Survivor injustice : state-sanctioned abuse, domestic violence, and the fight for bodily autonomy

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Title:

Author:

Cheung, Kylie, 1998- author.

ISBN:

9781623179083

Personal Author:

Cheung, Kylie, 1998- author.

Physical Description:

296 pages ; 23 cm

General Note:

Source of cataloging data: WCP

Abstract:

Cheung's book shatters the harmful and convenient narrative that abuse is a "private matter" perpetrated by individual bad actors. She believes that domestic abuse and state violence are systemic and interconnected. Here she situates popular understandings of domestic abuse in an indictment of the racism, misogyny, and carcerality baked into U.S. culture and politics. When state and society criminalize women, girls, and gender-oppressed people of color, while putting predators-- from every party-- up for vote, it is necessary to organize and make changes in the systems that perpetuate this behavior. -- adapted from back cover

Contents:

Introduction -- The invisible threat -- Carceral feminism and the Violence Against Women Act -- Intimate damage -- Reproducing state violence -- Rape culture and the carceral capitalist police state -- Seizing the means of reproduction -- Against saviors -- The culture war -- Survivor justice -- Another world.

Subject Term:

Women -- Violence against -- United States.

Women -- Crimes against -- United States.

Abused women -- United States.

Feminism -- United States.

Reproductive rights -- United States.

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Summary

Journalist and Jezebel staff writer Kylie Cheung exposes the insidious--and often unseen--connections among domestic abuse, state-based violence, political disenfranchisement, and the carceral state.

"An astonishingly original, powerfully honest vision for true survivor justice." - Kirkus, starred review

For readers of The Revolution Starts at Home , Feminism for the 99% , and Good and Mad.

Incisive, urgent, and written exactly for our post-Roe times, Survivor Injustice is the feminist frame-changing read we need now--for each of us, and for all that's at stake.
With an abolitionist lens, journalist and Jezebel staff writer Kylie Cheung shows how domestic abuse and state violence are systemic and interconnected. She shatters the harmful and convenient narrative that abuse is a "private matter" perpetrated by individual bad actors--and situates popular understandings of domestic abuse in an indictment of the racism, misogyny, and carcerality baked into U.S. culture and politics. Cheung explores-
The links between capitalism and domestic abuse- how late-stage capitalism colludes with the state to incentivize forced birth and reproductive coercionIntimate partner violence as a tool of political silence and social controlAmerica's tacit acceptance of sexual assault, from the home to the White HouseThe interplay of race, power, gender, and sexuality in state-based violenceHow the United States runs on carcerality, and what that means for victimsThe way we view survival crimes, and our complicity in defining which acts are "violent" and whose actions are "criminal"How white feminism and carceral feminism fail us allCheung plainly names all that goes unsaid when we, as a culture, talk about abuse- How state and society criminalize women, girls, and gender-oppressed people of color. That what happens behind closed doors affects whose voices we hear at the ballot box. What it means when we put predators--from every party--up for vote. That sex workers are more likely to be victimized by law enforcement than "saved" by them. That this is all by design. And that ultimately--with organizing, abolition, and beyond-the-ballot action--we can change it all for good.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Jezebel staff writer Cheung (A Woman's Place) delivers an insightful overview of contemporary American women's ability to control and protect their own bodies. Drawing from interviews, statistics, and reportage, Cheung argues that there is an insidious correlation between intimate violence against women and government policy. Conservative legislation restricting women's reproductive rights, for example, is redolent of tactics commonly used by abusers, such as forcing their partners to carry unwanted pregnancies or to have unwanted abortions. Though "economic sabotage... ranks among the top tactics used in abusive relationships," Cheung contends that government programs and consumer regulations make it easy for abusers "to take out massive loans in their victims' name," tank credit scores, or attach their debt to their victims' debt as a way to "entrap" a partner financially. Elsewhere, Cheung highlights contradictory criminal court cases in which some women have been jailed for not protecting their children from abusive partners, while others have been imprisoned for fleeing with their kids from abusive relationships. The author's smart reframing of harmful government policies through the lens of intimate partner violence--she calls the U.S. government "the ultimate abuser"--is backed up by a wealth of detail and careful analysis. It's an important contribution to the struggle for women's rights. (Aug.)

Kirkus Review

A comprehensive analysis of how American systems deny survivors of gender-based violence justice, comfort, and power. According to Jezebel staff writer Cheung, a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence has long been considered a "private" and "apolitical" matter created and perpetuated by violent individuals. However, the author argues convincingly that the opposite is true. In reality, every aspect of America's political system--from the Senate, which grants disproportionate power to states with the highest rates of domestic abuse, to direct and indirect suppression of survivors' attempts to vote and the rampant criminalization and subsequent incarceration of survivors--imbues abusers with power and denies survivors the ability to participate in the most basic aspects of democracy. The silencing of these critical voices has serious consequences for the safety of all survivors. Cheung documents how survivors are forced to co-parent with their rapists or lose custody of their children to their abuser, enforced in the courts of judges often appointed by presidents with their own histories as abusers. She also discusses how economic insecurity often keeps survivors in abusive relationships, a pattern reinforced by gendered wage gaps that particularly affect women of color. "Domestic violence, in fact, is not just political," writes the author, "but quite literally a feature and consequence of greater systems of state violence: State and interpersonal violence are inseparable from each other, feeding each other in an endless cycle. Capitalist policies allow domestic abuse to thrive. Denied living wages and universal health care, many women are entrapped in abusive relationships because their abuser provides them health insurance, shelter, or money in general, and the state does not." Cheung's potent analysis, deep research, and compulsively readable prose coalesce into a refreshingly new, significant approach to ending domestic abuse. She is incredibly adept at blending anecdotal and statistical evidence into a clear global picture of a shockingly disturbing reality. An astonishingly original, powerfully honest vision for true survivor justice. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Introduction	1
1 The Invisible Threat	13
2 Carceral Feminism and the Violence Against Women Act	41
3 Intimate Damage	59
4 Reproducing State Violence	79
5 Rape Culture and the Carceral Capitalist Police State	93
6 Seizing the Means of Reproduction	115
7 Against Saviors	165
8 The Culture War	183
9 Survivor Justice	225
10 Another World	245
Acknowledgments	259
Notes	261
Index	277
About the Author	297

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Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Table of Contents