The War Against Women

“This excellent translation of Rita Segato’s War Against Women is a long-awaited contribution to feminism for English-language audiences. Her brilliance is indispensable and indisputable. She considers violence against women in historical forms, its domestic, public, military, and paramilitary forms, and in its relation to gratuitous cruelty and the formation of masculine subjects. Steeped in the history of violence against women in Latin America, Segato situates this history of violence in a transnational frame, showing the range of powers that seize upon women’s bodies with lethal aggression. That history moves in and out of national boundaries, focuses the analysis of femicide in relation to territory, property, and both state and non-state powers, all of whom mobilize specific and converging forms of violence. Segato shows us how to make the case against this horrific war on women in its legal, historical, and psychological dimensions. One can only feel grateful for this indomitable intellect and remarkable passion as it pursues and renews this political commitment to justice.”
Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley