Amazon.com: Violence and Gender: An Interdisciplinary Reader (9780131116313): Paula Ruth Gilbert, Kimberly K. Eby: Books

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0131116312 | ISBN-13: 978-0131116313 | Edition: 1

Using different disciplinary approaches, this collection of thoughtful and timely selections focuses on integrating issues related to violence and gender. Violence and Gender enables readers to learn about these complex issues so they can work to lessen the occurrence of violence in their personal and professional lives. The introductory section presents a number of theories of violence that ground readers in different theories and reasons for violent behavior. The subsequent sections deal with the topics of gender, youth violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, violence and sports, and media representation of violence. Because of its comprehensive coverage of many issues, this book can serve as an excellent resource for sociologists, criminologists, justice administrators, psychologists, therapists, and those involved in social work.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; }

Using different disciplinary approaches, this collection of thoughtful and timely selections focuses on integrating issues related to violence and gender. Violence and Gender enables readers to learn about these complex issues so they can work to lessen the occurrence of violence in their personal and professional lives. The introductory section presents a number of theories of violence that ground readers in different theories and reasons for violent behavior. The subsequent sections deal with the topics of gender, youth violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, violence and sports, and media representation of violence. Because of its comprehensive coverage of many issues, this book can serve as an excellent resource for sociologists, criminologists, justice administrators, psychologists, therapists, and those involved in social work.

Frequently Bought Together

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Using different disciplinary approaches, this collection of thoughtful and timely selections focuses on integrating issues related to violence and gender. Violence and Gender enables readers to learn about these complex issues so they can work to lessen the occurrence of violence in their personal and professional lives. The introductory section presents a number of theories of violence that ground readers in different theories and reasons for violent behavior. The subsequent sections deal with the topics of gender, youth violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, violence and sports, and media representation of violence. Because of its comprehensive coverage of many issues, this book can serve as an excellent resource for sociologists, criminologists, justice administrators, psychologists, therapists, and those involved in social work.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When we first conceptualized this book in 1996 we wanted to create a text that would speak to the many forms of violence occurring both domestically and globally. Moreover, we believed, and continue to believe, that much public and academic discourse still largely ignores the interrelationships between the different manifestations of violence and the construct of gender. Since the social construction of our gender greatly informs how we act, how we react, and how we function in our world, it seems crucial that we begin an inquiry into how our notions of gender influence the perpetration and experience of violence.

It quickly became apparent that we had to limit our focus to the United States for two reasons: addressing issues of worldwide violence and gender demands in-depth analysis that is beyond the scope of a single volume; equally importantly—and unfortunately—given the amount of violence in the United States, we certainly have more than enough material for investigation with this defined focus. Ironically enough, since September 11, 2001, Americans have become increasingly aware of and concerned about worldwide violence in forms such as terrorism, suicide bombers, the treatment of women in Afghanistan, and biological and chemical warfare. Despite this important change in the knowledge level and subsequent outlook of many Americans, we continue to believe that the violence many Americans experience "at home"—in our homes and schools, at our work, and on our streets—especially as it relates to the construction of gender, needs to be at the forefront of our national dialogues and debated in our classrooms.

Like many others, our interest in issues of violence and gender grows out of personal concerns. Children, who are often the victims and perpetrators of violence, are being born and raised in a society that abhors and yet remains fascinated with violence. A minority of men, who demonstrate their manhood in hostile ways, create a general fear of men in our culture. As a result, women often need to be afraid of the men whom they meet and with whom they develop intimate relationships. Children and adults of "other" religions, ethnicities, races, sexual preferences, and cultures are being subjected to the intolerance of the dominant culture. In addition, our national conversations about violence are often driven by individual incidents that are highly publicized in the media. Once these examples fade from the media and our attention, however, it is all too easy to move on with our lives and leave these issues behind. Clearly, we need thoughtful, sustained dialogues about the causes of violence, in conjunction with examinations of their relationships to gender.

As educators, we believe that the most effective way to promote this dialogue is to facilitate life-long learning for people of all ages. All of us need to develop informed opinions in order to understand the range of reasons why violence occurs, analyze the possible causes and effects of violence on others, form our own opinions about how to prevent such violent incidents, respect the opinions of others, and work toward solutions that better our lives. We believe that intolerance of the "Other" is usually caused by a lack of knowledge and understanding, by an unawareness of a different point of view. Education remains a critically important and effective way to minimize that ignorance and to begin the journey toward mutual tolerance.

