Believability

Sexual Violence, Media, and the Politics of Doubt

Sarah Banet-Weiser author Kathryn Claire Higgins author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Published:28th Apr '23

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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Believability cover

The #MeToo movement created more opportunities for women to speak up about sexual assault. But we are also living in a time when “fake news” and “alternative facts” call into question the very nature of truth.

This troubling paradox is at the heart of this compelling book. The convergence of #MeToo and the crisis of post-truth is used to explore the experiences of women and people of color whose claims around issues of sexual violence are often held in doubt. Banet-Weiser and Higgins investigate how the gendered and racialized logics of “believability” are defined and contested within media culture, proposing that a mediated “economy of believability” is the context in which public bids for truth about sexual violence are made, negotiated, and authorized today.

"Believability ... is an essential text for anyone interested in the problem of sexual violence, feminist politics after #MeToo, or contestations around truth in our hyper-mediated and privatised public sphere.... [It]offers the best and most nuanced analysis of the cultural significance of #MeToo I have read ... the book is not only a crucial contribution to feminist thought, but also an important step towards reconceptualising the cultural politics of belief and truth in transformative feminist ways."
—European Journal of Cultural Studies

"Banet-Weiser and Higgins's timely book presents a powerful feminist analysis of the interacting forces of belief, media and sexual violence in the post-truth era ... a transdisciplinary masterpiece."
—LSE Review of Books

"Carefully crafted and apt ... a must read."
—CHOICE

"Banet-Weiser and Higgins succeed in providing an exciting, comprehensive overview of current English-language, Western media representations, discourses and marketing, as well as research on credibility in cases of sexual violence."
—Louise Haitz, Rezens.tfm

ISBN: 9781509553815

Dimensions: 221mm x 142mm x 25mm

Weight: 431g

256 pages