LMU Library Staff Picks

If misogyny is a systemic problem, then in order to understand its influence on canonical works like Shakespeare's, those works must be investigated at their systems level - in other words, at the level of their dramaturgies. This landmark study arises from an eight-year practice-as-research (PaR) investigation of sexual violence and rape culture through Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Moving between analytical and critical-reflective voices, and prioritising knowledge arising from and questions generated by the author's embodied investment in this PaR work, Canonical Misogyny focuses on dramaturgy as a site of ideology and meaning-making. It seeks to address the ways in which contemporary theatre allows producers of Shakespeare to represent gendered violence in unethical and irresponsible ways. It also demonstrates how failures to make meaningful dramaturgical interventions in early modern plays result in the tacit (or even explicit) glorifying and/or trivialising of their problematic approaches to consent and agency, which intersects with questions of race, gender, sexuality and class.

Thorough yet concise, #Gender: An Introduction to Gendered Social Problems provides timely, accessible, real-world cases of gendered social issues so that students can easily see the impact gender has on their lives. The textbook opens with the definition of gender and offers students a sociological framework to build upon. Current events such as the Roe v Wade reversal, Don't Say Gay, and hormone testing for athletes provide up to date examples of gendered social issues while "Moving Forward" sections highlight the efforts that activists and everyday people are making to offer solutions for current issues. The book closes with a discussion on social change. Perfect for undergraduate students learning how gender informs their individual lives and wider societal structures.

Grey sex is saying "yes" but thinking "no." It's feeling invisible, like you're not even in the room. It's wondering afterwards, "is that really what I wanted?" or "did I just let that happen?" Many people have sexual experiences that fall into a grey area between assault and "normal" sex. Looking at heterosexuality and everyday domination, this book shows that, in doing so, we are neither simply victims nor failing to assert ourselves. We are caught in relations of gendered power that may be hard to name or that may, in a world filled with violence, not seem worth mentioning. Tempting as it is to blame individuals for grey sexual experiences, Kogl argues that we can't make sense of the power at work if we remain stuck in self-blame or point the finger at perpetrators. The personal is still political: the most intimate activities are both shaped by and shapers of unjust sexual hierarchies.  Grey Sex walks us through the shadowy places between good and bad sex. With compelling insight into power relations that shape ambiguous sexual experiences and our sense of freedom, it is a valuable read for people interested in sexual intimacy and relationships, gender-based violence, and inequality.

This book engages legal and literary texts in order to examine acquaintance crimes, such as rape, sexual harassment, stalking, and domestic abuse, and to challenge how the victim's physical or psychological "freeze response" is commonly and inaccurately mistaken for her consent. Following increased interest in the #MeToo movement and the discoveries of sexual abuse by numerous public figures, this book analyzes themes in law and literature that discredit victims and protect wrongdoers. Interpreting a present-day novel alongside legislation and written court cases, each chapter pairs a fictional text with a nonfictional counterpart. In these pairings, the themes, events, and arguments of each are carefully unpacked and compared against one another. As the cross-readings unfold, we learn that a victim does not "ask for it," and she should not arouse suspicions just because she does not fight, run away, or report the crime. Instead, and as this book demonstrates, the more common and most practical response is to become physically and mentally paralyzed by fear; the victim dissociates, shuts down, and remains stuck in the fright and captivity of abuse. This book will interest scholars and students working in, and especially at the intersection of, law, literature, gender studies, and criminology.

Memorializing Violence brings together feminist and queer reflections on the transnational lives of memorialization practices, asking what it means to grapple with loss, mourning, grief, and desires to collectively remember and commemorate-as well as urges to forget-in the face of disparate yet entangled experiences of racialized and gendered colonial, imperial, militarized, and state violence. The volume uses a transnational feminist approach to ask, How do such efforts in seemingly unconnected remembrance landscapes speak to, with, and through each other in a world order inflected by colonial, imperial, and neoliberal logics, structures, and strictures? How do these memorializing initiatives not only formulate within but move through complex transnational flows and circuits, and what transpires as they do? What does it mean to inhabit loss, mourning, resistance, and refusal through memorialization at this moment, and what's at stake in doing so? What might transnational feminist analyses of gender, race, sexuality, class, and nation have to offer in this regard?

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the role of news media and social media in the propagation and treatment of the global #MeToo movement. This comparative study uniquely spans Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China--three culturally similar yet legally and politically distinct societies--to elucidate the variations in media systems in each society and the influence these differences bear on the role and impact of news media on social movements and rape culture. The author examines how journalistic coverage of rape cases and #MeToo has shaped public discourse, contributed to cyber activism, and influenced the strategies adopted by activists in these contexts, illuminating the complexities of news production processes, the influence of cultural contexts on media narratives, and the power of social media discourse. Taking into account the journalistic constraints and challenges in reporting sexual violence, effective strategies for public engagement and action are discussed alongside the potential for platforms to serve as support networks for survivors, proffering solutions for more effective and supportive reporting of sexual violence. Offering invaluable new insights into the relationship between news media and sexual violence, this book is recommended reading for advanced students and researchers of media, gender, and social change.

