Description
Book SynopsisFor women who have experienced domestic violence, proving that you are a good victim is no longer enough. Victims must also show that they are recovering, as if domestic violence were a disease: they must transform from victims into survivors. Women's access to life-saving resources may even hinge on good performances of survivorhood. Through archival and ethnographic research, Paige L. Sweet reveals how trauma discourses and coerced therapy play central roles in women's lives as they navigate state programs for assistance. Sweet uses an intersectional lens to uncover how resilience and survivorhood can become coercive and exclusionary forces in women's lives. With nuance and compassion, The Politics of Surviving wrestles with questions about the gendered nature of the welfare state, the unintended consequences of feminist mobilizations for anti-violence programs, and the women who are left behind by the limited forms of citizenship we offer them.
Trade Review"The book is beautifully written and a powerful demonstration of gendered governance in the field of domestic violence. It is a must-read for anyone interested in domestic violence, victimization, feminist anti-violence work, the shelter movement, professionalization processes, the trauma discourse, and medicalization of social problems." * Social Forces *
"
The Politics of Surviving is a brilliant contribution to sociology and the multidisciplinary field of feminist scholarship. It is a necessary text for scholars of violence, social movements, and gender and sexuality." * Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work *
"A valuable resource for scholars and students of gender-based violence. . . . Sweet…helps us understand, viscerally, the implications of this trauma revolution." * American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
List of Acronyms
Introduction: Domestic Violence and the Politics of Trauma
Part I Survivorhood
1. Building a Therapeutic Movement
2. The Trauma Revolution
3. Administering Trauma
Part II Surviving
4. Becoming Legible
5. Gaslighting
6. Surviving Heterosexuality
Conclusion: Traumatic Citizenship
Methodological Appendix
Notes
References
Index
