Delanie Woodlock

In Australia, domestic and family violence (DFV) is a major health and human rights issue. Technology is increasingly being recognised as an important tool to assist victims/survivors of DFV in accessing legal services, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology has been rapidly rolled out to assist victims/survivors obtain legal advice and protection orders, and to participate in judicial processes. This article focuses on the experiences of lawyers in Victoria who have been using technology as part of their work to support victims/survivors of DFV. Interviews with the lawyers reveal that while technology plays a crucial role in enhancing access to justice for victims of DFV, it can also present risks, particularly in view of perpetrators’ increasing use of technology to facilitate violence. Technology may also replicate the barriers already faced by many victims when seeking justice. These issues arise because, often, technology is not designed based on the needs of the v...

This article draws on interviews with 20 Australian women subjected to technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC), foregrounding their accounts of grief and institutional betrayal. Findings show that while the harms of TFCC were significant, survivors’ experiences were often minimized and dismissed by justice institutions. Women experienced grief due to abuse and separation from partners who had betrayed them. This loss was compounded when seeking help. We propose that disenfranchised grief is an underexplored response to domestic violence and institutional betrayal as well as a potential intervention site, particularly in relation to technology-facilitated abuse.

There is growing commitment to trauma-informed practice and increased recognition of risks associated with this work. However, the benefits of working with trauma-affected clients are under-studied. Drawing on interviews with sixty-three welfare, health and legal professionals in Australia, we consider the salutogenic dynamics of work with women with experiences of complex trauma. Participants articulated an ethics of care in which professionals ally with clients against abuse and violence as well as transactional neoliberal service models. We identify this approach to trauma work as a form of vicarious resistance that challenges dichotomies of vicarious trauma and resilience.

Organized abuse, in which multiple adults sexually abuse multiple children, has an important role to play in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) but has been relegated to the margins of criminological concern. This paper presents the findings of an international survey of 74 adults who described childhood victimization in CSAM and organized abuse, emphasizing the relationship between organized abuse and entrenched ignorance of it. The paper identifies the multiple zones, practices and structures of ignorance that render organized abuse unknowable and advocates for strategic forms of knowledge production in which ignorance features as a provocation towards information-seeking rather than as a defence mechanism against intolerable realities.

Reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the internet are rapidly increasing and the number of people accessing it is substantial. Many of these men have partners or families who are impacted by their CSAM use. These families experience negative mental health and social outcomes as a result. Despite this, there are limited services that provide support to this population. In this article, we examine the findings of an evaluation of PartnerSPEAK, a service in Victoria, Australia, that supports the non-offending partners and families of CSAM offenders. The evaluation included a survey of 53 clients as well as seven in-depth interviews. The findings showed that the peer support model utilised by PartnerSPEAK offered effective support for this underserved client group including the reduction of shame and isolation.

Technology is increasingly used by perpetrators of domestic violence to control, coerce, abuse, harass and stalk victim–survivors. Though ‘spaceless’—not bound by geography—there are particular ways that place and space shape the impacts of and risks associated with this violence. This paper examines the impact of technology-facilitated violence on victim–survivors of intimate partner violence in regional, rural or remote areas of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland) who are socially or geographically isolated.

Technology-facilitated abuse of women with intellectual or cognitive disabilityThis research explores experiences of technology-facilitated abuse among women living with intellectual or cognitive disability.The findings are based on interviews with women with intellectual or cognitive disability and frontline workers who provide support services.This research was commissioned to address major gaps in the evidence about technology-facilitated abuse against women with intellectual or cognitive disability.The report reveals that the tactics used for technology-facilitated abuse of women with intellectual or cognitive disability are like those faced by all women, but there are some unique differences.Summary of key findingsWomen's experiencesTechnology featured in the women’s lives in important ways. They used a variety of digital devices and platforms to connect with friends, family and partners as well as access information and services. In some instances, perpetrators could remove technology from these women, which could impact their autonomy, wellbeing and safety. The women had experienced a range of abuses, from general harassment to misuse of their online accounts, being monitored using spyware and tracking devices, and having their intimate images or videos shared without their consent.While most commonly the perpetrator was a partner or ex-partner, they included family members, carers and strangers.Barriers to supportFear was a primary barrier for the women in seeking help for technology-facilitated abuse, including fear of having digital devices, apps and internet access removed, or of not being believed.In some instances, a woman’s situation was further complicated because her partner was also her carer. Women could feel trapped by needing to maintain access to their children.Some women were afraid to continue with their normal online activities when affected by technology-facilitated abuse. Some chose to keep using social media accounts, risking further abuse, because they wanted to maintaining communication with others.Not knowing who to contact to report online abuse created a barrier to accessing support. Many women did not contact formal agencies for help and instead sought assistance from friends and family.RecommendationsThe research participants were eager to learn about safer ways to use technology and would like accessible information to be available, such as visual guides and documents in Easy Read formats.The frontline workers recommended an integrated approach between the domestic and family violence sector, the disability sector and the justice system, to improve service provision

This is Harris, Dragiewicz and Woodlock's submission of the review of the online safety laws, administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. This submission advocates for an intersectional approach to developing and implementing any legislation in this space and then focuses on the cyber abuse scheme for adults and victim/survivors of domestic and family violence (DFV). It is informed our work in relation to domestic and family violence (DFV) and technology, conducted over the past seven years

The abuse of technology by perpetrators of domestic violence is ‘spaceless’; however, in this article, we argue that experiences of and responses to digital coercive control are shaped by both the place (geographic location) and space (practical and ideological features of a location) that a victim/survivor and criminal justice agency occupy. We examined this issue by conducting interviews and focus groups with 13 female victim/survivors in regional, rural and remote Australia. All participants had contact with police as part of their help-seeking for domestic violence, and some suggested that officers sometimes paralleled perpetrator behaviours, resulting in a narrowing of women’s ‘space for action’. We conclude that, in the interests of protecting and empowering women, socio-spatial frameworks must be considered by practitioners and researchers, and there should be a concerted effort to expand resourcing and training for justice agencies beyond the cityscape.

