INTRODUCTION: Reproductive coercion broadly describes behaviour intended to undermine the reproductive autonomy of a victim through pregnancy coercion, contraceptive sabotage, and controlling pregnancy outcomes. This research sought to understand the experiences of victims of reproductive coercion in Aotearoa New Zealand.METHODS: Participants shared their experiences of reproductive coercion from an intimate partner through an online survey that was distributed via social media and posters that were put up primarily in Family Planning clinics across the country. Five participants subsequently participated in in-depth interviews.FINDINGS: Participants (mostly women) in this research experienced high rates of controlled access to contraceptives (83.8%), contraceptive sabotage (58.6%), and pregnancy coercion (64%) by an intimate partner. Furthermore, 40.5% of participants who had ever been pregnant had experienced a partner attempting to prevent them from accessing an abortion, and over 30% were subjected to a partner’s attempts to force an induced abortion or miscarriage. Many also expanded on their partners’ coercion regarding reproductive decisions, and abuse during, and after, labour and birth. However, they were rarely asked about reproductive coercion and abuse by health care or social service practitioners.CONCLUSIONS: Reproductive coercion is a phenomenon that is globally under-researched. Emerging evidence suggests this is a highly gendered issue, and that there needs to be greater focus on promoting how we can improve and protect women’s reproductive autonomy. Findings from this research indicate the need to incorporate discussions about reproductive autonomy and coercion in screening for intimate partner violence.
The effects of sexual crimes upon victims and the wider community are pervasive and far-reaching, yet conventional attempts to address offending and seek justice for victims have not succeeded; rather, they have left victims without a sense of justice and often magnified the adverse impacts of the initial victimization. The applicability and appropriateness of restorative justice to such gendered categories of crime has been long debated, but emerging evidence suggests that it may offer victims greater satisfaction by way of recognition of the need for substantive over procedural equality, and consequent privileging of victims' needs and experiences. This focus on substantive equality and its implications for justice also aligns with international covenants, which recognize the inadequacy of formal equality and traditional approaches to justice when addressing crimes where perpetration is dependent on the manifestation of power and control. The article therefore sets out the case for restorative justice in accordance with these imperatives for substantive equality, and discusses the challenges inherent in providing safe restorative practices.
INTRODUCTION:Economic abuse has the potential to have far-reaching consequences for victims, but is largely invisible within discourses on violence against women. While it is internationally recognised as a pervasive and highly gendered method for abusers to gain and maintain control over women, there is no research specifically on economic abuse in Aotearoa New Zealand. AIM:This study aimed to understand the experiences and effects of economic abuse for women in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly in relation to methods of coercive control, with the intention of developing risk matrices to be used by practitioners. METHODS:We conducted a survey with 448 respondents-with 398 the focus of analysis for this article. The survey contained a combination of scaling and open-ended questions. This article reports findings of a qualitative analysis of aspects from responses to open-ended questions. FINDINGS:Abusers employed a range of abusive methods to restrict victims' freedom and exercise domination. These abusive behaviours seemed to follow traditional hegemonic constructions of masculinity as synonymous with "provider" in that many of these methods relied on the reproduction of gendered stereotypes which subjugate women to a subordinate position in the household. Women experienced a range of adverse emotional impacts as a result of this abuse. CONCLUSIONS:We found that, in reality, abusers relied on these stereotypes to justify the appropriation of women's resources and consequent removal of women's financial autonomy while, paradoxically, the women described providing for the household on greatly restricted finances-whether through paid or unpaid labour. We have translated these findings into risk matrices to assist the identification of economic abuse.
The purchasing of sexual services by adults from children and adolescents affects an un- known proportion of New Zealand youth, and is present in both rural and urban settings. International research shows that on average girls begin using sex for survival between the ages of 12 and 15. It can be argued that the terms used to denote adolescent transactional sex indicate the researchers’ moral position of the subject; the terms ‘prostitution’ and ‘client’ suggesting equal bargaining power and the terms ‘criminality’ and ‘delinquency’ implying victim responsibility. Recent articles are consistent in their comparison of transactional sex to child sexual abuse. Patriarchal ideals relating to gender roles and female sexuality may perpetuate the selling of sexual services by young people. Three primary pathways into survival sex have been identified: through intermediaries, through child sexual abuse and through inadequate protective systems. Children and young people engaged in transactional sex experience a range of adverse effects related to physical, sexual and mental health, and relationships. In New Zealand the use of children under 18 for sexual services is explicitly prohibited, but there are no comprehensive, nation-wide services for victims of transaction- al sex. Recommendations from the literature support a multi-systemic approach, with an extension of street outreach services, welfare provision and targeted prevention strategies.
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