Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking about Women's Violence in Global Politics [Hardcover]

When we discuss violent acts committed by women, our responses are almost always rooted in deeply gendered assumptions about women. We express surprise and shock that a woman could be capable of such an act—a reaction that relies on a long history of unspoken assumptions about what is proper behavior for a woman.

With Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores, Caron Gentry and Laura Sjoberg apply the understanding afforded by that lens to individual violence in global politics. The authors begin by demonstrating the crucial interdependence of the individual and international levels of global politics in the lives of violent women—but they then show how this interdependence is inaccurately depicted, or ignored altogether, in public, political, or media discussions of women’s violence. An eye-opening exploration of a major topic in the study of global conflict and women’s lives, Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores will be essential for both scholars and activists.

Caron Gentryis lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.Laura Sjobergis associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. Together they are the authors ofMothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics.

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: A Woman Did That?

2. Seeing Gender in Theories of People’s Political Violence

3. Seeing Women’s Extralegal Violence

4. Saving, Supporting, and Supplicating: The Mother Narrative

5. Femininity Gone Awry: The Monster Narrative

6. Sex/Violence: The Whore Narrative

7. Conclusion: Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores

Sources Used

"Gentry and Sjoberg add to their extensive research into questions of gender and violence in global conflict. . . . [They] are not interested in the howlÃ