The Courage to Fight Violence Against Women

'The title of this new book speaks for itself. Courage is a component of the analyst-patient bond, and is even more necessary when we tell and are told the horror wrought by gender violence against women. This book attests to the courage needed to make this cry heard and pave the way for change.'- Virginia Ungar, president-elect, International Psychoanalytical Association'In this book Paula L. Ellman and Nancy R. Goodman have convincingly demonstrated that whenever and wherever there is conflict and unrest, at any time in history and anywhere across the globe, the beast of violence against women raises its ugly head. This frequently passes unnoticed. In listening to trauma there must be a witness; this book helps open witnessing through the courageous writing by psychoanalysts, activists, artists, poets and scholars.'- Dori Laub, co-editor of Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis and History, and co-founder of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University'This volume about the unfortunately very timely subject of violence against women includes wideranging discussions of the psychoanalytic and psychosocial dimensions of the problem. It explores national, international, political and personal aspects with depth and sensitivity. The book is a response to those that maintain that psychoanalysis lacks social consciousness and is concerned only with psychic reality and not the real world. The contributors address inter-psychic and interpersonal imperatives and consider historical, cultural, social and psychological determinants in their observations and writings. I am sure the volume will be widely read and widely cited.'- Arnold Richards, psychoanalyst and former editor of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association'In this important book, we hear the voices of women suffering from violence in its many forms brought to us in the voices and words of courageous psychoanalysts, scholars, artists and activists who work to relieve the devastating suffering of so many women in many different contexts. Sex trafficked, fleeing genocides and wars, subject to violence in intimate and in social and cultural spaces, the women who are the focus of this book require our careful, open attention. It will take courage to read this book and to remain attentive to the pains and the triumphs it details. It is imperative that we all absorb the depth of the problem of violence against women and follow the path of the writers in this book to support and undertake work and care of women who are in danger everywhere.'- Adrienne Harris, New York University'The Courage to Fight Violence Against Women boldly addresses the subject from a broad psychosocial perspective that examines such violence as a derivative expression of unconscious fantasies and fears related to women's bodies and socio-political systems of suppression and control demanding an activist view. The volume also discusses creative expressions that deal with the issue as well as covering a number of important topics, including rape, sex trafficking, genital mutilation, and more. The authors originate from a variety of countries and disciplines, offering a rich and diverse understanding of an urgent issue. The editors have crafted an insightful, disturbingly relevant book that all clinicians should read.'- Danielle Knafo, author of The Age of Perversion: Desire and Technology in Psychoanalysis and Culture