Abstract

This edited collection explores the agency of women who do violence and have violence done to them. Topics covered include rape, pornography, prostitution, suicide bombing and domestic violence. The volume addresses such debates as the extent of women's agency in frameworks of the victim, survivor, or perpetrator; the power of gendered norms, constructs and stereotypes about female violence; and practical concerns about how feminists can escape polarisations in understandings of agency in order to deal with violence done to and by women. The volume contributes to the theoretical debate and is philosophical in its focus, whilst also seeking to draw on the insights of other disciplines. It also engages with practical questions, and offers some social and political responses to the issues examined.