ABSTRACT

This volume critically analyses political strategies, civil society initiatives and modes of representation that challenge the conventional narratives of women in contexts of violence. It deepens into the concepts of victimhood and agency that inform the current debate on women as victims.

The volume opens the scope to explore initiatives that transcend the pair abuser–victim and explore the complex relations between gender and violence, and individual and collective accountability, through politics, activism and cultural productions in order to seek social transformation for gender justice. In innovative and interdisciplinary case studies, it brings attention to initiatives and narratives that make new spaces possible in which to name, self-identify, and resignify the female political subject as a social agent in situations of violence. The volume is global in scope, bringing together contributions ranging from India, Cambodia or Kenya, to Quebec, Bosnia or Spain. Different aspects of gender-based violence are analysed, from intimate relationships, sexual violence, military contexts, society and institutions.

Re-writing Women as Victims: From Theory to Practice will be a key text for students, researchers and professionals in gender studies, political sciences, sociology and media and cultural Studies. Activists and policy makers will also find its practical approach and engagement with social transformation to be essential reading.

part I|74 pages

Politics

chapter 2|15 pages

Women Survivors of Sexist Abuse in Spain

The role of affects of proximity and recognition on the way out

chapter 3|13 pages

The ‘comfort women’ apologies

Gendered victimhood and the politics of grievability

chapter 4|14 pages

Gender, agency and the construction of a rape victim

The ICTY and the prosecution of sexual violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina

chapter 5|15 pages

Women’s resistance in violent settings

Infrapolitical strategies in Brazil and Colombia

chapter 6|14 pages

Towards transformative gender equality

The importance of addressing economic violence against women in Cambodia

part II|68 pages

Activism

chapter 7|13 pages

Feminist and grassroots activism rewriting women as victims

Kenyan women’s untold story

chapter 8|14 pages

Collective action and organisation against gender violence in Spain

When victims became activists

chapter 9|12 pages

Transnational feminist activism to reframe femicide

The case of #NiUnaMenos and #VivasNosQueremos

chapter 10|12 pages

Materialising resistance against rape culture online

The phenomenon of SlutWalks

chapter 11|15 pages

Mukhtaran Mai’s transformation from gang-rape victim to the feminist face of glamour

Transcending notions of tribal honour, gender and class in Pakistan

part III|72 pages

Cultural narratives

chapter 12|14 pages

‘Pump up the positivity’

Neoliberalism, affective entrepreneurship and the victimhood/agency debate

chapter 13|14 pages

Radical vulnerability

Feminism, victimhood and agency

chapter 15|16 pages

Survivor speech

Formulations of the victim/survivor identity in contemporary UK media

chapter 16|13 pages

Rape victims, representation and resistance in India

Between collectivity and solitariness