The story of how psychology framed women for their own assaults began, as so many of psychology’s stories do, with some trapped animals. In the late 1960s, psychologist Martin Seligman conducted a series of behavioural experiments with dogs. He electrically shocked them at random and observed their responses.
After being locked in cages and subjected to pain that was unpredictable and uncontrollable, the dogs eventually gave up their attempts to escape, even when their cage doors were opened. In a now classic case of reframing, Seligman coined the term “learned helplessness” to describe their responses.
This new theory was incredibly attractive. It neatly and conveniently located the problem in the victims of violence, and manipulated their reality-based perceptions of a toxic and life-threatening environment.
Learned helplessness was such a socially palatable label for repeated victimisation that it’s still regularly applied to many victims of social, institutional and interpersonal violence. This includes, most notably, women subjected to domestic violence.
Like the slippery concepts of low self-esteem, Stockholm syndrome, co-dependence or traumatic bonding, learned helplessness has entered our vernacular. It has swallowed up socially accurate explanations for violence, until nothing is left but to blame the victim.
You can read the rest of the article here
Callers to domestic violence hotline lose direct access to counsellors
Posted in Commentary, Uncategorized, tagged 1 800 RESPECT, domestic violence, sexual assault on July 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »
This is a piece by Jenna Price on the potentially catastrophic changes to the national sexual assault and domestic violence hotline.
Callers to the national sexual assault and domestic violence hotline will no longer have guaranteed direct access to experienced trauma counsellors from July 1.
In a dramatic change to the six-year old service, people who ring 1800 RESPECT will be advised by a triage service, employing operators who will judge whether callers should be directed to an information website, a trauma counsellor or state-based family violence services, already overloaded with demand.
You can read the rest of this report by Jenna Price here at The Canberra Times.
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