270457 Violence Against Women / Violencia contra las mujeres (BS) (SoSe 2016)

The goal of this course is to analyze some of the main topics about violence against women from a psychosocial approach. We will examine the scope of this social problem, its main causes and modalities. Two forms of violence against women will be analyzed: intimate partner violence and sexual violence. In both cases, we will study ideological and cultural factors involved and social perception of these forms of gender-based violence. Other aspects related with the prevention of violence against women will be discussed.
In every session, we will combine theoretical issues with practical applications. This course will be conducted as a compact seminar.

Course Topics:
Gender-based violence: concept, causes, modalities and magnitude.
Intimate (ex)partner violence (IPV) against women:
- Sexism, power and IPV.
- Attitudes, stereotypes and myths in social perception of IPV.
- Psychological assessment and intervention with victims of IPV
- Women responses to IPV and psychological consequences.
- How to prevent IPV?
Sexual violence against women:
- Incidence and prevalence of sexual violence.
- Attitudes, stereotypes and myths in social perception of sexual violence.
- Normalizing contexts of sexual assault: Sexist Humor, Lads Mags and Social Media
- Psychological assessment and intervention with victims of sexual violence.
- How to prevent sexual assault against women?

General Methodology:
The course will be divided in 6 sessions of 4 to 5 teaching hours each. In the first part of each session, the lecturer will give a brief introduction to the topic of interest; after this introduction, a discussion and debate based on a selected reading will be done. In the second part of the session, one student (or two) will conduct a presentation to the group based on a complementary reading. In this presentation he/she will have to summarize the main ideas of this reading and also present for discussion with the audience a research proposal about this topic or the main guidelines for a hypothetical psychosocial intervention program, prevention action… that could be derived after the reading.

Discussion Questions:
For each session, students will be assigned one selected reading. They will be asked to answer some discussion questions posited by the lecturer in advance about the reading. Written answers may be collated and submitted for grading as essays ("benotete Einzelleistung") in BSc Module R.

Discussion Leadership:
According to the kind of assessment they require (see above under "course requirements"), students will be asked to lead the discussion for the second part of a session. They will have to present their summary and reflections about the assigned complementary reading and lead the discussion about their proposals (research designs, psychosocial interventions…).

Tentative Schedule:
Day 1:
- Course Introduction
- Gender-based violence: concept, causes, modalities and magnitude.
Day 2:
- Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women:
- Sexism, power and IPV.
- Theoretical models about IPV.
Day 3:
- Attitudes, stereotypes and myths in the social perception of IPV.
- Women responses to IPV and psychological consequences.
Day 4:
- Sexual violence against women:
- Incidence and prevalence of sexual violence.
- Attitudes, stereotypes and myths in the social perception of sexual violence.
Day 5:
- Normalizing contexts of sexual assault
- Sexist humor
- "Lads' mags"
- Social media
Day 6:
- Psychological assessment and intervention with victims of sexual violence and IPV
- How to prevent IPV and sexual assault against women?

Requirements for participation, required level

The course will be held in English and – partly – in Spanish.
Attending students should thus have very good knowledge of English and good basic knowledge of Spanish. Exercise groups will be composed such that students with a stronger language background may assist those with less extensive language training.
All participating students are required to sign up for the course by sending an e-mail to fatma.akkaya-willis@uni-bielefeld.de by 1st June 2016, indicating for which module they are attending and what kind of assessment they require (e.g., "Studienleistung" or "benotete Einzelleistung"). The students will then be assigned their tasks and selected readings.
IMPORTANT: Please note that by signing up you will be expected to participate in all sessions of the seminar and to complete the tasks assigned to you.

Bibliography

Selected readings will be provided to students in order to analyze and complete the different topics included in the course.