Overview

Analyzing what is known about violence against women, this book centers on the contrast between the U.S.’s historic focus on a criminal legal framework and the human rights lens used globally by feminist activists. Distilling the existing evidence base and literature on violence against women in the United States, this book includes an overview of forms of violence, the prevalence of violence, contexts in which violence occurs, and debates about intervention and prevention. It engages with how human rights frameworks define violence against women as a cause and consequence of women’s inequality, and explores how race, ethnicity, class, citizenship status, and sexual orientation shape experiences of victimization, perpetration, and institutional responses. Chapters synthesize prevalence methods and data, key feminist concepts, impacts and aftermath of violence, what is known about perpetrators, the history of anti-violence activism, violence against women on college campuses and in the media, and how the criminal legal systems respond. Contested issues, such as prostitution and pornography, and the extent to which commercial sex can be understood as a form of, and/or context for, violence against women, are also explored. The book closes with a final chapter offering directions for adopting a human rights approach to ending violence against women in the United States. By offering an analysis of how violence against women has come to be named in activist, policy, and academic arenas, Violence Against Women in the US is an essential resource for students, scholars, and practitioners.

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9781032030524

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Reviews

"""In a time in which gender-based violence studies, activism and policy have become increasingly specialized, Coy’s book eloquently returns us to the core feminist principle that heterosexual-patriarchy is the foundation on which of all forms of violence against women—rape, domestic abuse, stalking, sex trafficking, and pornography—are predicated. Coy’s re-conceptualization and re-centering of the feminist frame provides a clear pathway for preventing all forms of violence against women through institutional, rather than individual transformations."" - Angela Hattery, Women & Gender Studies/Center for the Study & Prevention of Gender-Based Violence, University of Delaware ""This book offers a much needed analysis of U.S. efforts to end violence against women. As a British scientist working in the U.S., Coy brings an inspiring insider/outsider perspective to the issues and with unusual depth and perspective illuminates areas where progress has been made and where much more needs to be done. By merging a feminist perspective with an understanding of violence against women as a human rights violation, she develops clear-sighted recommendations for future work. This is a superb engagement with the topic that leaves the reader better informed and better equipped to participate in social change."" - Renate Klein, Part-Time Faculty, Instructor, University of Maine ""This book features the most comprehensive coverage of the extant social scientific literature on violence against women in the United States that I have ever read. It is destined to be one of the most valuable resources in the field, and it moves well beyond most other examinations of the topic."" - Walter S. DeKeseredy, Anna Deane Carlson Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, Director of the Research Center on Violence, and Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University"

Author Information

Maddy Coy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Florida.

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