The-F-Word.org

I received an email request from Brittan Davis, a psychology major at Baldwin-Wallace College, who is doing year-long independent study under the advisement of Debora Esty, Ph.D., for reader assistance to aid in her research. Readers of First, Do No Harm might remember Dr. Esty as the same doctor who posted a survey for on weight-based discrimination in health care.

Here’s how Brittan characterizes her focus:

My Independent Study is on acquaintance rape and how it correlates with purging behaviors, with feminist identity development as a moderator. Specifically, I want to focus on women who have been raped and see if they have purging behaviors. I then want to see if women in the latter stages of feminist identity are more or less likely to purge.

Therefore, this research is important to the larger body on how women who are raped may cope, because it would look at purging as a mechanism for coping with rape. In addition, this research could be helpful by looking to see if building a stronger feminist identity could be a way to lessen purging behaviors for some women who have been raped.

If the scope of the survey is applicable to you and you want to help, the survey can be found here.

For more info, contact Brittan at bldavis (at) bw.edu.