DOMESTIC & FAMILY VIOLENCE: CONTEMPORARY KNOWLEDGE
'Domestic & Family Violence: Contemporary Knowledge' offers new approaches to thinking about and responding the gender-based violence endemic in both Australia and abroad. Our researchers and practitioner examine harm, political action, and accountability in everyday life as well as digital media.
Michelle Gissara (SHE/HER)
Michelle is a proud Kardu Diminin/Murrinhpatha woman living in Narrm. She works at Willum Warrain Gathering Place as cultural support for women's business and is a national network member with the Black Dog Institute's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre. Michelle graduated with a Bachelor of Criminology and Psychology and Bachelor of Justice and Criminology (Honours), both from RMIT University and is planning her PhD at RMIT, focusing on First Nations experiences of image-based sexual abuse. She is a strong advocate on a range of social topics and has previously spoken on destigmatizing issues surrounding Aboriginality, chronic illness, sexuality and pride, sexual violence, as well as mental ill-health and suicide.
Image-based sexual abuse representation in Victorian news media
Michelle’s presentation will focus on her honours research, which explored image-based sexual abuse representation in Victorian news media and discuss her recommendations for news media to accurately represent the crime and move away from the sensationalistic term of "revenge porn". Michelle will also touch on her upcoming proposed PhD research, hopefully focusing on First Nations experiences of image-based sexual abuse.
Briony Anderson (she/her)
Briony Anderson is a digital criminologist researching doxxing, privacy and anonymity at the University of Melbourne. Her work scaffolds post humanism, feminist materialism and technology facilitated violence literatures, with recent publications by Emerald and the British Journal of Criminology. Outside of research, Briony is a try hard green thumb and spends most of her time hanging out with her dog, Saturday.
Doxxing and the Overturning of Roe v Wade
Doxxing is often intertwined with other forms of gendered violence, such as coercive control in cases of intimate partner violence, revenge pornography and other efforts to discredit, embarass or harass someone. In contrast to pre-existing frameworks that understand doxxing as a form of harm and harassment, doxxing in response to Roe v Wade has been leveraged as a form of free speech and protest. As a panelist, I'll be reflecting on some of my early PhD findings to discuss the variety of purposes, functions and political ends doxxing can produce beyond the harm and harassment framework - and indeed, how doxxing might function as a new form of feminist activism.
Rebecca Shearman (she/her)
I hold a BA (Psych Major) from UNE, and Bachelor of Social Work from UQ. I have worked in the women’s sector since I graduated in 2000, primarily in Domestic and Family Violence (DFV – since 2003). As a practitioner I have been a sex educator, worked on advice and crisis lines, delivered court services, provided counselling and case-management to women and children who have witnessed or experienced violence, engaged in system advocacy and community development projects, facilitated women’s groups, delivered perpetrator programs and led training and development workshops. From 2008 I have consistently served in senior leadership positions - mainly in the community sector, with some dabbling in government roles (when they’ll have me). I volunteered for Women’s Legal Service, 5 years on their night service and then a further 5 years as a Management Committee member. I have been a feminist for over 30 years, and have thoroughly enjoyed the learning and growth that I draw from the global intersectional feminist community. I love reading, movies (ask me about zombies), friends, my kids, music and critiquing social structures.
What about the mens?? A social accountability workshop.
Breaking up a day of intense academic-level information sharing is an interactive workshop presented by one of Queensland’s leading DFV sector experts. The workshop will focus on holding perpetrators accountable – arguably the most underexplored area of practice yet somehow one of the most important. Starting with an overview of professional programs, theories and methods of responding to perpetrators and an overview of how DFV often presents in 2022 including apps used to track victims and misuse of social media. The workshop will then move to the practical – what to look out for in your own networks and ways to promote social accountability when safe to do so.