Unruly Women: The Politics of Confinement and Resistance

(Paperback)

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Description

Explores patterns of female crimes and punishments, from the witch hunts to the present, institutionalised violence and sexual abuse against incarcerated women, women loving women in prison, motherhood inside prison, battered woman syndrome, the media representation of women in prison, political education in prisons and acts of resistance, inside and out. Karlene Faith challenges misconceptions of 'deviant' women, and celebrates the unruly woman: the unmanageable woman who claims her own body and who cannot be silenced.

Reviews

"Unruly Women is an important text for classroom teaching and research, because it places the ongoing crisis of women in prison in historical context. It provides a point of comparison with more recent research on this topic. The title also encourages readers to break out of the singular focus on incarcerated women to trace out the many different ways women have beenand continue to bedefined as unruly and deviant, in need of intense social control." Geraldine Casey, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

"Many women in prison have lost their voices in so many ways. One thing's for sure: Karlene Faith will always speak up and out for them. When it comes to their incarcerated lives, she is the most knowledgeable, most thoroughly caring person I know. My first trip into the world of women behind bars was by Karlene's side as we brought musicperformance and instrumentsinto the prison. She taught me everything I know about women imprisoned. Read and learn! You will have an awakening."Cris Williamson, singer/songwriter

Author Bio

A human rights activist for five decades,KARLENE FAITHis one of the leading feminist scholars on prisons. She earned her PhD in the History of Consciousness at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Cofounder of the revolutionary Santa Cruz Womens Prison Project and author of numerous books on criminology and womens studies, Faith is currently professor emerita at Simon Fraser Universitys School of Criminology in British Columbia.