Readings for a Course about Violence

What follows are some suggested readings about warfare and
male-on-male violence for a Sociology/Women's Studies course entitled
"Understanding Violence." The suggestions were offered in response
to a query on WMST-L in January 2002.  For additional WMST-L discussions
available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

I'm designing a sociology/women's studies course called "Understanding
Violence" and am looking for readings from a feminist perspective.  The
course will include not only gender violence such as sexual assault and
battering, but also warfare and male-on-male violence.  I already have a
strong list for sexual assault and battering, and therefore will especially
appreciate suggestions that deal with warfare and male-on-male violence or
with violence in general.

Many thanks.

Allan Johnson
Professor of Sociology
Hartford College for Women of the University of Hartford
http://mail.hartford.edu/genderknot

RE: sexual assault and warfare
FROM: Eleanor Stein
      Lecturer on Women and the Law
      Womens Studies Department
      State University of New York at Albany
      stein.jones  @  verizon.net


I teach several classes on rape and intimate violence; but also several on
the two recent decisions at the International Criminal Court holding, for
the first time, that rape is a war crime, that is, a crime against humanity.
These decisions were by the tribunals on war crimes in Rwanda and the former
Yugoslavia.  I begin by giving students excerpts of the classic The Rape of
Nanking.  Let me know off-line if you want details, citations to these
decisions.

Keri Hume's novel, _The Bone People_, is a chilling study of
father-child domestic violence which you might find useful.

Cheryl Stobie

Barbara Ehrenreich's Blood Rites; Origins and History
of the Passions of War may be useful (Virago Press 1997).
Semira Dallali
vidabo  @  wanadoo.nl

Michael Scarce, Male on Male Rape
James Gilligan, Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic
Barbara Fawcett, Brid Featherstone, Jeff Hearn, Christine Toft, Violence and
Gender Relations: Theories and Interventions
Lee Bowker, Masculinities and Violence

Molly Dragiewicz
Women's Studies and Cultural Studies
George Mason University
mdragiew  @  gmu.edu

Sorry I forgot to also mention (and this book has a specific
feminist analysis):
Bearing Witness: Violence and Collective Responsibility
by Sandra L. Bloom, MD and Michael Reichert, PhD
Semira Dallali
vidabo  @  wanadoo.nl

There is a wonderful video about where violence in males stems from
called Tough Guise.

Amy Calvert
Graduate Student
Texas Woman's University
AEBrumbalow  @  aol.com

Hello,
         For the topic of Men and Violence, I think Michael Kaufman's article
"The Construction of Masculinity and the Triad of Men's Violence" is a
wonderful introductory text for a class. It can be found in Kimmel and
Messner's Men's Lives.
--
John C. Landreau
Modern Languages
The College of New Jersey
landreau  @  tcnj.edu
Phone: 609-771-3152
Fax: 609-637-5139

Hi, Allan and all -

Check out the books on women, war & peace available through WomenInk
(www.womenink.org - click on Book Store, then on Armed Conflict and
Peace Process.  Of those available, I've used _Assault on the Soul_ (a
harrowing, absorbing collection on judicial process & therapeutic
treatment for survivors of war rape), and am currently using the
anthology _Women and War_ (wide variety of fairly brief pieces) and
considering using _Women & Peacebuilding_.  I'm enjoying seeing other
people's suggestions.

Janet Gray
gray  @  tcnj.edu