Journal

Studies:

Campbell, L., Keegan, A., Cybulska, B., Bybee, D., & Forster, G. (2007). "Prevalence of mental health problems and deliberate self-harm in complaints of sexual violence." Journal of Forensic & Legal Medicine, 14, 75.

Ramisetty-Mikler, S., Caetano, R., & McGrath, C. (2007). "Sexual aggression among White, Black, and Hispanic couples in the U.S.: Alcohol use, physical assault, and psychological aggression as its correlates." American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 33, 31-43.

Briere, J., & Scott, C. (2006). Principles of trauma therapy: A guide to symptoms, evaluation, and treatment. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Neville, H., & Pugh, H. (1997). "General and culture-specific factors influencing Black and White rape survivors' self-esteem." Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 83-94.

Neal-Barnett, A., & Crowther, J. (2000). "To be female, middle-class, anxious, and Black." Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 129-136.

Campbell, R., Greeson, M. R., Bybee, D., & Raja, S. (2008). "The co-occurrence of childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and sexual harassment: A medicational model of posttraumatic stress disorder and physical health outcomes." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 194-207.

books: 

Fathers who Fail: Shame and psychopathology in the family system by Melvin Lansky

Bright-Sided: how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America, by Barba Ehrenreich

Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native women survivng violence

Hagrid is in turmoil, because his beloved Hippogriff, Buckbeak, has been accused of harming a young student, Draco Malfoy. What had actually happened, though, is that the calculating Draco, sensing a chance to end Hagrid's career once and for all (out of sheer spite), has exaggerated his encounter with Buckbeak, feigning all sorts of "trauma" and dramatizing his painful recovery from the experience. All of this is theatrical to convince others that Hagrid really is dangerous and out of control; in reality there has been no injury, yet Draco is certain to play the part of the wounded young victim in public.

The Ministry of Magic decides to open a hearing against Hagrid. Now, the M.O.M. is known for being an ineffectual, politicized, and generally incompetent board of wizards, always behind-the-times and failing to ascertain what's really going on--given over more to bureaucracy than accuracy. And to top it off, the M.O.M. is easily persuaded by scandal, pressure, and tabloid-style innuendo. (In fact, the Ministry has, at times, even imprisoned people it knew were innocent, simply to placate a public which is outraged by the Ministry's prior failures to capture and contain a real dark wizard)

Hagrid tearfully explains to Harry, Ron, and Hermione what had transpired at the so-called "hearing" at the Ministry. Draco's parents, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, have attended (while Draco has not, to reinforce the "I'm too wounded to attend" script). They are wealthy and powerful, and they sit through the hearing side-by-side, with smug looks on their faces. Lucius weilds his money and power for great influence, and insists that his innocent, pure, gentle, victimized, harmless little child has been harmed by the giant, oafish renegade Hagrid's carelessness. With satisfied grins of delight, Lucius and Narcissa prevail, watching the proceedings unfold. Hagrid recalls that the Ministry hd not even considered any other possibilities, and tells the children that they had decided the outcome before there had even been a word spoken--they had already brought the axe, pre-sharpened, to impose the outcome that the Malfoys had demanded. 

Draco, of course, can't wait to smirk about his "victory." Convinced he has done something remarkable and glorious, he gathers sympathetic Slytherin cronies around him--Crabbe and Goyle--to relish the outcome. It is a theme he can't wait to repeat to anyone attracted to scandal and innuendo, such as Rita Skeeter, applauding his own travail and perseverance in his effort to destroy Buckbeak and smear Hagrid. After all, Draco implies, Hagrid MUST be a vicious man because look at how wounded and injured he is (cue the groan of pain for effect)! And the Ministry of Magic agreed, so it MUST be true, right? Draco sees this as a personal exoneration of his higher status, based on family wealth and community power, and becomes even more convinced of his moral and familial superiority over all the "mudbloods" who are too stupid to see Draco's self-evident righteousness.The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures arrives at Hogwarts, axe at the ready, to dispenseof Buckbeak.

Draco, of course, is catapulted by this experience to fully become his father's child, effectively becoming "Lucius, jr."

