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A cross-sectional survey conducted with adolescents in their first year of high school in Johannesburg (a South African City) indicates that adolescents have witnessed up to 2.8 incidents of domestic violence. Adolescents were more likely to witness physical and sexual violence among family members than adult intimate partners. However, they reported higher levels of emotional abuse among adult intimate partners than among family members. In addition, the results suggest differential exposure by gender, with boys being more likely than girls to have reported witnessing sexual domestic violence. Girls were however more likely than boys to report witnessing physical and emotional domestic violence. The impact of the high levels of violence that adolescents are exposed to needs to be addressed, since this could result in the perpetuation of domestic violence across generations. Critically, efforts need to be made to prevent domestic violence, to increase the safety of children in the home and to assist those with the trauma associated from witnessing violence. Moreover, there is a need to address the underlying gender attitudes, norms, and stereotypes that perpetuate violence through intervention and prevention programmes in various spheres, especially schools, if we are to prevent the inter-generational cycle of violence.

In the responses of informal networks to women seeking help for domestic violence, discourses of privatization, minimization and blame shifting emerged as salient. In particular, the discourse of “We need to understand the whole story” was frequently used to justify violence against those women who were seen as potentially violating gendered norms. This paper explores how these discourses contribute to the continuation of women abuse and to negative help seeking experiences for women seeking help for abuse. These discourses are embedded in the cultural contexts within which women seek help and are challenging to overcome by the women themselves. Hence, it is important that these discourses are contested and new narratives that enable help-seeking and help provision are constructed.

Although adolescents’ exposure to violence and oppressive gender attitudes is prevalent, comparative knowledge across countries is sparse. This study examined exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), family violence, and beliefs about violence against women (VAW) in a convenience sample of 2,462 adolescents from 44 schools in Nigeria and South Africa. Findings suggested that exposure to IPV, family violence, and beliefs about VAW differed by gender and country. Specifically, adolescents from Nigeria were more likely to be exposed to IPV and family violence and were more likely to endorse VAW than adolescents from South Africa. Male adolescents were more likely to endorse VAW than were female adolescents. Similarly, higher age, being male, being from Nigeria, being in a relationship, and greater exposure to family violence were associated with higher endorsement of VAW. Findings suggest that effective prevention programs are needed in both countries to mitigate exposure to IPV and family violence. Concerted efforts are also required to work with exposed adolescents to inhibit pro-VAW beliefs and stop the intergenerational transmission of violence. Additional implications of findings for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

In view of reports in the media on the spate of crimes plaguing South African universities, a qualitative study was conducted regarding the experience of crime by students from one urban-based university. The research formed part of a group project in which fourth-year social work students each conducted five interviews with students who were not their friends. Consistent with routine activity theory, students who were interviewed appeared to be vulnerable targets with a lack of guardianship, who were preyed on by motivated offenders. The most common crimes included theft of laptops and cell phones, and robberies at their places of accommodation. In line with cognitive behavioural theory, the crime encounter had profound psychological, financial and academic consequences for students. Students endeavoured to cope with the trauma of crime by adopting a variety of cognitive and behavioural strategies. Students’ recommendations for enhancing safety included universities increasing security measures through increasing patrols and CCTV surveillance cameras, and students adopting self-protection measures such as walking in groups, being more vigilant, and not walking with headphones on. These recommendations for enhancing guardianship on the part of university protection services and police, coupled with self-protection strategies on the part of students, can potentially reduce the risks of students becoming targets of criminal offenders.

The aim of this paper is to describe adolescent reports of gender based violence (GBV) based on a cross-sectional survey conducted with grade 8 boys and girls in high schools. . Self-completed paper based surveys were implemented with 1756 adolescents in 24 Johannesburg high schools in 2012 and with 2202 adolescents based at 30 Johannesburg high schools in 2013. Consent was required from both parents and learner in order for learners to participate. The results show high levels of GBV among adolescents, though fewer adolescents reported in 2013 than 2012. Boys were significantly more likely than girls to report experiencing all types of GBV, except for three physical GBV indicators in 2013. A specific indicator asked about rape and threats of rape. Whilst these figures were lower than asking about specific incidents of sexual violence, rates of rape were still between 8-11 %. The majority of perpetrators of rape and threats of rape were male. Adolescents were more likely to report experiences to family and friends, rather than authorities. Although a quarter of perpetrators were strangers, more were known to the victim. Findings suggest that adolescents are experiencing high levels of GBV from those known to them. Hence, there is a need for more accessible options for reporting and supporting adolescents to deal with these experiences, such as social workers in schools. Intervention and prevention strategies to deal with GBV are urgently required in the school context with both boys and girls as part of the curriculum.

