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This groundbreaking text interrogates the constructed boundary between therapy and violence, by examining therapeutic practice and discourse through the lens of a psychologist and a survivor of sexual abuse. It asks, what happens when those we approach for help cause further harm? Can we identify coercive practices and stop sexual abuse in psychology, psychiatry, and medicine? Tosh explores these questions and more to illustrate that many of the therapies considered fundamental to clinical practice are deeply problematic when issues of consent and sexual abuse are considered.​

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What is a therapeutic rape culture?

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Perverse Psychology examines psychiatric constructions of sexual violence and transgender identities from the 19th century until the latest DSM-5 diagnoses. It uses discourse analysis to interrogate the discursive boundaries between 'normal' and 'abnormal' rape, as well as the pathologization of gender and sexual diversity. The book illuminates for the first time the parallels between psychiatry's construction of gender diversity and sexual violence, and leads us to question whether it is the violence that the profession finds so intriguing, or the gender nonconformity it represents.

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* Shortlisted for the British Psychological Society 2016 Book Awards

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Is psychology perverse?

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Trauma has become such a ubiquitous and totalizing concept that it is rarely interrogated in mainstream psychological spaces, or by those who take up their concepts from the mainstream psy disciplines. Subsequently, popular conceptualizations of trauma have been colonized by the assumptions and values of mainstream psychological theories, many of which have been critiqued extensively by critical and feminist psychologists. In this book, Thompson applies critical and feminist psychological perspectives to mainstream psychological conceptualizations of trauma to argue that trauma can be defined as institutional in at least two key ways: Through its construction and position as an object of institutional knowledge (and knowledge production), and through its experiential (re)production with/in institutional power relationships. To outline these definitions, Thompson traces dominant theoretical genealogies of trauma and their implications for understandings of trauma, and invite an epistemic loosening in favor of localized, situated knowledge(s) of trauma.

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Understanding Institutional Trauma

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Invited chapter for the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Critical Mental Health.

In this chapter Tosh describes their experiences as a queer and genderfluid survivor growing up in Northern Ireland, and how those experiences influenced their career as a psychologist who specialises in sexual abuse and violence. Tosh outlines the complex intersections of gender, sexuality, race, place, and historical context and shows why these intersections should be central to therapeutic approaches that aim to help survivors heal from sexual trauma. The chapter also has a discussion section where the authors talk about abuse, psychology, intersectionality, and more.

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ICYMI - A Summary of the Live Book Launch for #MeToo

Being a Queer and Nonbinary Survivor in Psychology

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There is a long and complex history regarding clinical counselling and forensic psychology's roles in defining sexual 'abnormality'. From 19th century studies of 'perversion' to current understandings of 'paraphilic disorders', there has been a wealth of debate, disagreement, and controversy. This chapter outlines several key diagnoses in the field, describing their history and criticisms from the inside and outside of the profession. It encourages critical reflexivity on the context and ethics of categorising diverse sexualities as 'abnormal'. The chapter includes examples of pathologised sexualities in relation to sexual orientation, gender expression, and sexual consent.

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Sexual Violence is an ever-increasing feature of online culture, with rape the central aim of 'stalking simulators' as well as the infamous violence directed towards avatar sex workers in the Grand Theft Auto franchise (Martinez & Manolovitz, 2010). This is in addition to the word 'rape' being commandeered and redefined by online gaming communities to refer to murder, humiliation, and destruction (Hernandez, 2012) while simultaneously being ridiculed in online rape jokes (Kramer, 2011). Using discourse analysis (Parker, 1992; 2003), this chapter examines discussions from online forums about the use of the word rape to refer to instances of sexual violence in online spaces.

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Check out the Virtual Violence Research Centre

In this chapter we analyse two case studies of bullying in United Kingdom (UK) universities, one involving a student of social work and another a faculty member in a psychology department. The initial disjuncture in one case study occurred when a victim of bullying was labelled as 'mentally ill', and the second was when someone was bullied because of a label of 'mental illness'. These two similar but opposing disjunctures offer an opportunity for comparative analysis. This includes an investigation of the process and discourses at play within the broader context of UK higher education and constructions of bullying and emotional distress.

