Zed Books Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking about Women's Violence in Global Politics

Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores takes the suggestion in Mothers, Monsters, Whores that it is important to see genderings in characterizations of violent women, and to use critique of those genderings to retheorize individual violence in global politics. It begins by demonstrating the interdependence of the personal and international levels of global politics in violent women's lives, but then shows that this interdependence is inaccurately depicted in gender-subordinating narratives of women's violence. Such narratives, the authors argue, are not only normatively problematic on the surface but also intersect with other identifiers, such as race, religion, and geopolitical location. Review 'A nuanced and thought-provoking feminist contribution.'Gender and Development'A brilliant analysis that further complicates social fantasies that deny women's capacities to do things men have the capacity to do, and a welcome extension of the path-breaking research Gentry and Sjoberg began in their first edition. Compelling and convincing.'Cynthia Weber, University of Sussex'Beyond Mothers, Monsters Whores reminds us that patriarchal narratives concocted and wielded by both media and states serve to distract us from the actual gendered causes and consequences of collective violence and militaristic cultures. Gentry and Sjoberg do us a great service in exposing the past and current politics of these dangerous distractions.'Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases'In the best tradition of feminist research, the authors engage the theoretical framework of the first edition and go beyond it. Once again Gentry and Sjoberg have succeeded in giving us a thought-provoking analysis of a disturbing but important subject: women's political violence.'J. Ann Tickner, American University'The first edition of this exciting book was genuinely path-breaking; it quickly became required reading for anyone interested in questions of gender and violence in global politics. This fully revised and theoretically more sophisticated second edition stands to make an equally valuable contribution.'Laura Shepherd, University of New South Wales, and author of Gender, Violence and Popular Culture: Telling Stories About the Author Caron E. Gentry is a lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. She is author of Offering Hospitality: Questioning Christian Approaches to War (2013) and the co-editor of Women, Gender and Terrorism (with Laura Sjoberg, 2011) and The Future of War: New Critical Essays (with Amy Eckert, 2014). Laura Sjoberg is associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. She is author of Gender, War and Conflict (2014), Gendering Global Conflict: Towards a Feminist Theory of War (2013), Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics (with Caron Gentry, 2007) and Gender, Justice, and the Wars in Iraq (2006).  Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Beyond Mothers, Monsters, WhoresThinking About Women's Violence in Global PoliticsBy Caron E. Gentry, Laura SjobergZed Books LtdCopyright © 2015 Caron E. Gentry and Laura SjobergAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-1-78360-208-7ContentsAcknowledgements, 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, Notes, Sources used, Index, CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION: A WOMAN DID THAT?The consequences of our refusal to concede female contributions to violence are manifold. It affects our capacity to promote ourselves as autonomous and responsible beings. It affects our ability to develop a literature about ourselves that encompasses the full array of human emotions and experience. It demeans the right our vict