The book that we have compiled is the outgrowth of an eight-credit interdisciplinary course on violence and gender that has been taught several times. The selected readings here present a number of perspectives on issues of violence and gender: from psychology; criminology; journalism; biology; sociology; history; law; cultural studies. This collection includes selections that utilize different disciplinary methods, including scholarly analyses, case studies, and research reports. Taken together, the texts can help us understand the phenomenon of violence and its links to gender.

The selections included in the book can also be used in conjunction with primary texts that focus more on the representation of violence and gender as seen through the multiple lenses of artists: novels, poems, feature films, and documentaries. We have found that it is often the case that people can better discuss and relate to controversial and sensitive issues through an interpretation of a film, an analysis of a novelistic character, or the powerful visual images in a poem. Throughout this book, therefore, we have inserted a number of poems as examples of yet another way to approach and to understand issues of violence and gender. As for other artistic representations, we have included after our Preface a list of the documentaries, feature films, and novels we have used for each section. These are only suggestions, of course, since there are so many possibilities that relate to the issues under consideration.

Violence and Gender: An Interdisciplinary Reader is divided into seven broad sections. In order to clarify the intellectual framework of this book, we have provided section introductions that elucidate how readings within each section link to each other, how various theories of violence and gender can be applied across the issues presented, and how one topic moves into another. These introductions also serve as a point of departure for thinking about both individual readings and broader issues, as they ask questions and raise points for discussion and reflection.

The first two sections of the book set up the important groundwork for better understanding and contextualizing the remainder of the material. Section I, "Conceptualizing Violence," introduces an array of disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship, ranging from history to biology, policy studies, public health, medicine, and psychology. Since each of these fields has contributed to and continues to contribute to our evolving understanding of the causes of violence and violent behavior, we have included a representative sampling of some of the most prominent ideas. While not exhaustive, we expect that you will come away with a significantly greater awareness of and appreciation for the complexity of understanding violence.

After examining different theoretical perspectives, we ask you to consider the "Social Construction of Masculinities, Femininities, and the 'Other,'" the topic of the second section of the book. This section presents ideas about how we form and are formed by society: how gender itself is defined; how male and female narratives differ; how we have created cultural stereotypes and myths of manhood; how women continue—or more recently refuse to continue—to be shaped by traditional visions of femininity; how males and females respond differently to anger and aggression; and how fear and misunderstanding of "Others" can lead to hatred and violence. Raising awareness of both cultural gender stereotypes and prejudices against other people is a central goal of this section.

After these two fundamental sections, we move on to "Youth Violence" where we address the phenomenon of gangs—male and female—and incidents of school violence, both related to problems such as school safety, crime, and guns. Several of the readings also call attention to the tendency toward prejudice and stereotyping of certain groups of youth. Given the increased national focus on youth violence, we are hopeful that these selections will begin to help you understand and talk about these issues, hopefully leading to a safer environment for our youth today.

Section IV is devoted to the "Violation of Body Space." The readings deal with the physical and mental health effects of battering and sexual assault on women; acquaintance rape; the psychological impact of sexual assault and rape on boys and men, particularly around sexual identity issues; and childhood sexual abuse. Domestic violence, rape, and child sexual abuse are unfortunately not limited to any one class, sex, ethnicity, race, or age. Recognizing what constitutes the violation of one's body space and developing empathy for survivors are some of our goals for this section.

A section on "Violence and Sports," the fifth section of this book, may come as a surprise to some, as many of us tend to think of sports as mere play. However, after reading about the relationships among sports, the male body image, and the construction of "sporting masculinities" and their potential influence on attitudes toward gender, you should see the relevance of this inquiry. This section also illuminates issues of athletic privilege and entitlement and focuses on one particular case study involving gang rape.

Current discussions that attempt to predict why some people—men, women, and children—become violent, often point to the dangers of our media. Accordingly, Section VI examines "Media Representation of Violence." After opening with a text that proposes an interesting link between violent sports and the media, we then tackle the question of why many people are attracted to violent entertainment. A major focus of national debates and research studies has been the potentially deleterious effects on children of watching violence. Given this, we ask readers to consider whether or not we have become desensitized to violence in entertainment because it is not "real." We close this section with a study of some of the popular stereotypes of tough and violent women in the mass media and how they form and inform our views of "appropriate" gender roles for women.

Finally in Section VII, "Preventing Violence and Revisioning the Future," we tackle issues surrounding the development of needed prevention and intervention programs, the debates on gun control and censorship, a redefinition of masculinity and of the balance of power between women and men, and ideas for reducing violence and violent behavior. Incidents of personal and public violence have been and continue to be so prevalent in the United States that so...