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In many pieces of empirical research that set out to explore the experiences of women and girls subjected to male violence, there are some fundamental errors in the method. The main error that is often made, is in the assumption that women and girls understand terms like ‘domestic violence’ or ‘sexual assault’. Whilst these terms are widely used in society, research has repeatedly shown that women and girls still cannot define or relate to them, even when they have been subjected to those crimes themselves.

This is due to the political and socially constructed nature of the concepts such as ‘domestic violence’ and ‘sexual assault’. It is common, for example, for women and girls to have been punched, kicked, controlled, and abused, but they would still not define their experiences as ‘domestic violence’. 

In 2020, VictimFocus tested a novel methodology which was based on a simple linguistic change in materials, interviews, and questionnaire items. Instead of asking women and girls, ‘have you ever been subjected to domestic violence?’ we asked them to tick any incidents from a simple list of acts that constitute domestic violence (hit, slapped, choked, kicked, spat at, shoved, grabbed).

This simple change was applied to several studies with a combined sample of over 26,000 women and girls, and demonstrated that when they are asked directly and simply, women and girls report significantly more crimes against them, than when we use professional terminology. 

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In 2021, we were commissioned by an Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to explore the experiences of local women and girls aged 16 and over. In the study of over 1600 women and girls, we confidentially explored their experiences of sexual and domestic violence, harassment and stalking, coercive control, and child abuse.

At the commissioner’s request, we also explored confidence and trust in local policing, including the individual reasons why women and girls reported, or chose not to report the crimes committed against them. Additionally, we chose to include a section in which women and teenage girls could identify who their perpetrator was (what sex they were, and what relationship that had with them). 

Our report was published by the OPCC in 2022, and presented in House of Commons in Summer 2022.

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Since 2020, VictimFocus have been the leading independent organisation supporting police forces to explore attitudes towards misogyny, victim blaming, trauma, domestic abuse and victims of VAWG. 

Our unique and dynamic methodology teamed with our interactive questionnaire software has enabled us to explore the anonymous attitudes of thousands of police officers so far. We work closely with our commissioners and Chief Constables to understand what they need to know, and then design bespoke items to test a range of beliefs, myths, attitudes and reactions to statements and scenarios. 

The anonymous attitudinal research we have completed with a number of police forces has already taught us that police officers have a range of views on women’s rights, sexual harassment, misogyny, rape myths and sexism. These views span from the belief that the police force is inherently misogynistic with a long way to go to address systemic failings, right the way through to the belief that misogyny doesn’t exist in society or in the police force, that women are never sexually harassed, and that women are already equal. 

Much of our work on this topic is confidential and has not yet been published. If you would like to talk to police forces who have worked with us, please contact us for a discussion.

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One of our key areas of expertise is child sexual abuse and exploitation. Since 2017, we have worked to understand and explore victim blaming attitudes of social workers, youth workers, support workers and other professionals working with children subjected to sexual violence. 

Having taken on projects in local authorities where there were large nationally reported cases of CSE, child trafficking and child sexual abuse, a key part of our role was to confidentially explore the experiences, opinions and attitudes of professionals in children’s services and child abuse teams.

Our work led to a series of published reports, including the national evidence review into child sexual exploitation, which was co-authored by CEO Dr Jessica Taylor for Research in Practice. 

You can read about our in-depth work improving responses to children subjected to sexual violence here

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Between 2018 and 2021, VictimFocus worked on a series of media and research projects which aimed to explore the experiences and public perceptions of women who become pregnant from rape. A little-known topic, women who become pregnant from rape are rarely heard from in academic or practice literature. Further, children who are conceived in rape and sexual abuse have no representation in literature, practice or policy. 

Our large monthly reach on social media (over 6 million engagements per month) across 250,000 followers meant that we were able to put international call outs to women who had become pregnant from rape or sexual abuse. 

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