No comments about Rape And Society: Readings On The Problem Of Sexual Assault (Crime and Society Series).

3 comments about Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice.

1. Cry Rape is the story of a rape victim's victimization by the criminal justice system. It is a story about a cop who seems predisposed to "prove" rape victims liars, about a police department that protects bad cops, about a district attorney's office willing to further victimize the victim to protect bad cops, about judges willing to interpret the law in ways that protect bad cops and bad policies, about elected and appointed officials who stand behind the victimization, and (though only peripherally) newspaper editors who don't seem to care.
   
   It is also the story of one woman's heroic and uphill fight against the system and the small group of people who believed and supported her and were sometimes victimized as a result.
   
   Conversations in Cry Rape, suggest that the majority of rape victims choose to walk away and admit defeat rather than standing up to a criminal justice system that is more interested in closing their file than helping them find justice. This victim's inner strength makes her story the exception.
   
   This story takes place in Madison, Wisconsin, long perceived to be a bastion of progressive ideas. But Cry Rape exposes the plain fact that Madison's government can be as self-serving and self-protective as governments anywhere. The central story is the rape victim's years-long ordeal; but the strong secondary story is the way the system deals with a cop who shouldn't be a cop. He is rewarded and remains today an honored officer.
   
   In spite of the ugliness exposed in Cry Rape, it does offer us a spark of hope. It shows that investigative journalism can make a positive difference and that there are some reporters and editors willing to stick with a difficult story. We learn that there actually are honest attorneys who seek justice for their clients instead of just clocking billing hours.
   
   Readers unconnected to Madison or Wisconsin will be entertained by Cry Rape's distinct detective novel feel and the twists and turns that lead to surprising discoveries throughout the story. Alert, informed readers might find similarities between the way Madison's city government and the University of Wisconsin, Madison deal with liars and bad apples. Promoting such people seems to be the Madison Idea.



2. I sat in stunned silence as I turned the final page of "Cry Rape," Bill Lueders' heart-rending story of a rape victim doubted, and ultimately tormented, by police. My 10-year-old son asked about what I had been reading, saying, "Is it a mystery?"
   
   I replied, "No, it's about a lady who was hurt badly in a crime and told the police. Not only did the police refuse to find the person who hurt her, they accused her of lying. Eventually they found the criminal who hurt her but even then, the police didn't help her."
   
   His response: "Oh, so it's a horror story."
   
   It is the most fitting summary I've yet seen of this tremendous book. Lueders' story unfolds chronologically from the first page, which begins with the shock and terror of a brutal rape. It leads to eventual vindication, but not without further terror and further brutality -- at the hands of police, attorneys and others the victim trusted most.
   
   This book must be read not for how it is written though Lueders' dramatic-documentary style makes the story impossible to forget. It must be read because it shows us how our most vulnerable citizens can be further victimized by the very systems designed to help them. In short, it is a morality tale that highlights the immorality of the institutions many of us trust.



3. As I read this book, I could not stop turning the pages. I read the first 120 pages without getting up. I already knew the end of the story, but I had to read the remarkable journey. This lady opened herself up for such an honest portrayal of the most hideous events of her life to share them publicly and it is truly amazing. Know this, Patty, and Bill for writing it, if for nothing else, I am a life that was touched.
   
   My mirror holds much the same story, and the same deals are offered to me. Everything within me says "stand by the truth" - but the truth is so hard when it hurts you. You have given me renewed courage to fight the fight. I will not give in and I will continue to tell the truth. The system has got acknowledge when it's wrong. Thank you both so much.

1 comments about A Woman Scorned.

1. Simply put, I was shocked by what I read in this book (being a person who firmly believes we live in a just society). I figure this "just" attribute is something left from childhood that is overly naïve and is something that needs to go out with the trash next week. Not knowing much concerning the issue of acquaintance rape apart from some exposure to the issue by hearing sad stories of abuse from college days, I figured I would read up on this issue. I am very glad I did as this book covers the history of rape, how the law has been against the female sex for over 300 years in dealing with rape, and how the majority of rapes are committed by people the person knows. I suggest this book for all people who need to move beyond the objectifying nature of women in society, and to create the space for much needed empathy for all people who have encountered sexual abuse within their lifetime.

No comments about The Ultimate Violation.

No comments about Set Free! True Accounts of Those Who Have Been Liberated from Pornography, Sexual Addiction, Masturbation, Rape, Molestation, Incest, Lesbianism and Homosexuality.

1 comments about Unequal Verdicts: The Central Park Jogger Trials.