This submission is authored by Bridget Harris, Delanie Woodlock and Molly Dragiewicz. This submission focuses on three areas identified by the Inquiry: e) All forms of violence against women, including, but not limited to, coercive control and technology-facilitated abuse (pages 4-14) h) The experiences of all women, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, rural women, culturally and linguistically diverse women, LGBTQI women, women with a disability, and women on temporary visas (pages 15-27) i) The impact of natural disasters and other significant events such as COVID-19, including health requirements such as staying at home, on the prevalence of domestic violence and provision of support services; technology focused submission (pages 28-32) Recommendations are then provided (pages 33-42) 5 research projects inform the submission. Some of these findings are currently embargoed and so this document is embargoed until the release of this work.

Domestic violence has significant social and economic costs each year in Australia. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in this abuse. ICT security and privacy are essential to domestic violence victims, but are often compromised. Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in everyday life. The ubiquity of these technologies, combined with factors like with GPS tracking, cloud-based storage, and platform integration, present significant challenges to personal security and privacy. This is particularly true for domestic violence survivors. The control and fear that characterise experiences of domestic violence have an expanding technological dimension as perpetrators weave technology into patterns of abuse. ICTs offer domestic violence survivors vital opportunities for communication, help-seeking and support. Domestic violence victims are a uniquely vulnerable population of consumers who face risks including loss of acc...

Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem in Australia. Digital media are increasingly integral to its dynamics. Technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC) is a form of gender-based violence. This article examines domestic violence survivors’ experiences with TFCC, drawing on interviews with 20 Australian women. Study results enhance understanding of how abusers use digital media. We highlight four key contexts for understanding the role of technology in domestic violence: the coercive and controlling relationship, separation abuse, co-parenting and survivors’ safety work. These contexts provide insight into the dynamics of TFCC and illuminate key differences between this and other forms of online abuse.

This is the first article to analyze children's involvement in technology-facilitated coercive control in Australia. The primary research question was ''How do mothers describe their children's involvement in technology-facilitated coercive control?". This article is based on incidental findings from a larger study on Australian women's experiences of technology-facilitated abuse in the context of domestic violence. Although children were not the focus of the study, semi-structured interviews with twelve mothers yielded discussion of children's involvement in the abuse. We used thematic analysis to identify key dynamics and contexts of this abuse. We found that mothers and their children are co-victims of coercive control. Mothers interviewed for the study reported that children were involved in technology-facilitated coercive control directly and indirectly. This study bridges the gap between the extant research on children and coercive control and technology-facilitated abuse by highlighting the ways children are involved in technology-facilitated coercive control. The social and legal contexts of co-parenting with abusive fathers exposed mothers and children to ongoing post-separation abuse, extending abusive fathers' absent presence in the lives of children

Researchers have accumulated much social scientific knowledge about the scope, distribution, causes, and outcomes of the physical and sexual abuse of female students in North American institutions of higher learning. However, surveys of technology-facilitated stalking and the dissemination of unwanted sexual messages/images in college campus communities are in short supply. The few that have been conducted do not identify key sociological risk factors associated with these two electronic forms of victimization. This paper, then, has two objectives: (1) to examine the influence of two types of negative peer support and (2) to determine if being the target of technology-facilitated stalking and receiving unwanted sexual messages/images are associated with female students’ intimate partner violence and sexual assault experiences. The results confirm that the two variants of negative peer support examined in this study are significant predictors of digital victimization and that such ab...

We focus on an emerging trend in the context of domestic violence-the use of technology to facilitate stalking and other forms of abuse. Surveys with 152 domestic violence advocates and 46 victims show that technology-including phones, tablets, computers, and social networking websites-is commonly used in intimate partner stalking. Technology was used to create a sense of the perpetrator's omnipresence, and to isolate, punish, and humiliate domestic violence victims. Perpetrators also threatened to share sexualized content online to humiliate victims. Technology-facilitated stalking needs to be treated as a serious offense, and effective practice, policy, and legal responses must be developed.

Nonhuman Animal rights activists are sometimes dismissed as ‘crazy’ or irrational by countermovements seeking to protect status quo social structures. Social movements themselves often utilize disability narratives in their claimsmaking as well. In this article, we argue that Nonhuman Animal exploitation and Nonhuman Animal rights activism are sometimes medicalized in frame disputes. The contestation over mental ability ultimately exploits humans with disabilities. The medicalization of Nonhuman Animal rights activism diminishes activists’ social justice claims, but the movement’s medicalization of Nonhuman Animal use unfairly otherizes its target population and treats disability identity as a pejorative. Utilizing a content analysis of major newspapers and anti-speciesist activist blogs published between 2009 and 2013, it is argued that disability has been incorporated into the tactical repertoires of the Nonhuman Animal rights movement and countermovements, becoming a site of frame contestation. The findings could have implications for a number of other social movements that also negatively utilize disability narratives.

Women are diagnosed with “mental illnesses”, such as depression, at twice the rate of men. The basis of women's mental distress is often seen as biological, but many feminists believe society strongly influences women's mental health. Despite this, in recent years treatment ...