Jessica Taylor (author)

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Jessica Taylor
Dr Jessica Eaton FRSA at the FiLiA Feminist Conference, Bradford 2019.jpg
Taylor in 2019
Born
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
EducationBSc Psychology Hons, 2015, Open University
PhD, psychology, 2019, University of Birmingham
Known forCampaigning for the rights of victims

Jessica Taylor FRSA is a British feminist author and campaigner. She wrote the 2020 book Why Women Are Blamed For Everything. She has made appearances on British television, including BBC Two documentary Womanhood, [1] and in the true crime documentary My Lover, My Killer, which aired on Channel Five. [2]

Contents

Early life

Taylor grew up in a council estate in Stoke-on-Trent. [3] She said that she was repeatedly sexually and physically abused as a teenager by men in her town, which she kept hidden from her family. As the result of her repeated rapes, Taylor gave birth to her first child at the age of 17 and reported her abuse to the police. [3]

Career

Taylor began volunteering with domestic violence victims before earning a Bachelor of Science Hons degree in psychology from the Open University. [4] Upon receiving her degree, she co-founded The Eaton Foundation, a Male Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre in the UK, with Alex Eaton. [5] She eventually quit her job and founded VictimFocus, which she describes as "a company designed to challenge and change the victim blaming practices in social care, policing, mental health and support services all over the world." [6] In 2017 and 2018, she was shortlisted for the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize. [7] [8]

In 2019, Taylor completed her PhD in psychology from the University of Birmingham with a thesis titled "'Logically, I know I'm not to blame but I still feel to blame': exploring and measuring victim blaming and self-blame of women who have been subjected to sexual violence." [9] While working towards her doctoral degree, she was appointed to Chair of the Parliamentary Conference on Violence Against Women and Girls. [10] Upon finishing her doctoral research, she became a Senior Lecturer in Criminal and Forensic Psychology at the University of Derby. [11] [12] She was later recognized for her "contribution to the psychology of victim blaming of women, her work in mental health and her contribution to feminism" by the Royal Society of Arts. [13]

In 2020, she self-published her thesis as a book titled Why Women are Blamed for Everything. Based on three years of doctoral research and ten years of practice with women and girls, the book focuses on the reasons why society and individual psychology blames women for male violence committed against them. [14] It draws on the psychometric measure Taylor developed during her doctoral research–called the BOWSVA scale–which measures the way the general public and professionals apportion blame to women and girls who have been subjected to sexual violence. The book also includes interviews with women who have been blamed for sexual assaults and professionals working in sexual violence services who are attempting to deconstruct victim blaming. [14]

Upon the book's release, she was the target of coordinated attacks and harassment by alt-right trolls on Facebook and Twitter, and her personal computer was hacked. [15] [16] [17] Why Women are Blamed for Everything sold 10,000 copies in its first two months before being bought by the publishing company Constable. [14] [18]

In 2022, she published her second book, Sexy But Psycho: Uncovering the Labelling of Women and Girls through Constable. She described it as "mixture of academic research, history, psychology and real-life stories of women and girls who have been told that they are mentally ill, instead of being listened to". [19] The book focuses on how mental illness has historically been used to discredit women, focusing especially on the 2000s and pop artist Britney Spears. [20]

During the Depp v. Heard case, she said that borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder are "not proven medical conditions" but are instead "highly contested controversial psychiatric labels". On her website, she professed that the former is known in psychology and psychiatry as a "junk diagnosis", and the latter as a "debunked disorder". [21] [22]

Publications

Related Research Articles

Some victims of rape or other sexual violence incidents are male. It is estimated that approximately one in six men experienced sexual abuse during childhood. Historically, rape was thought to be, and defined as, a crime committed solely against females. This belief is still held in some parts of the world, but rape of males is now commonly criminalized and has been subject to more discussion than in the past.

Psychological abuse, often called emotional abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another person to a behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder amongst other psychological problems.

Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as the greater tendency to blame victims of rape than victims of robbery if victims and perpetrators knew each other prior to the commission of the crime.

