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Elizabeth Stanko 's Influence On Male Violence And Its Aftermath For The Victims Essay

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In reading Elizabeth Stanko’s contribution one becomes attentive to how females are to blame for the brutality of male violence. She states that “male violence against women remains a problem of women’s respectability not men’s behaviour” (4). Additionally, she cautions the reader throughout that male violence is condoned, even infrequently punished, by the Criminal Justice System. Stanko’s book offers a detailed analysis which takes the reader through the act of male violence and its aftermath for the victims.

Within the first section, Stanko addresses four violent crimes that are exerted by men– incest, rape, wife battering and sexual harassment. Stanko draws comparisons between victimised women in Great Britain and in the United States. Additionally, she refers to women of different ages, different financial standings and different ethnicities concluding that “no woman is immune from men’s intimidating, threatening or violent behaviour” (p.1). However, she makes the distinction that the violence women encounter may differentiate based on factors such as ethnicity, class, religion or age. However, Stanko outlines that sexual intrusions are a commonality and are a feature of every woman’s life “the sexually harassing comments, the slap on the face, the grab on the street” (p.1) are familiar acts. This is reflected in the work of Rhode (2014) who as a contemporary criminologist makes an extensive explanation of how male violence is still a common occurrence as stated; “the

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