an end to the relationship, and tended to recur. More dating partners, greater frequency of dating, and low grade point average (GPA) positively correlated with VI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article introduces a theoretically based and validated measure of relationship power dynamics: the Sexual Relationship Power Scale (SRPS). Focus groups were conducted to generate items for Spanish- and English-language scales. The SRPS was administered to a census of women (N = 388) at a community health clinic. All respondents had a primary male partner; they were mostly Latina (89%), with mean age 27 years. The 23-item SRPS possesses good internal reliability (coefficient alpha = .84 for English version, .88 for Spanish version) and predictive and construct validity. Factor analyses support two subscales: Relationship Control and Decision-Making Dominance. As hypothesized, the SRPS was inversely associated with physical violence and directly associated with education and consistent condom use (p
The present study examined the rates of victimization by physical, sexual and psychological abuse in adolescent dating relationships, with self-esteem being explored as a mediating variable. Subjects included 257 students from a coed, ethnically diverse, religiously affiliated high school. Information was obtained using a self-report questionnaire on teenage dating behaviors. Of the 114 male and 118 female subjects who had dating experience, 59% had been victimized at least once in some past or current dating relationship by physical violence, 96% had experienced some form of psychological maltreatment and 15% had been forced to engage in sexual activity. Significantly more males than females reported experiencing physical abuse overall. Significantly more males than females experienced acts of moderate physical abuse, while there was no significant gender difference in the experience of acts of severe physical abuse. Thirteen percent of the subjects stated they had remained in a physically abusive relationship at one time, with females being more likely to remain than males. Self-esteem was not a factor in the level of physical abuse sustained in dating relationships, nor was there a significant difference in the levels of self-esteem between subjects who remained in, terminated, or never were involved in, physically abusive dating relationships. For all subjects, self-esteem negatively correlated with the level of psychological maltreatment sustained in dating relationships, but separate analysis by gender found the correlation was significant only for female subjects.
The relationship between observation of marital violence and adolescent behavior and adjustment was studied. One hundred and one predominantly white 13- to 18-year-olds from four residential treatment agencies and one youth shelter were interviewed. Approximately half reported witnessing marital violence and were compared with those not exposed to interparental violence with respect to depression, running away, use of violence toward parents, and approval and use of violence toward dating partners. Substantial numbers reported being depressed, running away, hitting their parents, and hitting and being hit by dating partners. However, the findings indicated only a modest effect of witnessing interparental violence, which was mediated by gender. Males exposed to spousal abuse were significantly more likely to have run away, report suicidal thoughts, and somewhat more likely to hit their mothers as compared to nonobservers. Witnessing marital violence was unrelated to females'' behavior or well-being.
Adolescents are a high-risk group for dating violence. Using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, this study examined the associations among dating violence (including physical dating violence [PDV] and sexual dating violence [SDV]) and selected health risk behaviors among 375 and 372 high school students, in 2005 and 2007, respectively, in southeastern North Carolina. The findings indicate PDV increased slightly from 2005 (11.6%) to 2007 (12.5%), while SDV remained approximately the same (10.4% in 2005 and 10.3% in 2007). PDV was strongly associated with SDV among high school students in 2005 and 2007. Significant associations also exist among dating violence and sexual behavior, substance use, violence, psychological health, and unhealthy weight control. School nurses should be actively involved in promoting healthy lifestyles and healthy choices among high school students through interdisciplinary efforts with parents, teachers, school districts, and communities.
To determine exposure of young adolescents to extremely violent movies.
Cross-sectional school-based survey of middle school students at 15 randomly selected New Hampshire and Vermont middle schools. Each survey contained a unique list of 50 movies, randomly selected from 603 top box office hits from 1988 to 1999, 51 of which were determined by content analysis to contain extremely violent material. Movie titles only were listed, and adolescents were asked to indicate which ones they had seen. Each movie appeared on approximately 470 surveys. We calculated the percentage of students who had seen each movie for a representative subsample of the student population. We also examined characteristics associated with seeing at least one extremely violent movie. Complete survey information was obtained from 5,456 students. The sample was primarily white and equally distributed by gender.
