Confronting Rape

by Matthews,Nancy A.

• ISBN13: 9780415064910
• ISBN10: 0415064910
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-09-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Public thinking about sexual assault over the last two decades has changed dramatically for the better. Activists in rape crisis centers can claim a feminist success story, but not always as they would choose.Confronting Rapedocuments two decades of anti-rape activism, from grass-roots efforts to the institutionalization of state-funded rape-crisis centers. Nancy Matthews' book explores, through a close study of six rape crisis centers in Los Angeles, how the state has influenced rape crisis work by supporting the therapeutic aspects of the anti-rape movement's agenda, and pushing feminist rape crisis centers towards convential frameworks of social service provision, while ignoring the feminist political agenda of transforming gender relations and preventing rape. Matthews is able to show us the complexity within a movement that includes radicals, moderates, women of color and lesbians working within varying frameworks, while giving the reader a first-hand look at thetransformation of the first grass-roots centers to the rape crisis centers of today which have come to rely on the state for organizational survival. Anyone who has found her/himself caught up in the recent feminist debates over a "victimization" culture will benefit from this detailed account of one of the success stories that emerged from this second generation of feminists.

Author Biography

Nancy A. Matthews is Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, Oberlin College, USA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Feminism, the state, and the anti-rape movement: theoretical underpinnings	p. 1
The national context	p. 9
The birth of the Los Angeles anti-rape movement	p. 16
Surviving the early years	p. 41
The politics of crisis and a crisis of politics	p. 75
Politics and bureaucracy: OCJP funding	p. 105
The expansion of racial diversity	p. 128
From stopping violence to managing rape	p. 149
Appendix A: Interviewees	p. 167
Appendix B: Interview schedule	p. 169
Notes	p. 172
Bibliography	p. 176
Index	p. 183
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