Sex, violence and crime: Foucault and the ‘man’ question

Abstract

Reviews the book, Sex, Violence and Crime: Foucault and the 'Man' Question by Adrian Howe (see record 2009-02758-000). This book demonstrates the vital importance of critical Foucaultian feminist interruptions of normative discourses about male sexual violence within the discipline of criminology and more broadly the media and everyday life. And indeed, after reading this refreshingly unapologetic book, one reaches the conclusion that this complex hegemonic disavowal is a core strategy of masculinist politics and an important target for feminists across the disciplines. The power of Howe's writing is to be found in the exhilarating combination of rigorous and original scholarship, clear logic, and a cool and devastating wit. It is rare that one reads a feminist text about sex, violence and crime that makes one laugh out loud, and so often. This book offers a useful up-to-date critical introduction to Foucault's work, taking the philosopher to task for his infamous indifference to sexual violence against women and children while also demonstrating how necessary his work is for strategic post-structuralist feminist thought in this area. This new contribution to feminist thinking is certain to become an influential and much read resource for students and other scholars across a range of disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)