 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubeus_Hagrid#Buckbeak

by Glen Creno - Oct. 22, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The deaths of three people after a sweat-lodge ceremony near Sedona are bringing new attention to complaints that sacred Native American ceremonies are being commercialized and demeaned by the spiritual-growth movement. As details emerge of what happened in the sweat lodge, Native Americans are criticizing everything from the number of people who were in the tentlike structure to the fact that people paid to be there.

"If you ask just about any Native American out there, they will be appalled by this," said Freddie Johnson, language and culture specialist at the Phoenix Indian Center. "It's disturbing to hear that there were three deaths from this so-called sweat lodge."

About 60 people were crowded into a makeshift sweat lodge in the incident earlier this month, authorities said, as part of a spiritual retreat led by self-improvement guru James Arthur Ray. Participants paid $9,000 or more for the series of exercises and seminars.

Johnson said no more than a dozen people, and probably many fewer, should be in a single sweat-lodge ceremony because the experience is supposed to encourage personal interaction.

He said the notion of charging for the experience would be similar to charging admission to a church. He said a donation of something like tobacco would be appropriate if made afterward.The sweat lodge traditionally is a purification rite, in which hot stones inside a tent create heat and steam. It is intended to purify the body through sweating, as well as induce a spiritual experience.

The tradition is thousands of years old, with the earliest sweat lodges used by small groups of native people before embarking on a hunt or going to war, said Vernon Foster, an Arizona representative of the American Indian Movement. "It was a very private ceremony that took place, and usually it was one of our monks, and maybe four or five of the warriors," he said. "Going into the lodge allowed us not only to be intuitive thinkers but to make contact with the intuitive world, to communicate with unseen things."

Lodges are typically constructed with willow saplings and use lava stones heated in a fire.

The ceremony might be conducted by several leaders, with the largest structures providing room for 12 to 15 people, Foster said. The traditional sweat lodge is supposed to be round and emulate "Mother Earth," Foster said. "It's not supposed to look like a stadium," he added, in a reference to the size of structure used in the fatal event.

About 20 people were taken to area hospitals after Ray's Oct. 8 event. Paramedics sent to the Angel Valley Retreat Center found people sprawled on the ground. Investigators have not yet said what caused them to collapse.

The people in the sweat lodge had fasted for more than a day before the event. On the day of the event, they had breakfast and were told to drink lots of water before going into the dark, low, 415-square-foot enclosure in midafternoon, where they spent more than two hours. Ray's group leased the rustic resort between Sedona and Cornville.

Ray's spokesman declined to comment on the criticism by Native Americans.

Investigators have said that a local group was hired to erect the sweat lodge, which was covered with blankets and tarps. [Hired?! You don't out-source this; we build our own sweat lodges. If we intend to use it, WE build it. Building it is part of the ceremony!]

The sweat lodge was constructed in 2008, according to Amayra Hamilton

The incident near Sedona unfairly calls legitimate sweat-lodge ceremonies into question, said Rick Black Elk, head of the eastern Texas chapter of the American Indian Movement.

He agreed with Johnson that probably fewer than 10 people should be in the ceremony at once. Also, the traditional ceremony calls for breaks outside the lodge, where participants can cool off and drink water, Johnson said. Black Elk said people who feel ill are encouraged to lie down and get fresh air. "That's BS that you have to sit in there for two hours and take it," he said. Foster said ceremonies were typically designed to last 60 to 90 minutes. "It's not something that was prolonged," he said. "You go in and you sang your songs and you said your words and you finished up. You didn't add to that. Sometimes at our ceremonies, we go in for what we call a wipe down. We go in and sweat and sing a song and you're finished."

Black Elk said Native Americans have become distressed by people who pretend to be shamans, or medicine men. "They wear a little turquoise and call themselves Indians," he said. "They're wannabes."

Sedona's economy is tourism-based, and it has a significant component of New Age spiritualism, built in part on beliefs by some that its stunning rock formations contain special geomagnetic power. The town has numerous self-proclaimed "healers" and people who offer, for a price, their own methods for spiritual achievement.