Theoretically informed yet entirely accessible style, this book provides a novel critical approach to questions of sex and violence in contemporary Western society.
"How hard it is to express genuine intellectual excitement and a true appreciation of scholarship in a short commendation on the back cover of a book! Everyone assumes it must only be conventional hyperbole. Brushing that aside I insist that this is a most important feminist tour de force; Howe resituates feminist ways of knowing into the core of the criminological enterprise. Her critical perspective illuminates and inspires. This is a passionate book about an important subject and it will take its rightful place in the canon." - Carol Smart, University of Manchester, UK
"Foucault (in this book's subtitle) and Gramsci (who figures importantly in the content) are certainly familiar in political theory these days, and I recommend Howe's book very highly for her nuanced and perceptive discussions of both...Power/knowledge and hegemony are carefully and critically explicated here, and any student in social theory would benefit from the very focused engagement that Howe offers throughout." - Terrell Carver, University of Bristol, UK
"The author addresses the invisibility of the gendered nature of crimes against women in the fields of both criminology and Foucauldian perspectives, and does this convincingly and brilliantly. A must read for feminists and gender scholars, as well as for criminologists, especially those who study and teach about gendered violence. Also appropriate for professionals/practitioners, especially the book's second half, which is less theoretical and more practically oriented." - A. J. Hattery, Wake Forest University, Choice, 2009"Howe's narrative is warm, witty, and selfrevealing... Howe picks away at modern culture (I love her analysis of Cosmopolitan and other popular women's magazines), making the theoretical connections between media representations and violence against women" - Cheryl Hanna, Vermont Law School, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Summer 2010
"This is a critical, passionate, and committed book that takes issue with the invisibility-or as the author would prefer 'erasure' of men-from criminological and public policy discourse in relation to sexual violence."-Men and Masculinities