Sexual Violence in German Culture: Rereading and Rewriting the Tradition
Department
Foreign Languages
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
4-1998
Abstract
The book examines fictional and non-fictional texts on sexual violence in German culture between 1774 and 1994. Specifically, it juxtaposes historical and contemporary Penal Codes and statistical records from Germany, theoretical scholarship and applied research from US American and German contexts, and six German primary texts. It identifies representational practices that permeate both "factual" and "fictional" accounts and that gloss over the differences between sexual violence, seduction, and romantic love. Articulating ideological continuities and discontinuities in representing women's victimizations, the author explores the extent to which relevant texts of the late 18th and 19th centuries prefigure social and political issues that we discuss today.