The Criminalization Of A Woman S Body

This groundbreaking book addresses the ominous trend of introducing and passing laws and court decisions regulating the actions of women and the control of their bodies. One of the few books published on the criminalization of women’s bodies, this timely book takes a serious look at the effect these laws would have on women and the threat to their autonomy, privacy, and control; their bodily integrity; control over reproductive capacities; and their constitutional rights. From ancient literature to the literature and law of contemporary society, a woman’s value has often rested on her fulfilling expected roles as wife and mother. The lack of respect for women inherent in this predominantly male-oriented line of thinking is reinforced in this new trend of legislation and court decisions attempting to regulate women’s behavior and reproductive capacity. The Criminalization of a Woman’s Body thoroughly discusses these special laws governing women’s personal choices and the threats these laws and court decisions pose to women’s autonomy and constitutional rights. Scholars from Israel, Italy, and the United States provide a multidimensional discussion of the problem facing women in many, if not all, countries. Contributors represent various disciplines including, law, philosophy, medicine, political science, sociology, women’s studies, and criminal justice. Articles analyze sensitive issues surrounding abortion and its impending criminalization in several countries; controversial topics on contract motherhood; the power of administrative agencies to control and informally criminalize pregnant women and new mothers; policies meant to protect the fetus from pregnant women who deviate from medically, socially, and legally sanctioned behavior which may deter women from seeking any medical care; and the destruction of families due to the criminalization of pregnant women and new mothers and the consequent removal of their children and placement into foster care. Professors, students, librarians, agency workers dealing with women’s issues, and women and men in the general public will find this important book a helpful tool in sorting through the complex issues on criminalizing women’s bodies.

In Policing the Womb, Michele Goodwin explores how states abuse laws and infringe on rights to police women and their pregnancies. This book looks at the impact of these often arbitrary laws which can result in the punishment, incarceration, and humiliation of women, particularly poor women and women of color. Frequently based on unscientific claims of endangering a fetus, these laws allow extraordinary powers to state authorities over reproductive freedom and pregnancies. In this book, Michele Goodwin discusses real examples of women whose pregnancies have been controlled by the law and what has led to the United States being the deadliest country in the developed world for a woman to be pregnant.

In this book, motherhood and reproduction are identified as sites of legal, political, and ideological surveillance, regulation, and criminalization. Collectively, this rich and diverse edited volume builds on cross-disciplinary frameworks and an attention to differences among mothers to analyze multiple ways that mothers and pregnant women face culture, policy, or practices that may criminalize their identities or their actions. Several themes cross the volumes’ six chapters, from the importance of and problems related to socialized expectations of what “good mothers” should do – for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and never incarcerated mothers alike – to the role of state actors and everyday informal interactions in enforcing these expectations, particularly against marginalized, Black, Brown and young mothers in open-air prisons. Conflicts between motherhood ideologies and state control dominate many women under carceral motherhood. Nation-states are also implicated in these analyses, particularly in the European Union, where nation-states outsource abortion across and within geopolitical borders, making migration a contested strategy for pregnant women. Yet despite the criminalizing of motherhood and reproduction described in the text, women and mothers are also found to be resilient, choosing their identities and their actions. Criminalizing Motherhood and Reproduction will be a key resource for researchers, scholars and practitioners in the fields of feminist criminology and motherhood studies, criminology and criminal justice, women’s studies, gender studies, child and youth studies and sociology. It was originally published as a special issue of Women & Criminal Justice.

Drawing on surveys and interviews with almost 300 female military personnel, Melissa Herbert explores how women's everyday actions, such as choice of uniform, hobby, or social activity, involve the creation and re-creation of what it means to be a woman, and particularly a woman soldier. Do women feel pressured to be "more masculine," to convey that they are not a threat to men's jobs or status and to avoid being perceived as lesbians? She also examines the role of gender and sexuality in the maintenance of the male-defined military institution, proposing that, more than sexual harassment or individual discrimination, it is the military's masculine ideology--which views military service as the domain of men and as a mechanism for the achievement of manhood--which serves to limit women's participation in the military has increased dramatically. In the wake of armed conflict involving female military personnel and several sexual misconduct scandals, much attention has focused on what life is like for women in the armed services. Few, however, have examined how these women negotiate an environment that has been structured and defined as masculine.

This is one of the first books to introduce students to the key concepts and debates surrounding the relationship between bodily boundaries, abject materiality and spaces. The text includes original interview and focus group data informed by feminist theory on the body and uses case studies to illustrate the social construction of bodies. It will critically engage students in topical questions around sexuality, cultural differences and women's sub-ordination to men.

This anthology offers a multicultural, international look at the issues of environment, development, and population control. Feminist scholars and activists reveal the racism behind the scapegoating of women, the poor and immigrants as the source of major world problems, and present realistic solutions that rely on the ingenuity and resourcefulness of women.

This collection unravels the stereotypical images of gender and space and presents a series of new explorations into both 'lived' and 'imagined' spaces. In New Frontiers of Space, Bodies and Gender leading contemporary writers from across an eclectic mix of disciplines, examine an exciting array of issues such as: * Jamaican Ragga music and female performance * Feminist anti-violence work * Pregnant women's experience of shopping centres * The fear of crime felt by women using urban greenspace * Implications of technology in gendering identities This book forges new parameters for debates of gender and space, leaving behind the simple focus on women-as-victim in the public arena and remapping considerations of space which look beyond bricks and mortar. Contributors: Aylish Wood, Robyn Longhurst, Ali Grant, Lesley Klein, Affrica Taylor, Inga-Lisa Sangregorio, Jacqueline Leavitt, Tracey Skelton, Nina Wakeford, Jos Boys, Sally R. Munt, Doreen Massey, Jacquie Burgess, Maher Anjum, Lynne Walker.

Historically, women have been an afterthought in criminal justice policymaking and the criminological enterprise. The study of criminology has largely been the study of criminal men, because women commit less crime than men. More recently, criminologists have paid increased attention to the population of female offenders, partly because of their growing numbers and partly because of the tens of thousands of children affected by having their mothers in prison or on supervised release. The recent attention, however, has not necessarily been a good thing for women, who are much more likely to be formally prosecuted and incarcerated today than in decades past. This policy shift has come about partly because of misinformed policies implemented to “help” women, and partly because of shifts in theorists’ beliefs and public perceptions that women and men are similar in their criminal motivations and should, therefore, be treated similarly. The controversy surrounding this perception is the focus of this book. To better comprehend the challenges facing women in the criminal justice system, the author (a winner of the Bruce Smith Sr. Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences) employs research findings and statistics to: describe the prevalence and patterns of women’s crimes; review criminological theories, specifically examining how well they explain female criminality; understand female juvenile offenders, reviewing crime rates, theories relating to female delinquency, and detention-related issues; look inside the women’s prison to better understand female prisoners and their world; examine classification and programming issues—particularly the impact of gender-specific programming; and explore the problems experienced by women upon release and the related issue of women’s recidivism.