Verbal abuse is a type of psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of oral, gestured, and written language directed to a victim. Verbal abuse can include the act of harassing, labeling, insulting, scolding, rebuking, or excessive yelling towards an individual. It can also include the use of derogatory terms, the delivery of statements intended to frighten, humiliate, denigrate, or belittle a person. These kinds of attacks may result in mental and/or emotional distress for the victim.

Rape is a traumatic experience that affects the victim (survivor) in a physical, psychological, and sociological way. Even though the effects and aftermath of rape differ among victims, individuals tend to suffer from similar issues found within these three categories. Long-term reactions may involve the development of coping mechanisms that will either benefit the victim, such as social support, or inhibit their recovery. Seeking support and professional resources may assist the victim in numerous ways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rape</span> Type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse without consent

Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability, or is below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.

Anna Motz is a Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist with extensive clinical experience with women as perpetrators of violence and with the staff teams who work with them. Formerly president of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy (IAFP), she is the author of The Psychology of Female Violence: Crimes Against the Body.

Sexual violence refers to a range of completed or attempted sexual acts in which the affected party does not or is unable to consent. Theories on the causes of sexual violence are numerous and have come out of many different disciplines, such as women's studies, public health, and criminal justice. Proposed causes include military conquest, socioeconomics, anger, power, sadism, traits, ethical standards, laws, and evolutionary pressures. Most of the research on the causes of sexual violence has focused on male offenders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic violence</span> Abuse of members of the same household

Domestic violence is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, financial abuse, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack. Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, honor killing, and dowry death, which sometimes involves non-cohabitating family members. In 2015, the United Kingdom's Home Office widened the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control.

Research published from 2000 to 2020 illustrates increased prevalence rates of sexual violence against people with intellectual disabilities, compared to the general population.:61 The World Health Organization (WHO) funded a study which concluded that 15% of the adult population worldwide in 2012 had a disability, putting them at increased risk of physical, sexual, and intimate partner violence. Of that 15%, 6.1% had intellectual disability with 5.5% experiencing sexual violence. In another 2012 report, the WHO found that worldwide, children with intellectual disabilities experienced a 4.6 times greater risk of sexual violence than those without disability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Champion</span> British Labour politician

Sarah Deborah Champion is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham since 2012.

Abusive power and control is behavior used by an abusive person to gain and/or maintain control over another person. Abusers are commonly motivated by devaluation, personal gain, personal gratification, psychological projection, or the enjoyment of exercising power and control. The victims of this behavior are often subject to psychological, physical, sexual, or financial abuse.

Domestic violence in Kenya constitutes any harmful behavior against a family member or partner, including rape, assault, physical abuse, and forced prostitution. Domestic violence in Kenya reflects worldwide statistics in that women are the overwhelming majority of victims. Over 40% of married women in Kenya have reported being victims of either domestic violence or sexual abuse. Worldwide, over 30% of "ever-partnered women" aged 15 and older have experienced physical or sexual partner violence. The distinct factors and causes of this high percentage have often not been studied due to lack of data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Franklin</span> American forensic psychologist

Karen Franklin is an American forensic psychologist. For her doctoral dissertation, she conducted research on anti-gay violence. She has also published commentaries about sex crimes, primarily expressing her opposition to the use of the hebephilia and other diagnoses in sexually violent predator regulations. She received the 2012 Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in Psychology and the Monette-Horwitz Trust Award in 2001.

Rape myths are prejudicial, stereotyped, and false beliefs about sexual assaults, rapists, and rape victims. They often serve to excuse sexual aggression, create hostility toward victims, and bias criminal prosecution.

Rebecca Campbell is a professor of psychology at Michigan State University. She is known for her research pertaining to sexual assault and violence against women and children and the effects of treatment by law enforcement and medical staff on victims' psychological and physiological well-being. Campbell has been involved in criminal justice research on the investigation of Detroit's untested rape kits, wherein DNA evidence obtained in thousands of rape kits was left in storage and not analyzed. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Louise Kidder Early Career Award (2000), the American Psychological Association (APA) Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (2008), the APA Division 27 Council on Educational Program's Excellent Educator Award (2015), and the U.S. Department of Justice Vision 21 Crime Victims Research Award (2015).

Jill Astbury is an Australian researcher in the field of women's mental health.

