Understanding Gender Violence - by Jenn Freitag (Paperback)

About the Book

Accessible and engaging - an essential read for those wanting to understand gender violence

Book Synopsis

Despite 50 years of activism, legal changes, and crisis service provision, there is no evidence to suggest any widespread decrease in rates of gender violence in the U.S. or around the world. Public awareness of gender violence is arguably at its highest, but its impact, causes, and complexities are largely misunderstood by most of the general public.

Understanding Gender Violence: A Comprehensive Approach opens with an exploration of recent efforts to end gender violence. It introduces the common dynamics shared by all forms of gender violence and offers definitions of each type. Freitag then explores the prevalence of gender violence across various cultural intersections and establishes the impact of this issue from the individual to the global level. The text then explains how cultural ideas about gender lead to gender violence and its widespread acceptance. It reveals how factors like difficult life experiences and underdeveloped social and emotional skills contribute to the problem. Finally, Freitag debunks common misperceptions and offers starting points for responding to the realities of gender violence. Throughout the text, case studies drawn from pop culture and the author's own work connect key ideas to real world scenarios. A comprehensive framework offers seasoned professionals a way to reframe and address gender violence with more efficiency, collaboration, and success than ever before. This book's paradigm-shifting perspective will change how crisis advocates, activists, researchers, educators, and students respond to and work to end any type of gender violence in any context.

Review Quotes

"In this comprehensive approach to understanding and addressing gender violence, Dr. Jenn Freitag offers actionable strategies for accountability, justice, and safety to end gender violence in collaborative and sustainable ways. This book is essential reading for activists, scholars, students, and anyone interested in gender justice." --Maureen Ebbens, University of Southern Maine

"Jenn Freitag's book is a gift to scholars, teachers, students, advocates, and practitioners interested in gender violence, the language we use to talk about it, and our collective efforts to end it. Freitag consistently makes complex issues clear and accessible in this practical, theoretically grounded, comprehensive treatment of the topic. Freitag analyzes and critiques the system of gender without neglecting the reality that gender performances can be otherwise-beautiful and life giving." --Leland G. Spencer, University of South Carolina

"Understanding Gender Violence: A Comprehensive Approach is grounded in the most current scholarship on the prevalence of gender violence across a range of sociocultural contexts and geopolitical locations. Freitag provides a panoramic perspective on the systemic and interpersonal dynamics of gender violence toward building sustainable, collaborative interventions and prevention." --Danielle Stern, Christopher Newport University

"Essential reading for gender violence prevention. Grounded in advocacy and academic experience, Understanding Gender Violence offers a new framework for intersectional understanding and action. Freitag integrates multifaceted causes and effects of a culture of gender violence with poignance and practicality, offering wisdom and hope for a less violent tomorrow." --Shauna M. MacDonald, Cape Breton University

"This book delivers what it promises, i.e. a comprehensive approach to the subject of gender-based violence. It will greatly benefit anyone interested in this topic: faculty and students, individuals who provide victim-response and support, facilitators and activists engaged in prevention, individuals responsible for policy-making, and finally, anyone who cares about and wants to learn about the issue. The author's comments and the context provided at the beginning and end of each chapter are insightful and helpful in framing the issues discussed. Complex problems require that we understand their complexity, and Jenn Freitag does a fantastic job of doing just this." --Alan Berkowitz, Independent Researcher and Scholar

"In Understanding Gender Violence, Freitag offers a rare mix of thorough research and genuine compassion, inviting readers into complex issues with clarity and purpose. This isn't just a resource; it's a guide for those who want to make meaningful, informed change." --Danielle McGeough, University of Northern Iowa

"Understanding gender violence requires a comprehensive approach and this book delivers! Clearly written and accessible, it can support learning across universities, in both academic and student affairs, and in community organizations. Thorough discussions of critical concepts further the understanding of gender violence and the culture that sustains it." --Karla D. Scott, St. Louis University

About the Author

Jenn Freitag, PhD, is a writer, speaker, educator, and trainer in the areas of communication, culture, and dialogue. For over 20 years, she has been involved in anti-oppression and gender violence prevention and response work as a crisis advocate, program coordinator, prevention educator, performer, public speaker, professor, and activist.