1. Timothy Sullivan is the executive producer of Court TV and still brings news of many big trials to our screens. In Unequal Verdicts, his bestseller from 1992, dealing with the Central Park Jogger case, he ends his final chapter with a description of how "a group of angry boys between the ages of 13 and 17 had used [a bar], along with a rock, a brick and their bare hands, to pound the promise out of [the victim's] future." But let's not forget his final word on the subject: "And on the streets ... lots of people wonder whether her boyfriend did it." Could Sullivan have got it more wrong? He appears never even to have heard of Matias Reyes, the actual rapist, who was in the middle of a murder and rape spree in the same area at the time. And that final, gratuitous swipe at the Jogger's perfectly innocent boyfriend! Can we really believe a word this man tells us about guilt and innocence?

No comments about Vows of Silence: A True Story of a Survivor's Triumph over Rape, Teenage Suicide, and Religious Abuse.

1 comments about The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems.

1. First off, WHY THE HELL IS THIS THE FIRST REVIEW ON SUCH A VOLUME AS IMPRESSIVE AS THIS!?!?!? Alexander Pope was definatley in the top five of greatest English poets (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth) and to read his works is like sipping a glass of fine wine, wearing a cool powdered wig, lying back on a sofa listening to Handel. Pope was the coolest hepcat in the hood. He was so great, an age was named after him in 18th century English literature-THE AGE OF POPE (1712-1744)-roughly
   
   But, getting to the point, this is a very comprehensive volume of Pope's prime work. Of course, it's Signet-the best reasonably priced books you can buy. Not only does this great volume contain the complete 5 canto version of The Rape of the Lock (1712-1717), the Essay on Man (1734), Essay on Criticism (1711), The Dunciad (1728) and many more of his brilliant verse satire, the finest of the Neoclassical period (1660-1784).

5 comments about One Night: Realities of Rape.

1. I had been waiting for the publication of ONE NIGHT for quite some time, so it was with great anticipation that I devoured the text from cover to cover upon receiving it. The social science of sexual violence, let alone any violence at all, is often difficult to come by. Sexual violence is something that affects so many of us, but it also happens to be one the least researched, thought about, and written about topics in the academy. It is refreshing that Dr. Winkler has been so generous with her self-ethnography. As a woman and a researcher, I am rarely surprised by what I hear about sexual violence-- and I think that Dr. Winkler has done a fine job in bringing to light in a particularly nuanced way many things which we take for granted, especially with respect to the following two points: 1) by showing us how tenuous and subjective the "path to justice" truly is,and 2) elaborating the many different axes of life that can be and often are disrupted for victim-survivor-activists, particularly those things which are imperative constituents of our everyday lives. ONE NIGHT is a rich and honest ethnography that preserves the individualness of the events shaping Dr. Winkler's life without making grand claims to generalization. At the same time, ONE NIGHT tells a terrifyingly familiar story, one that must be told if sexual violence is going to be considered as a multi-layered social problem and not simply as the burden of individuals. Finally, I must mention that I appreciated Dr. Winkler's care in producing a text about rape that was neither pornographic nor titillating. ONE NIGHT is an important step in unpacking the problem of sexual violence in the U.S.



2. I would recommend this book. It is a story of horrible events which changed the life of the author, Dr. Cathy Winkler. However, against all the obstacles she faced, she was able to continue fighting for justice until this rapist was behind bars. It is a testament to her strength and courage. And a chilling look at the realities of how much can change in just one night.



3. Congratulation to Cathy, who is a good person who saved many other women.Throughout her book, she showed that the pain of three rapes could have been avoided. First, during the rape attack, two men heard her screams and did nothing.Her ability to detail a rape attack lets me understand why such a traumatic experience cannot be forgotten. Second,she lost her university job due to her persuit of the rapist with the police.An administrator abused her and terminated her appointment.Like a rapist, who will not apologize. Likewise, the dean of the school would not admit his error and give her her job back. Universities should support their faculty suffering crimes. A university is a part of a community and should work with the community. Third, the law enforcement, hospital and lawyers did not act effectively or swiftly. Fortunately,Cathy had good morals and along with persistance and determination to get real justice.She saved many other women who later would hve had to endure such traumatic experience from the rapist. I highly recommend this book. It was captivating and gave me as a man, understanding into the real tragedies of rape.