The aim of this paper is to describe adolescent reports of gender based violence (GBV) based on a cross-sectional survey conducted with grade 8 boys and girls in high schools. Self-completed paper based surveys were implemented with 1756 adolescents in 24 Johannesburg high schools in 2012 and with 2202 adolescents based at 30 Johannesburg high schools in 2013. Consent was required from both parents and learner in order for learners to participate. The results show high levels of GBV among adolescents, though fewer adolescents reported in 2013 than 2012. Boys were significantly more likely than girls to report experiencing all types of GBV, except for three physical GBV indicators in 2013. A specific indicator asked about rape and threats of rape. Whilst these figures were lower than asking about specific incidents of sexual violence, rates of rape were still between 8-11 %. The majority of perpetrators of rape and threats of rape were male. Adolescents were more likely to report experiences to family and friends, rather than authorities. Although a quarter of perpetrators were strangers, more were known to the victim. Findings suggest that adolescents are experiencing high levels of GBV from those known to them. Hence, there is a need for more accessible options for reporting and supporting adolescents to deal with these experiences, such as social workers in schools. Intervention and prevention strategies to deal with GBV are urgently required in the school context with both boys and girls as part of the curriculum.

In view of reports in the media on the spate of crimes plaguing South African universities, a qualitative study was conducted regarding the experience of crime by students from one urban-based university. The research formed part of a group project in which fourth-year social work students each conducted five interviews with students who were not their friends. Consistent with routine activity theory, students who were interviewed appeared to be vulnerable targets with a lack of guardianship, who were preyed on by motivated offenders. The most common crimes included theft of laptops and cell phones, and robberies at their places of accommodation. In line with cognitive behavioural theory, the crime encounter had profound psychological, financial and academic consequences for students. Students endeavoured to cope with the trauma of crime by adopting a variety of cognitive and behavioural strategies. Students’ recommendations for enhancing safety included universities increasing security measures through increasing patrols and CCTV surveillance cameras, and students adopting self-protection measures such as walking in groups, being more vigilant, and not walking with headphones on. These recommendations for enhancing guardianship on the part of university protection services and police, coupled with self-protection strategies on the part of students, can potentially reduce the risks of students becoming targets of criminal offenders.

The love women feel for their abuser is a powerful factor that has a bearing on women's help-seeking after woman abuse. The discourse of love and happily-ever-after marriages emerged in the dialogues of some abused women interviewed in South African shelters. It would seem that the discourse of love contributes to abused women both staying in abusive relationships and in leaving. In women's discussion about their abusers in most cases they said that they come into relationships because they love their partner. These feelings of love for the abuser do not disappear because of the abuse. At a critical point, however, women either decide to seek help or leave the abusive relationship when they are able to separate the notion of love from the experience of abuse, or when their love changes and they begin to despise their partners. The reconstructing of their experience allows women to begin developing what Harding (2004) refers to as oppositional consciousness, which eases the path to seeking help. This Briefing, located within feminist standpoint theories, discusses how love is a central factor that emerged in abused women's reluctance to seek help. It will also demonstrate how when women disentangled love from violence it contributed to their 'oppositional consciousness', and their ability to deal with the abusive relationships.

There is growing evidence of marital violence experienced by women in the Muslim community in South Africa. While women may have recourse to divorce in a violent marital relationship, structural and cultural barriers prevent them from dealing effectively with abuse. It would seem that women receive little help from religious organisations and other structures in dealing with marital violence. Androcentric applications of Islamic law by Muslim religious leaders limit women's access to suitable options for dealing with marital violence and obtaining a divorce. Against this background, Islamic feminist theory provides a challenge to patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an and draws attention to social issues such as stigma, normalisation, and acceptance of violence which results in women occupying subordinate positions in Muslim society, hence becoming victims of not only direct violence but also cultural and structural violence. Using concepts of direct, structural and cultural violence as analytical instruments, this article highlights the ways in which Muslim women, who experience marital violence, are limited by metaphorical prisons created by structural and cultural norms produced by Muslim religious leaders who ascribe to patriarchal interpretations of Islam.