Claire M. Renzetti

New Wave or Second Stage? Attitudes of College Women Toward Feminism

The attitudes of female subjects toward gender roles, gender inequality, and the womens movement were measured using a 24-item attitudinal inventory. Subjects tended to hold nontraditional but only moderately feminist attitudes toward gender roles. They were, however, highly aware of gender inequality and supportive of the womens movement, although they were also reluctant to identify themselves as feminists. T tests revealed that subjects most supportive of feminism were advanced students (juniors and seniors) and students who had personally experienced discrimination. But when personal experience of sex discrimination was controlled for, the strength of the relationships between class level and gender role attitudes, and between class level and support for the womens movement, diminished. Students who had personally experienced sex discrimination are less traditional and more feminist in their gender role attitudes, and show stronger support for the womens movement, regardless of their class level, than students who have not had such experiences. These findings are interpreted and their implications for the future of the womens movement are discussed.

The voodoo doll task: Introducing and validating a novel method for studying aggressive inclinations

Aggression pervades modern life. To understand the root causes of aggression, researchers have developed several methods to assess aggressive inclinations. The current article introduces a new behavioral method-the voodoo doll task (VDT)-that offers a reliable and valid trait and state measure of aggressive inclinations across settings and relationship contexts. Drawing on theory and research on the law of similarity and magical beliefs (Rozin, Millman, & Nemeroff [1986], Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 703-712), we propose that people transfer characteristics of a person onto a voodoo doll representing that person. As a result, causing harm to a voodoo doll by stabbing it with pins may have important psychological similarities to causing actual harm to the person the voodoo doll represents. Nine methodologically diverse studies (total N = 1,376) showed that the VDT had strong reliability, construct validity, and convergent validity. Discussion centers on the importance of magical beliefs in understanding the causes of aggressive inclinations.

On the margins of the malestream (or, they still don't get it, do they?): Feminist analyses in criminal justice education

This paper is a critical review of the Fall 1992 issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice Education (JCJE), which focused on women in criminal justice education. The review concentrates on three educational areas: curriculum, pedagogy, and the campus climate for students and faculty. Feminism has had a clear effect in each of these areas, but it has not been enough to transform criminology/criminal justice education so that gender is a central organizing theme. Feminist criminology/criminal justice education seems to remain at the margins of the “male-stream.”

By the Grace of God: Religiosity, Religious Self-Regulation, and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence:

Although some researchers have argued that religiosity has a deterrent effect on criminal offending in general, and serves as a protective factor against men’s intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, others have obtained inconsistent or contradictory findings indicating that religiosity per se may be less important than other factors and may be protective only for some groups of men. The present study extends previous research by using measures that gauge multiple dimensions of religiosity to examine its effects on IPV perpetration among a national, community sample of adult men (N = 260). Findings indicate that religiosity is functionally less important than religious self-regulation in reducing men’s likelihood of IPV perpetration, supporting previous research showing that the protective effects of religiosity may be limited to certain groups of men. Implications of the findings for future research are discussed.

Gender-based violence

On Nov 14 2004 the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) announced grant awards to 17 groups in developing countries for projects to address gender-based violence in conflict and postconflict situations. Totalling US

The Impact of Gender Stereotypes on Legal Perceptions of Lesbian Intimate Partner Violence

900000 the grants will fund projects that include: a training programme for community leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to deal with the communal effects of violence against women in that war-torn country; a project in southern Sudan to improve women’s access to services during post-conflict reconstruction and to train them to participate in the peace process; education for government officials in Georgia and Azerbaijan on how to use violence prevention and prosecution mechanisms at institutional and policy levels; and studies of the extent of gender-based violence in Honduras Guatemala El Salvador Nicaragua and Costa Rica to raise awareness of the problem in those countries lobby for legislative and policy reforms and increase accountability of offenders. Money for the grants comes from the UN Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence Against Women which was established by UNIFEM in 1997. Within 3 years of its inception the Trust Fund had raised

Ambivalent Sexism, Alcohol Use, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

4.3 million in government and private donations which in turn has funded more than 105 projects in over 65 countries throughout the world. (excerpt)

Great Sexpectations: The Impact of Participant Gender, Defendant Desirability, and Date Cost on Attributions of a Date Rape Victim and Defendant:

The present study examined legal perceptions of lesbian intimate partner violence (IPV) in an experimental context. Undergraduate women and men from the Southeastern United States (N = 217) read a trial summary in which the defendant was charged with physically assaulting her same-sex partner. The trial varied as to whether the victim and defendant were depicted via images as either feminine or masculine. Participants rendered verdicts and made judgments about the victim and defendant (e.g., credibility). Results indicated that the victim’s and defendant’s masculine or feminine appearance affected these judgments. Female participants viewed a masculine victim as more credible than a feminine victim when the defendant was masculine. When the victim was masculine, they viewed a masculine defendant as more responsible for the victim’s injuries than a feminine defendant. Male participants had higher sympathy for a masculine versus feminine victim overall, but had more anger toward a masculine defendant versus a feminine defendant accused of assaulting a feminine victim. Finally, fewer participants mentioned the defendant’s history of violence as a reason for a guilty of felony verdict for a feminine victim with a feminine defendant versus all other combinations of victim and defendant masculine/feminine appearance. Results are discussed in terms of gender stereotypes influencing legal decision-making in IPV cases among lesbian couples.

Alcohol Use, Hostile Sexism, and Religious Self-Regulation: Investigating Risk and Protective Factors of IPV Perpetration:

Research on risk factors for men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) has shown a high correlation with problem alcohol use. Additional studies, however, indicate that the alcohol–IPV link is neither simple nor necessarily direct and that a range of factors may moderate this relationship. Using a national, community-based sample of 255 men, the present study examined the moderating effects of ambivalent sexism (i.e., hostile and benevolent sexism) on the relationship between alcohol use and IPV perpetration. The findings show that both greater alcohol consumption and high hostile sexism are positively associated with IPV perpetration, and that hostile sexism moderates the alcohol–IPV relationship for perpetration of physical IPV, but not for psychological IPV. Moreover, high levels of alcohol consumption have a greater impact on physical IPV perpetration for men low in hostile sexism than for men high in hostile sexism, lending support to the multiple threshold model of the alcohol–IPV link. Implications of the findings for prevention, intervention, and future research are discussed.

Poor Sleep Is Associated With Greater Marital Aggression: The Role of Self Control

We investigated the effect of the desirability of the defendant and the cost of a date on how participants assigned blame in a date rape context. Community participants (N = 211) read one of four date rape trial summaries that differed based on the two manipulated independent variables: the desirability of the defendant (i.e., high vs. low desirability) and the cost of the date (i.e., expensive [US