Dangerous Exits: Escaping Abusive Relationships in Rural America (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) [Hardcover]

Walter DeKeseredy (Author), Prof. Martin Schwartz (Author), Joseph Donnermeyer (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813545188 | ISBN-13: 978-0813545189 | Publication Date: June 15, 2009

Strikingly, scant attention has focused on the victimization of women who want to leave their hostile partners. Dangerous Exits, a groundbreaking work challenges the perception that rural communities are safe havens from the brutality of urban living. Identifying hidden crimes of economic blackmail and psychological mistreatment, and the complex relationship between patriarchy and abuse, Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz propose concrete and effective solutions, giving voice to women who have often suffered in silence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book deserves a special place among the panoply of new scholarship on rural crime. Innovative and multi-dimensional, Dangerous Exits sounds a powerful call for action and policy change."

(from the foreword by Joseph F. Donnermeyer 20090204)

"Dangerous Exits is a critically important book that details the often invisible terror that many rural women face in their own homes. This book makes a valuable contribution to the field of Violence Against Women by addressing three areas we know far too little about—intimate partner sexual violence, the experiences of rural women, and separation/divorce violence. Dangerous Exits is destined to be a classic—it should be found on the bookshelves of all of us who study violence against women."

(Raquel Bergen author of Wife Rape 20990101)

"Bravo to DeKeseredy and Schwartz for addressing the important but neglected topic of abused women and rural culture. The authors offer compelling policy suggestions for effective prevention and increasing personal and collective efficacy."

(Susan L. Miller University of Delaware )

"Dangerous Exits is a new qualitative study examining the physical, psychological, and sexual violence experienced by rural women in the process of leaving their intimate partners. The book consistently takes its cues from the voices of real rural women, and its grounding in the principles of participatory feminist research is nothing short of exemplary."

(African American Review )

From the Inside Flap

Strikingly, scant attention has focused on the victimization of women who want to leave their hostile partners. Dangerous Exits, a groundbreaking work challenges the perception that rural communities are safe havens from the brutality of urban living. Identifying hidden crimes of economic blackmail and psychological mistreatment, and the complex relationship between patriarchy and abuse, Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz propose concrete and effective solutions, giving voice to women who have often suffered in silence. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (June 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813545188
• ISBN-13: 978-0813545189
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,628,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Walter S. DeKeseredy is Professor of Criminology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). He has published 16 books and over 100 scientific journal articles and book chapters on. In 2008, the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma gave him the Linda Saltzman Memorial Intimate Partner Violence Researcher Award. He also jointly received the 2004 Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology's (ASC) Division on Women and Crime and the 2007 inaugural UOIT Research Excellence Award. In 1995, he received the Critical Criminologist of the Year Award from the ASC's Division on Critical Criminology (DCC) and in 2008 the DCC gave him the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Rural Violence Against Women and Leaving, April 11, 2011

By 

Jesse - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dangerous Exits: Escaping Abusive Relationships in Rural America (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) (Paperback)

Excellent book for any sociologist/criminologist interested in issues regarding rural violence against women. DeKeseredy and Schwartz do an excellent job explaining how leaving a violent relationship often presents the highest level of risk regarding lethality. Thus, a discourse aimed at "just leaving" is problematic and simplistic. The authors elaborate on various dynamics regarding exiting relationships that present some of the highest levels of risk for death. Rich, qualitative descriptions throughout the book provide excellent depth to understanding the dynamics involved with rural woman battering. This is different from Websdale's (1998) Rural Women Battering and the Justice System: An Ethnography (SAGE Series on Violence against Women)work on this topic because Dangerous Exits puts the focus primarily on leaving whereas Websdale focuses more on the patriarchal context of rural areas that contributes to violence against rural woman. Both books compliment each other quite well.
The end of the book provides excellent policy proposals moving forward and although they are not fully elaborated it is not the intention of the book to propose full policy initiatives. They are merely starting points for forming legislation on these important issues. The best part of the book to me is where DeKeseredy and Schwartz discuss the role all men play in combating violence against women and they discuss the three typologies of men: violent men, well-meaning men, and pro-feminist men. The first two do nothing to end the ongoing domination, subordination, and violence towards women whereas pro-feminist men engage in agency aimed at challenging patriarchal practices and institutions.