On average, extremely violent movies were seen by 28% of the students in the sample (range 4% to 66%). The most popular movie, Scream, was seen by two-thirds of students overall and over 40% of fifth-graders. Other movies with sexualized violent content were seen by many of these adolescents. Examples include The General's Daughter (rated R for "graphic images related to sexual violence including a rape scene and perverse sexuality") and Natural Born Killers (rated R for "extreme violence and graphic carnage, shocking images, language, and sexuality"), seen by 27% and 20%, respectively. Older students, males, those of lower socioeconomic status, and those with poorer school performance were all significantly more likely to have seen at least one extremely violent movie.
This study documents widespread exposure of young adolescents to movies with brutal, and often sexualized, violence. Given that many of these films were marketed to teens, better oversight of the marketing practices of the film industry may be warranted.
American teens today grow up in a world saturated with the mass media. In general, the media depict a world in which unhealthy behaviors such as physical aggression, unprotected sex, smoking, and drinking are glamorous and risk-free. We summarize what is known about the media's effects on four adolescent health issues that have been studied most comprehensively: violence and aggression; sex; obesity, nutrition, and eating disorders; and alcohol and tobacco use. A number of approaches that have potential for helping turn the media into more positive forces for adolescents' health are discussed
This study identifies potentially modifiable risk factors for the onset of and chronic victimization from serious physical and sexual dating violence.
One thousand two hundred ninety-one 8th and 9th graders from a county in North Carolina were assessed annually for 5 and 4 years, respectively.
For males, having been hit by an adult with the intention of harm, having low self-esteem, and having been in a physical fight with a peer predicted onset of serious physical dating violence victimization. Those variables, plus having a friend who has been a victim of dating violence, alcohol use, and being white, predicted chronic victimization for males. For females, onset of serious physical dating violence victimization was predicted by having been hit by an adult; that variable, plus living in a single-parent household, predicted chronic victimization from serious physical violence. Also for females, onset of sexual violence victimization was predicted by having a friend who has been the victim of dating violence and being depressed; those variables and gender stereotyping predicted chronic victimization from sexual dating violence.
The findings identify high-risk groups and risk factors to target for intervention and have implications for approaches to delivering dating violence prevention programs.
The present study, based upon the national 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of U.S. high school students, provides the most current and representative data on dating violence among adolescent females (N = 7,179). The dependent variable was physical dating violence. The independent variables included four dimensions: violence, suicide, substance use, and sexual risk behavior. Unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), were examined followed by multivariate logistic regression analyses, which included all significant independent variables from the bivariate analyses. Adjusted OR and 95% CI were computed to assess the significance of the relationships. In terms of prevalence, 10.3% of female adolescents reported experiencing physical dating violence. Black girls (OR = 1.47) and girls who reported sad/hopeless feelings (OR = 1.42) considered suicide (OR = 1.55), engaged in physical fighting (OR = 2.17), had recent sexual partners (OR = 2.10), or had unprotected sexual intercourse (OR = 1.70) were more likely to report physical dating violence. These findings suggest dating violence against adolescent females is widespread and associated with a host of other risk factors that deserve further attention through longitudinal research and intervention efforts.
Twilight'' publisher sees film boosting book sales Education groups for men who batter: The Duluth model
- C Parsons
Parsons, C. (2008, November 21). ''Twilight'' publisher sees film boosting book sales. Reuter. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4AK03620081121 Pence, E., & Paymar, M. (1993). Education groups for men who batter: The Duluth model. New York, NY: Springer.
Exposing domestic violence in country music videos
- J Haynes
Haynes, J. (2009). Exposing domestic violence in country music videos. In L. M. Cuklanz & S. Moorti (Eds.),
Local violence, global media (pp. 201-217). New York, NY: Peter Lang.