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A carregar... Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregationpor Estelle B. Freedman
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Rape has never had a universally accepted definition, and the uproar over "legitimate rape" during the 2012 U.S. elections confirms that it remains a word in flux. Redefining Rape tells the story of the forces that have shaped the meaning of sexual violence in the United States, through the experiences of accusers, assailants, and advocates for change. In this ambitious new history, Estelle Freedman demonstrates that our definition of rape has depended heavily on dynamics of political power and social privilege. The long-dominant view of rape in America envisioned a brutal attack on a chaste white woman by a male stranger, usually an African American. From the early nineteenth century, advocates for women's rights and racial justice challenged this narrow definition and the sexual and political power of white men that it sustained. Between the 1870s and the 1930s, at the height of racial segregation and lynching, and amid the campaign for woman suffrage, women's rights supporters and African American activists tried to expand understandings of rape in order to gain legal protection from coercive sexual relations, assaults by white men on black women, street harassment, and the sexual abuse of children. By redefining rape, they sought to redraw the very boundaries of citizenship. Freedman narrates the victories, defeats, and limitations of these and other reform efforts. The modern civil rights and feminist movements, she points out, continue to grapple with both the insights and the dilemmas of these first campaigns to redefine rape in American law and culture. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Those interested in women's history and African American history will find this book as a great contribution to the politics of women's bodies. Social class and race were crucial aspects in determining whether a women's account of rape was believable, and often middle- and upper-middle class white men got off the hook by pointing out their accusers' prior sexual history (an issues that has not gone away). Those interested in women's history will also be interested in the chapter titled "Smashing the Masher," where she documents white and black women efforts to take on men who harassed them in the street. Reflective of modern-day defense class, some women advocated for women police officers, and some women took boxing lessons to defend themselves. This demonstrated women's rejection of male protection and embracement of self-reliance.
Regarding the book weaknesses: she does not discuss Latino and Asian women. Mexican women are mentioned, but not as a political force. The Mexican-American civil rights movement has its origins in the 1920s, and it makes the reader wonder if Mexican women were viewed as sexually available, and if so, did they resist. As for Asian women, since one-third of Chinese women immigrants were prostitutes, it does beg the question of what type of organizing, if any exist, emerged to challenge the position of Chinese women. Although rape is a broad topic, and I did not expect the author to cover every form of rape, I did wonder what type of activism or concerns did people have regarding the emergence of women colleges. They appeared in the late 1800s, and girls on their own and away from their parents' supervision probably cause some social anxiety. Other than those two issues, the author accomplishes her goal by showing that the current culture war over the meaning of rape is a reoccurring theme in society. And as she states in the end, our struggle to define rape will continue so long as inequalities in race and gender continue to characterize American society. In our current times, this book is well needed.