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Confronting Rape: The Feminist Anti-Rape Movement and the State
Confronting Rape The Feminist AntiRape Movement and the State Author:Matthews, Nancy A. Matthews 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 Rape documents two decades of anti-rape activism, from grass-roots efforts to the institutionaliz... more »ation 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 readera first-hand look at the transformation 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.« less