Encyclopedia of Rape - Hardcover

Smith, Merril D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313326878 ISBN 13: 9780313326875

Publisher: Greenwood, 2004

Synopsis

Rape has been perpetrated throughout history and worldwide, and today ours has been called a rape culture, because sexual violence, mainly against women and children, is prevalent and tolerated to some extent. The Encyclopedia of Rape offers 185 entries in an A-to-Z essay format covering the historical scope and magnitude of the issue in the United States and globally. Written by a host of scholars from diverse fields, it provides informed perspectives on the key dimensions of the topic, from concepts, social movements, offenders, high-profile cases, legislation, influential activists, landmark texts, and victimology to representations in literature and art. This solid, accessible ready-reference will allow students and the general reader to contextualize current events and reading and viewing in history, literature and the Bible, film, art history, gender studies, psychology, criminology, popular culture, and more.

Rape is a topic of perpetual relevance and remains deeply controversial, as it involves the sexual act. Although women are the primary targets of rape and thus the focus of discussion of it, the rape of men, children, and animals is also considered in the encyclopedia. Up to date, it contains insight on the manifestations of rape today, including as a tool of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and genocide in Rwanda, the Catholic Church priest scandals, and drug-facilitated date rape. Added value comes from an abundance of statistics, suggested reading for further research per entry, chronology, resource guide, and appendix listing entries by topic.

About this title

About the Author

Merril D. Smith, PhD, is an independent scholar. Her published work includes ABC-CLIO's History of American Cooking.

Reviews

Rape has been considered a crime and significant cultural event since ancient times, cited as far back as the Code of Hammurabi. It is part of mythology, the Bible, and current ethnic wars. In many cultures even today, the aggrieved party is the father or husband rather than the victimized woman, but its victims can be men as well as women and children. It is, as the introduction to this volume states, "much more than the actual physical act."

For this volume, 79 contributors drawn mainly from academia have produced 186 entries, all with suggested readings, that examine the topic of rape from as many aspects as possible: legal, historical, and social, to name a few. Most of the entries are a page in length or more and have a decided American focus, though entries such as Comfort women, Genocide, and War crimes approach the issue from a more global perspective. There are several biographical entries for leading feminists, legal scholars, and rape victims, such as the Central Park jogger. Each of the current date-rape drugs also has an entry.

The volume begins with a "Chronology of Selected Rape-Related Events," an alphabetical list of all the entries, and a topical list of entries. Extensive cross-references and an index help with access. A "Resource Guide" lists important books, Web sites, organizations, and films. The entries themselves maintain an informative and dispassionate tone despite the highly charged nature of the information provided. This timely and useful--though disturbing--volume should have a place in all libraries concerned with women's and criminal justice issues. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313326878
• ISBN 13: 9780313326875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336