Corina Schulze

Institutionalized masculinity in US police departments: how maternity leave policies (or lack thereof) affect women in policing

At present, no research has specifically concentrated on the maternity leave policies of police departments. In addition to offering an overview of police departmental policies in the USA, this study will present the self‐reported experiences of women police officers dealing with pregnancy and police work. The results of a 2007–2008 survey of women police officers are presented. It was found that police departments have largely chosen to deal with pregnancies on an ad hoc basis. From the responses given, it is clear that women police officers do perceive the dearth in accommodations made and desire change that significantly departs from the status quo of police departments.

Women, Earmarks, and Substantive Representation

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate womens substantive impact on government by examining the earmark requests of the US House representatives. Women representatives are hypothesized to make more funding requests for womens issues than male representatives. Through use of OLS statistical analysis, womens issue earmark requests, as reported by the 111th congressional House members for the fiscal year 2010, serve as the dependent variable. Gender is a significant predictor of earmark requests even when controlling for the ideology, partisanship, and racial minority status of a House member. This finding is evidence of womens substantive representation in the form of earmark requests.

The Masculine Yardstick of Physical Competence: U.S. Police Academy Fitness Tests

State and local law enforcement training academies differ in a myriad of ways, including the content of their classes, the type of instruction received, and the tests mandated for graduation. The focus of this study is the physical fitness test and how it affects the proportion of women to men matriculating from these academies. A predictive model of academy completion rates is derived from a sample of 96 police training academies. The presence of gendered physical testing requirements was found to be positively related to the proportion of women to men graduating from training. In addition to the empirical models, data on the specific content of these tests are provided. The variability of tests suggests that gendered physical requirements are an illusionary panacea, as they do not address the fundamental assumptions of the tests themselves.

Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Rape Myth Acceptance: Preliminary Findings From a Sample of Primarily LGBQ-Identified Survey Respondents

This study is among the first to examine the relationship between sexual orientation and rape myth adherence using a nationwide survey of primarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) respondents (n = 184). The more established Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale and a modified Male Rape Survey serve as the primary instruments to test both rape myth adherence and instrument-appropriateness. Results suggest that respondents were most likely to support myths that discredit sexual assault allegations or excuse rape as a biological imperative and least likely to support myths related to physical resistance. Consistent with previous work, men exhibited higher levels of rape myth adherence than women. Regarding sexual orientation, respondents who identified as queer consistently exhibited lower levels of rape myth adherence than respondents who identified as gay.

Awareness of Sexual Violence Services among LGBQ-Identified College Students.

ABSTRACT The sexual victimization of sexual minorities enrolled in college is not a topic that has been well researched. The present study examines the awareness that college minority students have of services they can access in the event they experience sexual violence. The results indicate that many students are unaware of specific services that they can access if they are sexually victimized. Disclosing an incident of sexual violence, or being the recipient of a disclosure of sexual violence, is related to knowledge of aftercare services. Non-White students demonstrate less awareness of services than White students, indicating that these students may not receive aftercare in the event of sexual victimization because they do not have the knowledge of which services are available. Several policy recommendations and directions for future research stem from these findings.

Providing and Receiving Sexual Assault Disclosures Findings From a Sexually Diverse Sample of Young Adults

This study utilized a sample of primarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ)-identified young adults from across the United States to pilot test a new instrument, the Reactions Provided to Disclosures Questionnaire (RPDQ), and assess the disclosure experience for both those who provide and those who receive disclosures of sexual assault. Results indicate that the experience of sexual assault disclosure in the LGBQ community is similar to the heterosexual community in that most victims disclose their assaults, most often to a friend, and were most likely to receive the reaction Emotional Support. Victims were also likely to receive the reaction Victim Blaming, especially if they disclosed to formal sources, such as law enforcement, medical, or religious personnel. This study also examined the relationship between the types of assault experienced and disclosure reactions received. Experiencing an anal assault was significantly associated with Victim Blaming reactions. A central aim of this study was to examine how respondents who received (rather than provided) a disclosure reacted, a question not been adequately addressed in prior literature. The RPDQ (a modification of Ullman’s Social Reactions Questionnaire), which was piloted here, factored in to five types of reactions: Emotional Support, Affectionate Support, Empathetic Support, Tangible Aid and Information Support, and Egocentric Reactions. Sexual assault survivors were more likely to report that they provided Emotional Support and Affectionate Support after receiving a disclosure than were nonsurvivors.

The Gendered Monitoring of Juvenile Delinquents: A Test of Power-Control Theory Using a Retrospective Cohort Study

Through the framework of power-control theory (PCT), we provide a model of juvenile offending that places the gendered-raced treatment of juveniles central to the analysis. We test the theory using a unique sample that is predominately African American, poor, and composed entirely of juvenile offenders. Multivariate models compare the predictive power of many variables, including ones central to PCT, on status offenses and other, more serious, offenses. Gender and race variables were found to be significant, but varied in their impact across models. The interaction between these variables suggests that being Black and female increases the likelihood of sanctioning for status offenses, but not other types of offenses. Contrary to the theory, single-mother-headed households do not seem to produce more delinquent girls than other types of households. The overall findings of this study indicate that patriarchy and white privilege are continuing characteristics of the juvenile justice system.

The Dynamics of Earmark Requests for the Women and Men of the US House of Representatives

ABSTRACT Data on the number of earmark requests made by men and women of the 111th House of Representatives provide a framework for predicting women’s substantive representation. Three main issue areas were examined: women’s health, women’s economic empowerment, and violence against women. Control variables for ideology, partisanship, race, committee member, and congressional tenure further clarify the relationship between gender and earmarks requests. These analyses of different categories of women’s issue earmark requests illustrated the complexity of women’s issues and the fluctuating effect of a representative’s gender on substantive representation.