Papers by Jocelyn Hollander
Teaching Sociology, Jul 1, 2002
Violence Against Women, Oct 22, 2019
Brush and Miller have provided an astute critique of "gender-transformative" antiviolence program... more Brush and Miller have provided an astute critique of "gender-transformative" antiviolence programming, encouraging us to take more seriously the effects of history, gender, and social structure. In this commentary, we extend their analysis in four directions by highlighting the everydayness of gendered violence, the relationship between masculinity and social legibility, the seductive rewards of masculine conformity, and the way norms are enforced through nets of accountability. We elaborate on the model provided by women's empowerment self-defense training to suggest a potential way forward for these programs.
Sociological Forum, Jun 1, 2014
How do the news media portray women's resistance to sexual assault? We analyze articles from a sy... more How do the news media portray women's resistance to sexual assault? We analyze articles from a systematic sample of 16 U.S. newspapers across 1 full calendar year to assess whether and how newspapers describe women's resistance. We find that in most cases, newspaper reports reinforce the belief that women are incapable of effectively defending themselves. Most articles fail to mention women's resistance or do so only to note its failure; the longer the article, the more likely it is to follow these patterns. Headlines exaggerate these patterns, presenting virtually no evidence that the articles that follow, or that assaults themselves, contain any female resistance or agency. In only a very small minority of cases are women described as strong, competent actors with the ability to defend themselves against violence. We conclude with a discussion of the potential individual and societal consequences of these patterns.
Symbolic Interaction, May 1, 2006
Sociologists have paid a great deal of attention to the idea that many aspects of human life are ... more Sociologists have paid a great deal of attention to the idea that many aspects of human life are socially constructed. However, there has been far less attention to the concrete interactional processes by which this construction occurs. In particular, scholars have neglected how consensual meaning is constructed in verbal interaction. This article outlines nine generic construction tools used in everyday talk, based on a review and synthesis of past work. These tools fall into three general categories: building blocks, linking devices, and finishing devices. The authors argue that scholars must pay greater attention to the interactional nature of social construction, and discuss three interactional processes that are central to the social construction of meaning in talk: challenge, support, and nonresponse. The article presents concrete illustrations of these processes using examples from focus group discussions about gender and violence. These micro-interactional processes often reproduce, sometimes modify, and (more rarely) resist larger institutions and structures, and thus are indispensable to understanding social life.
Gender & Society, Oct 30, 2012
Although accountability lies at the heart of the “doing gender” perspective, it has received surp... more Although accountability lies at the heart of the “doing gender” perspective, it has received surprisingly little attention from gender scholars. In this article, I analyze the different ways that scholars have conceptualized accountability. I propose a synthesis of these various understandings, and demonstrate the utility of this conceptualization with examples from my research on feminist self-defense training. This analysis sheds light on both the workings of accountability and the process of change in gender expectations and practices. I conclude by considering the implications of this reconceptualization of accountability.
Elsevier eBooks, 2018
Abstract Three different programs designed to increase women’s ability to recognize, avoid, and r... more Abstract Three different programs designed to increase women’s ability to recognize, avoid, and resist sexual assault have demonstrated success in reducing sexual violence in college populations. In this chapter, we describe and analyze these three programs (the Ohio University Sexual Assault Risk Reduction Program, the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act Sexual Assault Resistance Program, and the Self-Defense from the Inside Out program). After describing the history, format, and content of each program, we discuss their similarities and differences and assess how their components are related to a range of outcomes, including knowledge of effective self-defense strategies, adherence to rape myths, self and perpetrator-blame, self-defense, self-efficacy, fear, assertiveness skills, use of protective strategies, intention to use particular strategies, and sexual assault outcomes. We conclude by making recommendations for future research. Overall, there is good evidence that such programs effectively reduce the rates of sexual victimization among women when they include evidence-based content, provide opportunity for practice, and are longer than workshop length. We argue that universities must include such programs in their sexual assault prevention plans.
Elsevier eBooks, 2018
Abstract Empowerment self-defense (ESD), also known as feminist self-defense, is a distinctive ap... more Abstract Empowerment self-defense (ESD), also known as feminist self-defense, is a distinctive approach to women’s sexual assault resistance education, rooted in the second-wave radical feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In this chapter, I review the defining qualities, theoretical grounding, and evidence base of ESD classes. ESD classes are comprehensive, evidence-based, hold perpetrators responsible, transform understandings of women’s bodies, place violence in a social context, advocate social change goals, and empower rather than restrict women’s lives. Recent empirical evaluations have found that ESD classes reduce women’s risk of sexual assault and harassment and increase their self-confidence. Despite these promising findings, much remains to be learned about the optimal structure and timing of ESD education and the mechanisms that produce these positive effects.
Violence Against Women, Mar 1, 2004
Feminist self-defense classes teach skills for preventing and responding to violence. However, se... more Feminist self-defense classes teach skills for preventing and responding to violence. However, self-defense training has many other positive effects on women's lives-effects that themselves may reduce women's risk of assault. In this article the author offers evidence of these effects drawn from a longitudinal study of self-defense training. In addition to increased confidence in potentially dangerous situations, self-defense students reported more comfortable interactions with strangers, acquaintances, and intimates; more positive feelings about their bodies; increased self-confidence; and transformed beliefs about women, men, and gender. The author suggests that self-defense classes are life transforming because they address three issues central to women's lives: fear of sexual assault, self, and gender.
