Sexual assault interventions may be doing more harm than good with high-risk males

Malamuth, Neil M.; Huppin, Mark; Linz, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.avb.2018.05.010

Cited by 67 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Since these are the very behaviors that police officers perceive as necessary to their work, the training program's attempt at sensebreaking‐sensegiving is often met with cynicism and hostility (Rawski, ; Tinkler, ). These backlash, or “boomerang” effects, have also been observed in sexual assault training for high‐risk men, who view such trainings as an infringement on their autonomy to act as they please (Malamuth, Huppin, & Linz, ); yet another example of how training interventions are ineffective for the populations that need them most.…”

Section: A Sensemaking Perspective On Training In Masculinity Contestmentioning

confidence: 94%

Masculinity Contest Cultures in Policing Organizations and Recommendations for Training Interventions

Rawski

Workman-Stark

2018

Journal of Social Issues

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In the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movements, police conduct has been increasingly scrutinized by the public, especially the use of excessive force, fatal shootings of unarmed civilians, and sexual harassment scandals within policing organizations. Through a review of the policing literature and data collected in a Canadian policing organization, we highlight how masculinity contest culture is related to police misconduct. All four masculinity contest culture dimensions can be observed in policing including: (1) “show no weakness,” (2) “strength and stamina,” (3) “put work first,” and (4) “dog‐eat‐dog.” Masculinity contest cultures lead to negative outcomes for both individual officers (e.g., harassment, discrimination, stress), policing organizations (e.g., lawsuits, turnover), and communities (e.g., officers’ use of excessive force). Training interventions are often suggested to prevent or remedy the negative effects of masculinity contest cultures in policing organizations. However, a review of the training literature suggests that training interventions are unlikely to be effective in contexts where organizational norms are at odds with the training content. Our analysis of police data, along with the literature review, conclude with a paradox—the very organizations that need training interventions the most (e.g., policing organizations that often promote and tolerate sexual harassment) are the least likely to benefit from those interventions. To address this paradox, we invoke the theory of social interactionism and reconceptualize training as an organizational sensegiving mechanism. This theoretical foundation offers new directions for future research on training in masculinity contest cultures and insights for practicing police administrators and public policy officials.

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Section: A Sensemaking Perspective On Training In Masculinity Contestmentioning

confidence: 94%

Masculinity Contest Cultures in Policing Organizations and Recommendations for Training Interventions

Rawski

Workman-Stark

2018

Journal of Social Issues

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“…Whatever underpins acceptance, comments from international students about their inculcation into not objecting to or reporting harassment prior to coming to study in the UK indicate how important it is to consider diversity when designing interventions, emphasised by Towl and Walker (2019). Bystander training must therefore address university community complicit attitudes to harassment of themselves and of any group of students, whilst avoiding the potential backlash from targeting potential offenders (Camp et al, 2018;Malamuth et al, 2018). Indeed Towl and Walker (2019, p. 28) identify cultural change as the "the most substantive part of the discussion on prevention".…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…University community rejection of these behaviours has potential to create a shift in the normalisation of unwanted behaviours. Delivering bystander programmes as whole university community training should ameliorate the chance of backlash from high risk groups identified by Malamuth et al (2018). Any subsequent increase in intervention, reporting, and prosecution might deter potential perpetrators.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent review demonstrates that increasing knowledge or changing attitudes alone is not sufficient to reduce sexual violence (DeGue et al, 2014). In fact targeting men whose attitudes to sex and women mean that they at higher risk of perpetrating sexual aggression can trigger 'boomerang effects' of hostile resistance, and actually increase unwanted behaviours (Malamuth et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

Hennelly

Hussain

Hale

et al. 2019

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Purpose Half of British university students experience assault and harassment behaviours; few report them. Bystander intervention training has been recommended as a means of reducing these behaviours, but there is little evidence about their potential effectiveness in UK contexts. The purpose of this paper is to understand UK students’ attitudes towards reporting and intervening in sexual assault, harassment and hate crimes. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods cross-sectional survey (n=201; 75.6 per cent women) was conducted in one British university. Open text data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Students considered harassment and assault unacceptable, and were confident to intervene in and likely to report incidents. However, fear of backlash was a barrier to intervening and reporting, and they felt that victims should decide whether to report incidents. Students perceived perpetrators as being ignorant about what constitutes consent, harassment and assault. They identified a need for university community education about this and how to report incidents and support peers. Research limitations/implications This cross-sectional survey was conducted at one UK University. The data might not reflect other students’ attitudes, and may be subject to response bias. University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Practical implications University community bystander training should be acceptable, report and support systems might be utilised by students. This may have potential to reduce prevalence and increase reporting. Originality/value This is the first study to investigate UK student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours.

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“…Not only is this likely to be inaccurate given the present research, such descriptions may have unintended negative consequences. Studies of mass communications and interventions in a range of other fields suggest that such consequences could include 'boomerang effects', social norming, or desensitisation leading to apathy [48][49][50][51][52], all of which work against prevention aims. In addition, the use of the term 'cruelty' is likely to have certain connotations with the public that are not reflective of the majority neglect cases.…”

Section: While Individualmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia

Glanville

Ford²,

Coleman

2019

Animals

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Simple Summary: Preventing animal cruelty and neglect is the goal of animal protection. But it is hard to effectively address a problem without a good understanding of its prevalence and nature. While 55,000-60,000 reports of mistreatment are made to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in Australia each year, we do not know how well these data reflect what is actually happening in the community. After all, these data are reliant on people reporting what they see and therefore, probably only represent a fraction of what is actually occurring. To better understand this problem, we conducted the first extensive community survey to find out what people had seen in their communities and what they did about it. We found that animal mistreatment was (1) common, with 25.7% of people surveyed witnessing mistreatment, (2) mostly neglect with perceived underweight animals being the most common issue and (3) underreported to authorities with only 9% of witnesses reporting to RSPCA Victoria. While sobering, these findings are the first step to developing and resourcing well-informed strategies to prevent the mistreatment of animals.Abstract: While animal mistreatment is common worldwide, its true scale is largely unknown. Currently, organisations rely on community reporting (case data) and trends found therein to inform prevention activities. To investigate the prevalence, types, and responses to animal mistreatment in Victoria, we conducted a representative telephone survey (n = 1801) across six Local Government Areas (LGAs); three with high numbers of RSPCA reported cases and three demographically similar areas with low numbers of such cases. Overall, 25.7% of people surveyed had witnessed at least one incident of mistreatment in the last 12 months, with those relating to neglect or poor management predominating. No differences in prevalence were found between LGAs when socio-economic index and local government comparator group were controlled for. However, participants in regional cities recalled witnessing more separate incidents than those in metropolitan or interface areas. Actions taken after witnessing mistreatment were varied, yet many participants did nothing (27%) and only 9% reported to RSPCA Victoria. Attitudes to reporting were positive but did not predict reporting behaviour. Together, these results demonstrate that case data are not reliable indicators of the true prevalence of animal mistreatment; it is common and grossly underreported, highlighting the need for effective, evidence-based prevention programs.

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Sexual assault interventions may be doing more harm than good with high-risk males

Cited by 67 publications

References 34 publications

Masculinity Contest Cultures in Policing Organizations and Recommendations for Training Interventions

Masculinity Contest Cultures in Policing Organizations and Recommendations for Training Interventions

University student attitudes to prosocial bystander behaviours

Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia

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