Knowing Victims: Feminism, Agency and Victim Politics in Neoliberal Times

200 Pages·2014·0.74 MB·English

by  Rebecca Stringer

KNOWING VICTIMS
Knowing Victimsexplores the theme of victimhood in contemporary feminism and
politics. It focuses on popular and scholarly constructions of feminism as ‘victim
feminism’ – an ideology of passive victimhood that denies women’s agency – and
provides the first comprehensive analysis of the debate about this ideology which
has unfolded among feminists since the 1980s.
The book critically examines a concerted movement away from the language
ofvictimhood across a wide array of discourses, and the neoliberal replacement of
the concept of structural oppression with the concept of personal responsibility.
In derogating the notion of ‘victim’, neoliberalism promotes a conception of
victimization as subjective rather than social, a state of mind rather than a worldly
situation. As a result, victims of poverty, inequality, discrimination and violence
are discursively constructed as the authors of their own suffering, or as genuine
victims of incomprehensible crime.
Drawing upon Nietzsche, Lyotard, rape crisis feminism and feminist philosophy,
Rebecca Stringer situates feminist politicizations of rape, interpersonal violence,
economic inequality and welfare reform as key sites of resistance to the victim-
blaming logic of neoliberalism. She suggests that although recent feminist critiques
of ‘victim feminism’ have critically diagnosed the anti-victim movement, they have
not positively defended victim politics. Stringer argues that a conception of the
victim as an agentic bearer of knowledge, and an understanding of resentment as a
generative force for social change, provides a potent counter to the negative
construction of victimhood characteristic of the neoliberal era.
This accessible and insightful analysis of feminism, neoliberalism and the social
construction of victimhood will be of great interest to researchers and students in
the disciplines of gender and women’s studies, psychology, sociology, politics and
philosophy.
Rebecca Stringer is Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Otago
in Dunedin, New Zealand, and is co-editor, with Hilary Radner, of Feminism at the
Movies: Understanding Gender in Contemporary Popular Cinema (Routledge,
2011).
WOMEN AND PSYCHOLOGY
Series Editor: Jane Ussher
School of Psychology, University of Western Sydney
This series brings together current theory and research on women and psychology.
Drawing on scholarship from a number of different areas of psychology, it bridges
the gap between abstract research and the reality of women’s lives by integrating
theory and practice, research and policy.
Each book addresses a ‘cutting edge’ issue of research, covering topics such as
postnatal depression and eating disorders, and addressing a wide range of theories
and methodologies.
The series provides accessible and concise accounts of key issues in the study of
women and psychology, and clearly demonstrates the centrality of psychology
debates within women’s studies or feminism.
Other titles in this series:
THE THIN WOMAN
Helen Malson
THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE
Anne E. Walker
POST-NATAL DEPRESSION
Paula Nicolson
RE-THINKING ABORTION
Mary Boyle
WOMAN AND AGING
Linda R. Gannon
BEING MARRIED, DOING GENDER
Caroline Dryden
UNDERSTANDING DEPRESSION
Janet M. Stoppard
FEMININITY AND THE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE WOMAN
Precilla Y. L. Choi
GENDER, LANGUAGE AND DISCOURSE
Anne Weatherall
THE SCIENCE/FICTION OF SEX
Annie Potts
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GIRLS AND WOMEN
Sheila Greene
JUST SEX?
Nicola Gavey
WOMAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HERSELF
Helen O’Grady
GENDER TALK
Susan A. Speer
BEAUTY AND MISOGYNY
Sheila Jeffreys
BODY WORK
Sylvia K. Blood
MANAGING THE MONSTROUS FEMININE
Jane M. Ussher
THE CAPACITY TO CARE
Wendy Hollway
SANCTIONING PREGNANCY
Harriet Gross and Helen Pattison
ACCOUNTING FOR RAPE
Irina Anderson and Kathy Doherty
THE SINGLE WOMAN
Jill Reynolds
MATERNAL ENCOUNTERS
Lisa Baraitser
WOMEN AND DEPRESSION
Michelle N. Lafrance
UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Sam Warner
THE GENDERED UNCONSCIOUS
Louise Gyler
HARD KNOCKS
Janice Haaken
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY
Paula Nicolson
‘ADOLESCENCE’, PREGNANCY AND ABORTION
Catriona I. Macleod
THE MADNESS OF WOMEN
Jane M. Ussher
FAT LIVES
Irmgard Tischner
WOMEN VOICING RESISTANCE
Suzanne McKenzie-Mohr and Michelle N. Lafrance
KNOWING VICTIMS
Rebecca Stringer
KNOWING VICTIMS
Feminism, agency and victim politics
in neoliberal times
Rebecca Stringer
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2014
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Routledge
The right of Rebecca Stringer to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Stringer, Rebecca.
Knowing victims : feminism, agency and victim politics in neoliberal times /
Rebecca Stringer.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Women–Crimes against. 2. Women–Violence against. 3. Victims–Political
aspects. 4. Feminism. I. Title.
HV6250.4.W65S79253 2014
362.88082–dc23 2014002346
ISBN: 978-0-415-63492-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-64333-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88012-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
For Dylan
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: feminism and victim politics in neoliberal times 1
1 Victims left, right and centre: constructing ‘victim feminism’ 17
2 Vulnerability after wounding: feminism, rape law and the
differend 57
3 Injury incorporated? Feminism and the politics ofressentiment 87
4 Rethinking ressentiment: Nietzsche and the victim subject in
neoliberal times 131
Conclusion: feminism after neoliberal victim theory 157
Bibliography 163
Index 177
ix