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, Sep 11, 2018
Violence Against Women, Mar 1, 2014
Self-defense classes are offered across the nation as a strategy for reducing women’s vulnerabili... more Self-defense classes are offered across the nation as a strategy for reducing women’s vulnerability to sexual assault. Yet there has been little systematic research assessing the effectiveness of these classes. In this article, I use data from a mixed methods study of a 10-week, university-based, feminist self-defense class to examine the effectiveness of self-defense training over a 1-year follow-up period. My analyses indicate that women who participate in self-defense training are less likely to experience sexual assault and are more confident in their ability to effectively resist assault than similar women who have not taken such a class.
Sociological Inquiry, Oct 1, 1993
The authors argue that temporality is a significant dimension of social activity. The paper revie... more The authors argue that temporality is a significant dimension of social activity. The paper reviews the phenomenological experience of temporality, ways of conceptualizing time, and ways in which temporality may shape interpretation, and illustrates these themes through an empirical study in which approximately 80 subjects read and responded to one of two short stories. Themes of temporality were explored in the interview transcripts through references to temporal themes, temporality as an influence on causal and trait attributions, temporal chains, and other forms of interpretive cycles, as well as ways in which temporality is involved in the definition of other and “possible others.” On the basis of these patterns, we conclude that time is a crucial factor in shaping interpretations of social life.
Violence Against Women, Jun 1, 2005
In this article, the author describes an approach to teaching about violence against women that b... more In this article, the author describes an approach to teaching about violence against women that balances discussion of violence with information about women's individual and collective resistance. This strategy addresses two concerns about traditional approaches to this topic: that focusing only on victimization disempowers students and that it provides only a partial view of the reality of violence in women's lives. To address these problems, the author integrates discussion of resistance into the class's working definition of violence, assigned readings, guest speakers, and course assignments. The author concludes with a discussion of the positive effects of this approach.
Teaching Sociology, Jul 1, 2000
Sociology Compass, Jun 19, 2018
Public attention to sexual assault has increased dramatically over the last decade, spurring ques... more Public attention to sexual assault has increased dramatically over the last decade, spurring questions about how it can be prevented. One approach that has received scant attention is women's self-defense training (sometimes known as sexual assault resistance training). This neglect is curious because empowerment-based women's self-defense (ESD) training is so far the only approach that has produced substantively significant decreases in victimization rates. In this article, I review the research evidence on women's selfdefense training. Does resisting a sexual assault affect the outcome of sexual violence? Does self-defense training further reduce women's risk of violence? What are the other consequences of self-defense training? How does selfdefense work for different groups of women-for example, those who have survived prior victimizations? Are the critiques of women's self-defense training valid? Finally, what do we still need to learn about women's self-defense? Overall, I argue that this evidence presents a compelling case that women's self-defense training should be central to any efforts to prevent sexual violence.
Feminism & Psychology, Apr 13, 2016
Women's self-defense training has been excluded from sexual violence prevention efforts for a var... more Women's self-defense training has been excluded from sexual violence prevention efforts for a variety of reasons, including concerns that it is ineffective, encourages victim blaming, neglects acquaintance assault, and does not target the underlying factors that facilitate sexual violence. In this article, I argue that these critiques are misguided, founded on (1) misunderstandings of self-defense training, (2) stereotypes about gender, and (3) individualistic assumptions about the impact of self-defense. Further, I assert that empowerment-based self-defense training helps to change the root conditions that allow violence against women to flourish. For all these reasons, and because recent research has built a case for its effectiveness, I argue that women's empowerment-based self-defense training should be part of any sexual violence prevention effort.
Gender & Society, Oct 28, 2015
Violence Against Women, Mar 11, 2010
Given the positive benefits of self-defense training for women, it is important to understand how... more Given the positive benefits of self-defense training for women, it is important to understand how women come to enroll in self-defense classes. Using data from a longitudinal study of university women, I explore the reasons women give for taking a self-defense class. I find that friends’ recommendations, visions of the “possible selves” they could become, and fear of violence were the most frequently reported reasons; having experienced a past assault was rarely cited as a reason for enrolling. In addition, many women who had never enrolled in a self-defense class reported having considered doing so. I explore barriers to learning self-defense and find that logistical issues such as time, money, and availability of classes were the most frequently reported reasons for not enrolling.
Teaching Gender and Sex in Contemporary America, 2016
Violence against women is increasingly the focus of public attention, and many classes on gender ... more Violence against women is increasingly the focus of public attention, and many classes on gender address this issue. The focus of such attention is often the widespread prevalence of gendered violence and the deep and lasting harm done to women by this violence. Although this reality is important, I argue in this chapter that it is equally important for students to understand the ways in which women can and do resist this violence, both individually and collectively. Simply focusing on the violence itself perpetuates an understanding of women and girls as inherently vulnerable – an understanding which is not borne out by social science research. Balancing attention to victimization with information about resistance avoids this reification of women’s vulnerability, counters the sense of helplessness that often results when students learn about this topic, and opens up space for considering solutions to the problem of violence against women.
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Papers by Jocelyn Hollander