Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Theory and Method
Chapter 3: Assaultive Violence
Chapter 4: Sexual Violence
Chapter 5: Nonviolence
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
James W. Messerschmidt is professor of sociology and chair of the criminology department at the University of Southern Maine, where he also teaches in the women's and gender studies program. He is the author or coauthor of a number of books, including Masculinities and Crime and Criminology.
Messerschmidt's timely and thoughtful book relies on life history
methods to illuminate patterns that lead boys and girls to become
physically or sexually violent or to behave in deliberately
nonviolent ways. The book is organized around physical violence,
sexual violence, and nonviolence and features a case-study boy and
girl for each chapter. Well grounded in feminist criminology, the
use of the voices of young men and women makes the theory come
alive. In addition to the interesting relationships that
Messerschmidt (Univ. of Southern Maine) explores (e.g., the
relationship between household and school, gender, adherence to
traditional gender role ideologies), he focuses on bullying,
especially bullying that "punishes" gender nonconformity. In light
of the attention being paid to bullying, this book provides the
after story, in addition to suicide, of which everyone is aware:
bullying, especially when it is not interrupted by parental
support, leads to physical and sexual violence being perpetrated by
the victim of the bullying. Summing Up: Highly recommended.
*CHOICE*
Most research on youth and crime emphasize the categorical
differences among various violent crimes. In his unsparing yet
sympathetic analysis, James Messerschmidt lays out a continuum of
youth violence that embraces everything from schoolyard bullying to
sexual assault. By focusing on commonalities, while remaining
sensitive to important differences, Messerschmidt reframes the
issue, and thus sets a new agenda for social scientists and
criminologists for decades to come.
*Michael Kimmel, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology and
Gender Studies, Stony Brook University*
Sexuality has been largely closeted in criminological theory until
now. In this book, Messerschmidt centers sexuality and
hetero-normativity in theorizing boys' and girls' use of assaultive
and sexual violence. These six life histories of adolescent male
and female offenders reveal the interwoven social constructions of
gender, sexuality, bodies, and context in life paths that produce
repeated violent or sexual offenses. The findings underline the
inadequacy of gender analyses alone. Sexuality and the body must be
brought into the picture and Messerschmidt leads the way.
*Nancy Jurik, Arizona State University*
Where questions about crime meet with questions about gender,
power, youth and social change, James Messerschmidt is one of our
most creative researchers. In this new book, with closely observed
case studies of young people’s lives, he takes us inside the
dilemmas of making masculinity and femininity, with growing bodies
that are often far from the plastic-doll norms of mass culture. He
shows us how violence and sexual abuse may arise in both expected
and unexpected ways. For anyone concerned with youth crime, with
gender justice, or with the epidemic of bullying in schools, this
book will be of great value.
*Raewyn Connell, University of Sydney; author of Gender: In World
Perspective and Masculinities*
Messerschmidt’s comparisons between boys and girls are an important
addition to current gender scholarship, which overwhelmingly
examines either boys and men, or girls and women. The first two
chapters of the book offer an overview of the fields of gender,
sexuality, and criminology that will be invaluable for those
unfamiliar with the fields.
*American Journal of Sociology*
[T]his book adds to this body of literature by introducing the
unique point of view of boys and girls who engage in 'reactive
bullying' (61)—when the victim of bullying engages in his/her own
aggressive and violent behavior in reaction to this
victimization.
*Qualitative Sociology*
Messerschmidt's study is strongly grounded in sociology and
criminology and he builds his current study on the foundations of
previous relevant studies in these fields. In the stories of the
four violent offenders, Messerschmidt makes a strong case for how
the notions of hegemonic masculinity, which include dominance,
physical strength and active heterosexuality, clearly influenced
each young person's choices to engage in acts of violence. He also
provided a helpful analysis of how body size and gender expression
subjected these participants to bullying and harassment in their
schools and neighborhoods, which then was a primary motivator for
them to act out in other ways to demonstrate their masculinity
through dominating others physically and sexually. . . .[this book]
is carefully researched, well written [and] compelling.
*Men and Masculinities*
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