ABSTRACT
On 19 April 1988, the brutal beating and gang rape of a female jogger in New York's Central Park made headline news across the country and stayed at the top of the front page for weeks to come. It was one of those rare public tragedies that seemed to trigger within the public consciousness-nationally, not just locallyan uneasy admission of a truth Americans have always known but are most often willing to deny or diminish: the ferocity of the violence fostered in our culture against women.
