Customer Reviews

Rocking the Cradle of Sexual Politics Pb

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Rocking the Cradle of Sexual Politics is the best social analysis of incest and child sexual abuse that I have ever read. The first woman to publicly acknowledge her status as a survivor in the USA (on the Phil Donahue show), Louise now looks back to see how far we have come since then: from the shocked response of the television audience to a growing profit-making industry in "healing" the survivor. The politics, says Louise, has fallen by the wayside. Exploiting the nightmare that is incest by claiming to "heal" the wounds, we seem to be forgetting that there is a problem out there, a major one, one that keeps all of our children at risk, one that is growing larger every day. The more we deny the validity of incest, the more we condone the status quo of a society that nourishes and thrives on the vulnerability of children and the naivete of those charged with their care and protection. The State is not the answer...in more instances than not, it is part of the problem. It is only, however, by acknowledging that there *is* a problem that a workable solution can be found. This solution will not be simple, easy, or quick...and it will expose powerful people who do not want to be exposed, people who benefit from the power and control of exploiting those who are vulnerable and powerless. That is the politics of the situation: the politics of power. Children are only powerless as long as we continue to focus on our "careers" as 'healers' rather than in our ability to empower them as advocates. Louise Armstrong strongly suggests we have lost our focus. As one survivor who has met hundreds of others in my own healing journey, I strongly agree.

The author of this book, Louise Armstrong, is a woman of courage and unafraid of speaking her mind, despite the very delicate subject on child sexual abuse. In her book, she portrays child sexual abuse as being a problem that the male dominated society manipulates and maintains with almost every means available. The view that through time, women have been held responsible for the sexual abnormalities of a certain percentage of the male sex, is strongly stressed throughout the book. Mothers are encouraged to act, when their children disclose sexual abuse by their fathers and when they indeed act, the legal system reacts by holding the mothers responsible for the abuse, not the criminal fathers, based on the courts' findings they have not been able to "prevent" their husbands from sexually abusing their children: "And so the mother sued the doctors and laywers who did nothing to help. She said that "even when a medical examination found evidence of sexual abuse after a weekend visit with the father in February 1981, her complaints were ignored, and she was subsequently found in contempt of court because she refused to allow the father to visit the child". Either she would allow the father to take the child for a weekend visit or she would go to jail" (p.121)! We are caught in a learned helplessness situation and Louise Armstrong inspires us to do something about it, not to give up the fight! One of the most inspiring books I will ever read!

This is an excellent look back at where incest has been and its legal and social status in the US now. It is an unsettling looking at how incest has been allowed in our society by the legal system past and present, but also a look at how our society focuses on the `victim/survivor' not on the perpetrator.

The conclusion Armstrong makes is one most men do not like: men have the power over women and misuse it.

I am reading the book, I feel the anger, the frustration of being part of a society that still denies the existence of incest while blaming mothers for it. I am starting to understand better the system in which incest can exist and be perpetuated, I can see how the system works where a child can be put in foster care while her/his abuser stays safe in his home. Didn't men prefer when we,women used to shut the fuck up and let ourselves be raped and enslaved for years ? Now that we dare to say something, it's still our fault, for being not good enough mothers, for being consenting daughters or complicit mothers. Judges reflect the vicious societal backlash and even call us liars to our face. Quote: "Among the hundreds of women I would follow over the years, each of them, with two or three exceptions, lost custody, and not infrequently, all visitation rights, most often to the alleged abuser." Not even talking about those mothers that were sent to jail for "overstimulating, confusing and traumatizing the child, etc..." Not even talking about the "[increasing number] battered women and their children that are murdered after they leave the relentlessly assaultive marriage". Men show the little interest they have in children only to fuck them and/or to use them as weapons to hurt women. That is possibly one the many conclusions to this book but, I am only half way through it, so...! This book constitutes an education, an eye-opener for those that want to understand better the dialectics of incest and the "sexual politics" around it. It belongs to the few books written on the subject. I highly recommend it!

Though an outstanding, scathing, commentary on the decline of real , political change affected by feminism in regards to incest and less specifically, child molestation in general, this book loses its powerful and meaningful perspective by miring down in hyper-feminist rhetoric and premises that are not in touch with reality.

The author would have the reader believe there is absolutely no such thing as a female child molester and that every single accusation of incest or molestation against a male is founded. She goes on to say evidence to the contrary is simply a male-centered ploy to try to throw the scrutiny elsewhere.

Such diverse characters throughout history as Maimonides and Ronald Reagan are blamed for perpetuation sexism and either ignoring or promoting incest, father-daughter only, of course. No other kind exists.

Accurate in its account of how the feel good, self help, movements of the late 1980's and early 90's and the Morning TV attitude toward personal problems and crises have all but destroyed the real, political force of the war against incest, the one-sided, almost childish stance the author takes to prove what is obvious.

I agree wholeheartedly with the author that the era of Oprah and victims are victims forever, offenders are victims, too and, let's all discuss it over and over again on TV has trivialized the bane of incest and turned treatment and recovery into something of a dark joke. But I will not accept there is no such thing as a false accusation of incest, motivated either out of malice or confusion, nor will accept there are no female offenders throughout history or currently.

When reading this book, ignore the propaganda and heated rhetoric. Deduce what needs to be done to restore America's abhorrence of incest and the damage it does to our society, in that regard, it's right on the mark. Ms. Armstrong is still a very angry victim and I think the avenger's spotlight of this national shame having been shined away from her for many years has angered her even more.

This feminst author does more to harm than good to protect the best interests of America's children. She does not have a degree in psychology or medicine. She continues to claim that father/daughter incest is rampant throughout America. Yet, she backs it up with no data whatsover. She refuses to accept that the the reality is that some women will falsy accuse their child's dad of abuse solely to get custody. She believes women should be believed without qualification soley based on their gender. This book is a DO NOT READ or RECOMMEND and is more propoganda to eliminate fathers and dads then anything else.