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Public discussions about trauma are circulating exponentially in the wake of global movements against structural violence, and efforts to mainstream 'trauma-informed' approaches in mental health, human services, and organisational contexts. Within these discussions, the term 'institutional trauma' is increasingly being deployed to make sense of structural violence and its impacts. However, such discussions typically reproduce highly individualistic understandings of trauma. Recent feminist advances in trauma theory articulate trauma as a distinctly socio-political form of distress (Tseris, 2015, 2018, 2019), and critical feminist psychological work argues that gender and other institutions play a substantial roles in defining and mediating experiences of trauma (Segalo, 2015). However, the role of institutions in the (re)production of trauma remains under-theorised in the psychological literature.

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Understanding Institutional Trauma

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Psychiatry's problematic framing of femininity, women's bodies, and sexuality has attracted much condemnation (Caplan & Cosgrove, 2004; Frith, 2013; Ussher, 2011). The intersection of sanism and sexism is particularly overt in the psy-complex's (Rose, 1979) response to violence. While psychiatry acknowledges that many of those diagnosed with 'female sexual dysfunction' have experienced sexual abuse, addressing the problems of violence against women is starkly absent within psychiatric discourse. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) combined 'vaginismus' and 'dyspareunia' to produce a new diagnostic classification: 'genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder'. Using discourse analysis and critical intersectional analysis, this paper analyses psychiatric discourse to illuminate the violence inherent in procedures and treatments that perpetuate sanism and (heterosexual) sexism.

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Read Intersectionalities Article.

While it has been acknowledged that the language used to describe natural resource extraction is highly gendered (Russell, 2013), the relationship between gender and natural resource extraction is under-researched, 'undiscussed and silenced' (Laplonge, 2013, p. 2). Similarly, there are increasing reports that the introduction of extraction industries results in an increase in sexualised violence in workers' camps and host communities proximal to intensive industrial activity (Hotaling, 2013; James & Smith, 2014; Minor, 2014). In this brief commentary, we reflect on the relationship between gender, the environment, and violence, in particular in relation to psychological, social, and ecological impacts of intensive natural resource extraction.

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Read Psychology of Women and Equalities Review Article.

In 2009 a US-based television programme, The View, discussed the arrest of film director Roman Polanski. Polanski was wanted for six outstanding charges related to the rape of Samantha Gailey in 1977. During this episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg made a controversial statement that Polanski was not guilty of 'rape-rape'. This statement, along with the long history of Polanski's avoidance of incarceration, illustrates the ongoing challenges for feminists to confront the trivialisation of sexual coercion and violence. Goldberg's comments initiated an enthusiastic response on online forums and reinvigorated debates around definitions of rape. In this paper, I analyse online discussions on a feminist blog using discourse analysis and the importance of considering the interrelated concepts of consent/non-consent, pleasure/distress, and power in understanding the complexity and diversity of experiences of sexual violence. 

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* Winner of the Research Institute for Health and Social Change Poster Prize

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Read the Psychology of Women and Equalities Review Article

Theories regarding gender violence have moved beyond a simple dichotomy, where women are positioned as victims and men are perpetrators. This complexity is through a nuanced analysis of privilege, power, and oppression, drawing on intersectionality theory, as well as problematising the gender binary itself.

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Read the Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies Article

The experience of Irish Diaspora in England has been well documented, such as humiliation, discrimination, and higher rates of suicide and psychiatric intervention (Hickman, 2000). However, the construction of the Irish in relation to rape has rarely been considered, this is despite the longstanding history of the term being used as a metaphor in the context of colonisation (Sharkey, 1994). This paper examines intersecting discourses around anti-Irish racism and sexual violence through a genealogical tracing of the concept of rape in relation to men, women, and the discursive category of 'the Irish'. This historically situated discourse analysis (Parker, 2003, 2014), included contemporary material from microblogs (Java et al. 2007). It reveals the construction of 'the Irish' as passive recipients of sexual conquest (whether consensual or coercive) that implies sexual availability.