Marty Goddard dreamed up a new crime-solving tool--a kit that could help rape survivors fight for justice. This thrilling investigation tells the story of the troubled, heroic woman who kicked off a feminist revolution in forensics, and then vanished into obscurity. "Astonishing . . . Marty Goddard takes her rightful place as a visionary thanks to Kennedy's relentless investigation."--Rachel Louise Snyder, author of  No Visible Bruises "The Secret History of the Rape Kit is stunning: part thriller, part feminist reclamation, part personal journey, fully a page-turner. How did we not know about Marty Goddard?"--Peggy Orenstein author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex In 1972, Martha "Marty" Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool--the rape kit--and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country. Yet even as Marty fought for women's rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work.    When journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this forgotten pioneer, she discovered that even Marty Goddard's closest friends had lost track of her. As Pagan followed a trail of clues to solve the mystery of Marty, she also delved into the problematic history of forensics in America. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles one journalist's mission to understand a crucial innovation in forensics and the woman who championed it. As Pagan Kennedy hunts for answers, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault and her own desire for justice.

This book is a comprehensive and accessible overview of sex trafficking in the United States, examining its underlying dynamics and sharing key research findings. Andrea J. Nichols examines the backgrounds and experiences of survivors, traffickers, and buyers, showing how social and structural dynamics affect trafficking in the United States. She details common risk factors for victimization, emphasizing weak social institutions and safety nets. This book's intersectional approach foregrounds the ways social oppression and marginalization contribute to heightened vulnerability, accounting for the roles of race, ethnicity, citizenship status, sexuality, gender, age, and disability. Nichols introduces readers to the theoretical and political perspectives that shape research and policy on sex trafficking, considering abolitionist, neoliberal, feminist, criminological, and sociological viewpoints. She assesses the outcomes of policies relating to commercial sex and analyzes a variety of responses to sex trafficking, including in social services, health care, and the criminal legal system, as well as activism. Nichols reflects on how service providers, activists, and everyday people can effectively advocate for and with survivors of sex trafficking and offers recommendations for practice and policy. Sex Trafficking in the United States is essential for understanding the dynamics of sex trafficking and its underlying sources. This second edition is thoroughly revised and updated, integrating the most up-to-date research.

This book uses an intersectional lens to explore the lived experiences of sexually traumatized girls in school. It provides a deep understanding of the students' experiences, viewed through the prism of their multiple identities. The author employs a qualitative phenomenological study to investigate the psychological, social, and academic impacts of such trauma. The book's core strength lies in its exploration of the intersectionality between identity and sexual trauma. It does this by examining the impacts of historical trauma, through the lens of four major historical events: transatlantic slavery, the Holocaust, World War II, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This research highlights potential mental health, social and academic outcomes prevalent in historically marginalized groups, which is then connected to a broader understanding of intersectionality and trauma. It underscores the urgent need for educators and school leaders to understand this phenomenon in order to be effective in their roles. The book also emphasizes the importance of addressing trauma in educational settings, considering the intersectionality of identity, trauma, and educational experience. The book also proposes an additional identity marker to support Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality: female sexual trauma survivor. This book is a valuable resource for scholars, educators, educational leaders, post-graduate students and policymakers. It offers research-based theoretical approaches to addressing trauma and intersectionality in educational contexts. It is a must-read for those seeking to broaden their understanding of these complex issues and their impact on educational experiences for female sexual trauma survivors.

A sweeping study of sexual assault trials in the Jim Crow South, detailing the racial and economic inequities of rape law and the resistance of ordinary women   In the early years of the twentieth century, Mississippi County, Arkansas, was a brutal and profitable place. Home to starving, landless farmers, the county produced almost 2 percent of the entire world's cotton. It was also the site of two rape trials that made national headlines: an accusation that sent two Black men, almost certainly innocent, to death row; and the case of two white men, almost certainly guilty, who were likewise sentenced to death but who would ultimately face a very different fate. Braiding together these stories, Scott W. Stern examines how the Jim Crow legal system relied on selectively prosecuting rape to uphold the racial, gender, and economic hierarchies of the segregated, unequal South. But as much as rape law was a site of oppression, it was also, Stern shows, an arena of fierce resistance.   Based on deep archival research, this kaleidoscopic narrative includes new information about the early career of Thurgood Marshall, who called one of the Mississippi County trials "worse than any we have had as yet," and the anti-rape activism of Maya Angelou, who came of age in Arkansas and whose decision to write about her own sexual assault helped shape a burgeoning movement.