Description
Book SynopsisThe relationship between class and intimate violence against women is much misunderstood. While many studies of intimate violence focus on poor and working-class women, few examine the issue comparatively in terms of class privilege and class disadvantage. James Ptacek draws on in-depth interviews with sixty women from wealthy, professional, working-class, and poor communities to investigate how social class shapes both women's experiences of violence and the responses of their communities to this violence. Ptacek's framing of women's victimization as social entrapment links private violence to public responses and connects social inequalities to the dilemmas that women face.
Trade Review"Destined to become a classic." * ACJS Today *
Table of ContentsContents
Preface
1. Conversations with Women about Abuse
2. The Hidden Dramas of Masculinity
3. Failed Femininity and Psychological Cruelty
4. Terror, Fear, and Caution: Physical Violence and Threats
5. The Continuum of Sexual Abuse
6. Economic Abuse: Control, Sabotage, and Exploitation
7. The Emotional Dynamics of Entrapment: Love, Fear, Anger, Guilt, and Shame
8. Separation, Healing, and Justice
Conclusion: Intimate Violence as Social Entrapment
Notes
Bibliography
Index
