Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence - Hardcover

by Joanna Bourke (Author)

Looking across time and the globe, a critical history of sexual violence--what causes it and how we overcome it.

Disgrace is the first truly global history of sexual violence. The book explores how sexual violence varies widely across time and place, from nineteenth-century peasant women in Ireland who were abducted as a way of forcing marriage, to date-raped high-school students in twentieth-century America, and from girls and women violated by Russian soldiers in 1945 to Dalit women raped by men of higher castes today. It delves into the factors that facilitate violence--including institutions, ideologies, and practices--but also gives voice to survivors and activists, drawing inspiration from their struggles. Ultimately, Joanna Bourke intends to forge a transnational feminism that will promote a more harmonious, equal, and rape- and violence-free world.

Author Biography

Joanna Bourke is professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London, a fellow of the British Academy, and the Gresham Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College. Her many books include The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers and War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict, the latter published by Reaktion Books.