The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse: Emotion, Social Movements, and the State (Paperback)

The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse offers a significant contribution to understanding the ongoing public issue of sexual abuse that will be of interest to a wide readership, and particularly to scholars of political culture, gender and sexuality, and social movement theory. In a single book, Nancy Whittier overturns all conventional wisdom about why sexual abuse became such a contentious public issue. Battles over incest, repressed memory, and clergy abuse are not moral panics, she shows, but a collective therapeutic activism that challenges existing forms of knowledge and control. The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse sets out a bold, new direction that is essential reading for all scholars of political culture and social movements. Relying on interviews with a range of activists, along with documentary evidence of various types, Nancy Whittier provides a convincing explanation for the transformation of child sexual abuse in America since 1970. An engaging and balanced examination of this highly charged topic, The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse skillfully negotiates treacherous terrain in a fashion that respects all sides. This book is a highly original work and one of the best studies of child sexual abuse in the last twenty-five years. The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse is an ambitious book that demonstrates the payoff of theoretical synthesis and careful empirical research. Whittier integrates the latest advances in thinking about social movements, the state, and gender politics in order to develop a comprehensive and compelling account of activism around child sexual abuse. This book will challenge analysts to rethink the intersection of politics, culture, and activism, as well as the relationship between social movements and their impacts. Nancy Whittier has given us a powerful account of how the movement against child sexual abuse has unfolded over the past 40 years. Knowing our history--recording and preserving it--is essential if we are to learn from it. The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse is the story of how activists have changed their own lives and the larger world. At a time when public discourse often simplifies or dismisses this movement, Whittier tells our history in a way that advances deep understanding of the issue.