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Surviving the Silence - Black Women's Stories of Rape (Hardcover) Loot Price: R551
Discovery Miles 5 510
Surviving the Silence - Black Women's Stories of Rape (Hardcover): Charlotte Pierce-Baker

Surviving the Silence - Black Women's Stories of Rape (Hardcover)

Charlotte Pierce-Baker

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Loot Price R551 Discovery Miles 5 510

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A haunting collection of potent first-person narratives. Herself a rape victim, Pierce-Baker discloses the intimate details of her rape experience, along with those of ten other African-American women. Each of the accounts is singularly harrowing. While Pierce-Baker was raped and sodomized by two men who broke into her home and proceeded to burglarize it in the presence of her husband and son, other stories tell of rapes by relatives, acquaintances, and dates, as well as by strangers. Despite the wide variation in circumstances and ages (the youngest victim was four), certain recurrent responses emerge. The lives of rape victims are almost always thrust into havoc. Many of the women drop out of school or the work force, plunging into deep depression and avoiding social contact, especially with men. Sexual involvement, even with loving partners, is often shunned. As black females, many of the victims are unwilling to speak out against their black perpetrators; they don't wish to further demonize the black man in a society deemed racist; as a result, the women feel powerless. And while many black women who do speak out don't trust the judicial system to take them seriously, this is especially true in the case of women who have been raped by dates or acquaintances. Eighteen-year-old Grace, for example, who was raped by an acquaintance when she was fifteen, explains that she hesitated to share her experiences with anyone because she feared that "they would say it was my fault for not speaking up louder or for not kicking or punching him in the face." What does help each of the survivors, and particularly the author, is the act of disclosure. Sharing their stories is often the beginning of healing. Supplementing the women's narratives with the voices of five sympathetic black men, including her father and son, Pierce-Baker presents an honest and moving portrait of a painful subject too often closeted. (Kirkus Reviews)
Charlotte Pierce-Baker weaves together the accounts of black women who have been raped and who have felt that they had to remain silent in order to protect themselves and their race. The book opens with the author's own account of being raped in her middle-class home outside Philadelphia. It continues, telling of the author's family's response, the ordeal of going to court and the desperate attempts of the members of the family to mend their lives. In the course of her work as a volunteer for Women Organized Against Rape, Pierce-Baker collected stories of other rape victims. The middle section of the book provides the testimonies of ten "silent survivors" - women who were sexually molested by male relatives during childhood, subjected to "acquaintance rape" or, like the author, assaulted by strangers. The final section gives voice to men who have supported the women they love who have been raped. These narratives are combined to tell of black women's survival after sexual violence.

General

Imprint: W W Norton & Co Inc
Country of origin: United States
Release date: 1999
Authors: Charlotte Pierce-Baker
Dimensions: 216 x 148 x 29mm (L x W x T)
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
ISBN-13: 978-0-393-04661-8
Categories: Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Black studies
Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > Women's studies > General
Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Violence in society > Sexual abuse
LSN: 0-393-04661-3
Barcode: 9780393046618

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