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<i>Nobodys Victim</i> 2019 non-fiction book

Nobody's Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls is a 2019 book by Carrie Goldberg, co-written with Jeannine Amber. It describes incidents of sexual violence experienced by Goldberg's clients and herself, as well as other famous cases. The acts of violence include rape and sexual assault, revenge porn, "doxing", "swatting", "sextortion", and abusive messages. Goldberg categorizes perpetrators as "assholes", "psychos", "pervs" or "trolls" depending on their nature, though "assholes" was omitted in the book's subtitle to avoid profanity.

References

  1. ↑ "BBC Two - Womanhood". BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Graffius, Catriona; Sun, The (1 June 2021). "Millionaire kills lover over sex video". news.com.au. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Championing a 'VictimFocus' World with Jessica Eaton". onestopsocial.co.uk. 16 January 2019. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  4. ↑ ""Why women are blamed for everything" book review". Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "Jessica Eaton School of Psychology Doctoral Researcher". birmingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  6. ↑ Taylor, Jessica (14 May 2020). "Why do we blame women for the actions of rapists, traffickers, and abusers?". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "2017 shortlist". myzen.co.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  8. ↑ "Jessica Eaton – Individual Award Nominee – 2018". emmahumphreys.org. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  9. ↑ Eaton, Jessica (12 December 2019). 'Logically, I know I'm not to blame but I still feel to blame': exploring and measuring victim blaming and self-blame of women who have been subjected to sexual violence. etheses.bham.ac.uk (d_ph). Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  10. ↑ "PhD student announced as Chair of the Parliamentary Conference on Violence Against Women and Girls". birmingham.ac.uk. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  11. ↑ Janes, Matt; Rodger, James (8 September 2021). "Psychologist's warning to parents sharing back to school photos of children". Chronicle Live. In 2019 Dr Taylor received her doctorate in forensic psychology from the University of Birmingham, and has since qualified as a chartered psychologist. She was formerly a senior lecturer in forensic and criminal psychology at the University of Derby and has authored a number of books including Why Women are Blamed for Everything, which sold 10,000 copies in its first two months.
  12. ↑ "Victim focused approaches and combating victim blaming for professionals". University of Birmingham. Dr Taylor, a feminist and Psychologist with a PhD in Forensic Psychology is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic and Criminal Psychology.
  13. ↑ "Jessica Eaton Granted a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts". sateda.org. 26 April 2019. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 "Constable claims self-publishing success Why Women Are Blamed for Everything | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  15. ↑ Flood, Alison (24 April 2020). "Author of book about victim blaming bombarded with misogynist abuse". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  16. ↑ "Author of victim-blaming book targeted by misogynist trolls". The Independent. 25 April 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  17. ↑ Slisco, Aila (24 April 2020). "Author of Book Explaining Why Women Are Victim-Blamed Targeted by Online Hacking, Harassment". newsweek.com. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  18. ↑ @DrJessTaylor (28 June 2020). "My self-published book sold 10,000 copies in 2 months, got picked up by an awesome publisher and will be going everywhere soon! I'm so excited! Can't believe how well the book has done. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the book so far" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. 1 2 "Constable scoops Taylor's Sexy But Psycho | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  20. ↑ Knox, Kirsty Blake (26 March 2022). "Britney was called crazy but men have done much worse". Irish Independent. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  21. ↑ "'Debunked' psychological diagnoses of Amber Heard 'must be discounted'". The Independent. 28 April 2022.
  22. ↑ "Predictably, Amber Heard Just Got Diagnosed With BPD and HPD". www.victimfocus.org.uk. 29 April 2022.
  23. ↑ The Little Orange Book : learning about abuse from the voice of the child. OCLC   1054886898 . Retrieved 11 July 2020– via worldcat.org.
  24. ↑ Jessica Eaton. Detoxing Taylor. OCLC   941734695 . Retrieved 26 August 2021– via worldcat.org.
  25. ↑ Why women are blamed for everything: exploring victim blaming of women subjected to violence and trauma. OCLC   1159730638 . Retrieved 11 July 2020– via worldcat.org.
  26. ↑ Victim Focus (2021). 'I thought it was just a part of life' Understanding the Scale of Violence Committed Against Women in the UK Since Birth (PDF). Birmingham: Victim Focus.
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