4. Cathy Winkler should be commended for her sustained courage and determination to seek justice and to raise others' awareness of the multiple facets and phases of rape. Her book is an exemplar of the personal being political in feminist social analysis and criticism. Her success is based in large part on her skill as an ethnographer. Excellent ethnographers are able to produce three-dimensional descriptions and richly nuanced analyses of complex, power-laden social situations and cultural scenarios. The situations that Winkler describes are those related to the physical, social, and legal rape that she experienced and struggled against as an activist committed winning social justice. She offers a poignant cultural critique of how American society, with its gendered biases, treats rape as a crime and as a violation of women's human rights. Her critique implicates not only the criminals who rape but also others--friends and acquaintances, colleagues and administrators in work places, and, of course, legal and criminal justice personnel--whose actions extend the scope and effects of rape.
   Winkler joins the ranks of distinguished scholars like Peggy Sanday who has written on varying forms of rape in "rape-prone" societies. As a teacher at the university level I am eager to expose more of my students to this important body of work and to the powerful way that Winkler's reflexive account complements Sanday's research. Winkler's book can also be read in conjunction with with one of Micaela di Leonardo's essays in which she critically deconstructs the racist iconic representation of the rape she experienced when a Black male stranger violated her. Winkler's book also invites us to think about racist constructions of Black male sexuality and the pro-lynching myth of black men's propensity to rape White women. Although she does not address this aspect of the country's culture of race, she does express anti-racist sensibilities in the relationship she describes having with her Black students and with her concern about the way her case is presented to the public and to jurors, especially to Black jurors. She insists that her case is about violence against women and not race. Nonetheless, I think her excellent analysis could have been even more compelling had she elaborated on the emotionally-charged politics of representation and the relationship between the racist myths--through which many Americans still interpret cross-racial sex and sexual assault-- and the reality that her experience reveals. Although not discussed at length in the text, Dr. Winkler is well aware of these issues. Months after the physical rape, we shared a hotel room at the national anthropology conference and discussed her worry that racist cultural assumptions about Black male sexuality would muddle the facts of her case and the motivation that inspired her to seek justice. I didn't know then where her convictions would take her nor did I understand what a full-fledged auto-ethnography entailed when I read her initial essay on rape as social murder more than ten years ago. Now I know. She has written a powerful account that teaches us difficult but absolutely necessary lessons about how our society sacrifies part of the humanity of women who are raped.



5. A stranger broke into Cathy Winkler's home, stood over her bed and kicked her awake. After that night of horror she began a determined effort to find, prosecute and punish the rapist. In the process, her efforts helped other victims gain relief. Her account informs as well as holds your attention through the numerous twists and turns of human interest and self interest.

   Winkler is a gifted writer. Why read this book? It is more than just another account of rapes with clichés, 'ho hum.' Dr. Winkler is also a professional anthropologist with knowledge and insight into human behavior. She examines the many aspects of the situation in a clinical manner. The reader will find answers to frequently asked questions, such as: is sexual need or power and brutality the driving force? what should the victim do at different times in the whole series of events from rape through recovery? what should friends do? to whom should the victim turn for assistance?

   Winkler presents enough information in a structured manner to support study groups in the many communities that are now developing programs to prevent rape and treat rape victims. The contents include three major parts: four chapters on key aspects of the physical rape; four chapters on the social consequences and problems; and four chapters on the legal aspects of gaining justice. She adds substance to other works listed in her extensive bibliography that can be included in a study. ...

   Winkler is a victim, a survivor, an activist, a defender and chronicler. ... One Night realities of rape reflects Winkler's professional authority and her humanity.

3 comments about Unequal Justice: Wayne Dumond, Bill Clinton, and the Politics of Rape in Arkansas.

1. after reading others reviews i thought i needed to say some things are correct and others not. for example wayne dumond did not live in a trailer he lived in a 3 br red home. how do i know? well, i am married to his son.



2. Far-right gadfly Guy Reel's fact-challenged propaganda screed recycles and expands the equally frothing serial smear by tabloid-writer and fellow fringe-case Steve Dunleavy. Ranging from distortion to huge dollops of outright falsehood, this book is guaranteed to annoy anyone to the left of Attila the Hun. For the small minority of troglodyte extremists who eagerly lap up each new tortured Clinton conspiracy tome, this book contains nothing not already covered in the plethora of bilious (and probably bibulous) Dumond-worshipping diatribes on Free Republic.
   
   Some interesting facts:
   1) Wayne Dumond was not exonerated by DNA evidence - no DNA tests were ever conducted.
   2) Contrary to the whitewashing claims of Dunleavy et al, Dumond had a substantial and serious prior criminal record - murder (1972), sexual molestation of a teenager (1973), and ... wait for it ... rape (1976). He dodged the murder charge by ratting out his buddies, and a rape conviction when the victim dropped charges because "she feared for her life" - after which Dumond claimed his earlier confession had been "coerced". He pled guilty to the 1973 molestation charge, for which he received 5 years probation.
   3) Two years after his 1999 parole (the result of heavy pressure from governor and current presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee), Dumond raped and murdered Carol Sue Shields, of Parkville, Mo. He was convicted, and recently died in prison.
   
   But because Dumond's first (and luckier) rape victim happened to be a distant relative of Bill Clinton, this serial rapist and murderer became a saintly martyr in the eyes of Reel, Dunleavy and their Freeper groupies. And these are the people (check out some of Guy Reel's anti-Democrat diatribes) who bash liberals for being "soft on crime".



3. Along with Gov. Huckabee, the author of this book shares responsibility for the murders Dumond committed after being released from prison in Arkansas. It is a perfect example of the toxic nature of partisan politics, and especially the GOP focus on Clinton, that anyone accepted this story hook, line and sinker.