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Psychiatric diagnoses related to transgenderism span a wide range of terms, theories, and treatments. Similarly, intersexuality is coming increasingly under the psychiatric gaze, being incorporated into the 'gender dysphoria' criteria as with or without a 'disorder of sex development'. Despite the diagnostic link between these two groups, histories of childhood sexual abuse within psychiatric theorising are particularly visible within 'gender dysphoria' but markedly invisible within medical discourse on 'disorders of sex development'. While sexual abuse has been problematically argued by psychiatry to play a role in the development of gender dysphoria, the potentially abusive touching of intersex children's bodies in distressing or painful ways is legitimised and standardised. Thus pathological accounts of transgenderism and intersexuality are given prominence, whereas non-consensual touching is marginalised. 

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In 2010 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) proposed revisions for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders (DSM-5). These revisions included criteria for 'Paraphilia Coercive Disorder' (PCD), which state that the individual '...has sought sexual stimulation from forcing sex on three or more non-consenting persons on separate occasions' (APA, 2010a). This proposed revision represents current attempts by psychiatry to medicalise 'sadistic' rape and normalise what the APA calls 'opportunistic' rape (APA, 2010b). This paper uses discourse analysis (Parker, 1992) to critically interrogate the construction of rape as a mental disorder using online texts. 

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* Winner of the Psychology of Women and Equalities Postgraduate Prize

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Read Psychology of Women and Equalities Review Article

Continuing a decades-long history of the intersections of digital technology and relationships, the recent explosion of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) includes new developments of existing forms of cybersex and online dating. The introduction of ‘digital girlfriends’ that combines AI generated video and graphics based on user prompts with AI generated conversation geared around selected personality traits parallels cybersexual-robotics, that rather than technology that aims to bring (human) people together (e.g. dating apps), these AI apps pair a human with a user- constructed digital ‘being’. In this paper I discuss how this latest development fits into a complex history of gender, sexuality, and technology, as well as what possibilities it poses for relationships and a critical cyberpsychology. I analyse advertisements for ‘digital girlfriends’ using discourse analysis (Parker, 2022) and discuss the implications of encouraging sexual engagement with computer-generated ‘people’ that are predominantly based on harmful dominant discourses around gender, race, and sex, and how this relates to discourses and structures of sexual consent and violence.​

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To Cite:

Tosh, J. (2024). Falling in Love with AI: A Critical Discursive Analysis of Advertisements for Artificially Intelligent 'Digital Girlfriends'. Critical and Creative Qualitative (Un)Conference.

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Despite being one of the most commercially popular forms of metal music, nu-metal has lacked much academic attention, even within the discipline of metal studies. There are debates around whether or not nu-metal is actually considered metal at all, and what bands could be included in the genre title, but less consideration regarding the content of the music and the discourses it produces and promotes. What makes nu-metal, and KoRn in particular, a rich material for analysis from a psychological standpoint is the foregrounding of emotional vulnerability and surviving abuse. While violence is a popular topic in metal more generally, the nuance of the different ways that violence is constructed in metal is lacking in a culture that can be quick to ’blame the music’ and conflates anger as a trauma response with violence directed at others, and fantasy (i.e. not really happening) with the futural (i.e. yet to happen). In this paper I analyse the lyrics and album covers of the band KoRn due to their groundbreaking inclusion of the lead singer’s traumatic experience of childhood sexual abuse in their work since their debut. I use discourse analysis (Parker, 2022) to examine the constructions of sexual abuse, perpetrators, and victims/survivors in the text. This includes an interrogation of the boundaries between consensual kink and nonconsensual sexual violence, and fantasized revenge with the reality of trauma and abuse.​

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To Cite:

Tosh, J. (2024). The Nuance of Violence in Nu-Metal: Constructions of Surviving and Sexual Abuse in KoRn's Discography. Critical and Creative Qualitative (Un)Conference.

The most popular newspaper in Britain is The Sun (Matheson & Babb, 2002; National Readership Survey for October 2007 - September 2008). It is well known for its sensationalised approach to reporting, but due to the stories being classed as 'news' the fundamental details may often be assumed to be true/accurate (Alexander, 1999). However, the media is known for its misrepresentation of reality, such as over representing stranger rapes of White middle-class victims (Korn and Efrat, 2004; Ardovini-Brooker & Caringella-MacDonald, 2002). Therefore, even apparent accuracies can paint a very distorted picture. 

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* Winner of the Qualitative Methods in Psychology Poster Prize

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Read Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin Article