Every 90 Seconds

April 1, 2022
The enormous toll of violence against women and how it affects everyone. Despite the success of the #MeToo movement and the exposure of long-standing, high-profile abusers like Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes, and R. Kelly, among many others, violence against women is still a significant problem across the globe. DePrince, a psychology professor and recognized authority on the subject, looks at some of the important successes during recent decades--e.g., Take Back the Night movement marches, the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, and a deeper understanding of the complexities of PTSD--while also revealing the interconnected systemic problems that continue to perpetuate violence. The author stresses the need for an inherently different, community-based approach to the problem. "Violence against women ripples out to affect each of us," she writes, "regardless of our own genders or life histories." After a brief history of the deeply flawed treatment of "hysteria" in women at the Salp�tri�re Hospital in Paris in the 1860s, DePrince shows how women have always been stigmatized as deficient simply because they are women. During that time--and for decades after--doctors "did not connect lifelong intimate violence and trauma to women's hysterical symptoms." The author clearly demonstrates how intimate violence activates a chain of chronic health problems often ignored by health officials. In a rigorous yet occasionally disorganized text, DePrince looks at violence involving guns, school campuses, immigrants, and the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of prevention among youth especially. She delineates how cycles of violence perpetuate poverty, child abuse, and other social ills, including blunted education, lack of job advancement, and unwieldy health care costs. The bottom line, she argues, is that addressing the issue collectively should be a priority for everyone, and she offers a detailed, scholarly framework for change at the end. A writer in the trenches convincingly asserts how violence against women diminishes all of us equally.

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April 23, 2022

DePrince (psychology, Univ. of Denver), an internationally recognized expert in violence against women, argues for the need to change how we address the ongoing issue of violence against women. DePrince asserts that violence against women is not just a problem for the abused or the abuser, it is a societal problem. Issues include gun violence, poverty, the overburdened healthcare system, and more importantly the trauma experienced by children who witness domestic violence in their homes. These issues are inextricably linked to violence against women. The book is well researched and provides examples throughout of opportunities to address ending violence against women. As the author points out in the last chapter, a collaborative approach is required to identify solutions to address the problem. To bring about an end to the problem we need to use our collective knowledge, passion, and commitment to social issues that can bring about an end to violence against women. VERDICT This excellent book would be of interest to researchers, students in social work programs, and anyone who has an interest in the issue of violence against women.--Diane Fulkerson

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