M. Meghan Davidson

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of violence on body image variables for college women. Undergraduate women participated in an online study assessing sexual violence (SV), intimate partner violence (IPV), self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame experiences. Findings suggest that both SV and IPV contribute to women’s body shame. In addition, the associations between IPV and body shame appear to be explained through self-objectification processes, but not the associations between SV and body shame. Thus, important differences between IPV and SV regarding self-objectification processes emerged. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

This reaction includes an appraisal of contributions, limitations, and questions raised in Wendt, Gone, & Nagata’s major contribution regarding potentially harmful therapy (PHT) and multicultural counseling. The authors are commended for initiating a convergent dialogue between the PHT and multicultural counseling literatures, creating a strong argument for their integration, and contextualizing the prior division. Commentary is provided in response to the narrow emphasis on an ethnoracial domain of culture, and suggestions for broadening the PHT/multicultural counseling dialogue through inclusion of multiple identities and intersectionality are provided. Greater integration of specific ethics codes and guidelines is also encouraged. Finally, future directions for consideration and study are posited, including the practicalities of researching harm within an integrated PHT/multicultural counseling framework, the necessity of working toward a refined definition of harm, and the manner through which the multicultural counseling perspective on addressing culturally based injury could augment existing PHT efforts to mitigate harm.

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine forgiveness and intimate partner violence (IPV) among college women. Undergraduate women (N = 502) participated in an online study in which overall experiences of IPV, as well as experiences of psychological and physical IPV, were investigated with respect to transgression-specific and dispositional forgiveness. Simultaneous multivariate regressions revealed that (a) the experience of IPV was associated with higher levels of avoidance and revenge, and lower levels of benevolence, forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others, and forgiveness of uncontrollable situations; (b) types of IPV demonstrated differing impacts on forgiveness; and (c) the mere experience of IPV is more salient than its frequency.