Book Review: Policing and Punishment in China: From Patriarchy to “the People”
| Author | Sarah Biddulph |
| Published date | 01 December 1993 |
| Date | 01 December 1993 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486589302600309 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
274 BOOK REVIEWS (1993) 26
ANZJ
Crim
pedophile" (p 34). Holmes gives a description of different types of pedophiles and
their characteristics. He then moves into a discussion of incest. In this section he
draws exclusively on a family dysfunction etiology suggesting that the daughter takes
the place of the wife (p 43). These types of assertions have been discounted by many
researchers in recent years, such as Stanko (1985) and Kelly (1988). They carry no
validity in current research debates on child sexual assault and contribute nothing to
agreater understanding
of
these problems.
In chapter six, Holmes discusses homosexuality. He uses biblical texts tojustify his
argument that homosexuality is a sex crime. As with much of the earlier material in
the book, the analysis issimplistic and poorly argued.
Chapter seven looks at rape. Here the author again suggests that the mother/son
relationship is pivotal to the later development of men as rapists. He states when
describing rapists' mothers "
...
the mother is typically described as rejecting
...
domineering, punitive, overprotective and seductive" (p 79).
The
author's
underlying contention throughout the book is that women are responsible for the
sexual violence perpetrated against them by men. He fails to consider any of the
broadly accepted psychological, sociological or feminist theories relating to sexual
violence.
In the final chapters, Holmes discusses adult and child pornography. He argues
that sexually explicit materials do not in themselves foster sexual violence, rather,
"pornography coupled with violence decreases inhibitions for some and leads to
some victimisation" (p 90). There is also discussion of victims of sexual assault and
an outline of the various treatments for sex offenders such as behaviour therapy,
cognitive therapy
and
medical therapy.
In conclusion, Sex
Crimes
is a book which offers little to the academic reader. The
book clearly fails in its attempt to provide an overview of perpetrators, behaviours
and etiologies of sexual crimes. The book draws lightly on the recent academic
research. The research which is drawn upon is simplistically analysed and
uncritically discussed. Overall, the book sensationlises a serious topic, its only
contribution appears to be by way of an expensive glossary of technical terms. In an
area with a burgeoning literature, the reader is cautioned to be critical of work such
as this.
REFERENCES
Kelly (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence, University of Minnesota Press, USA.
Stanko, E (1985) Intimate Intrusions: Women's Experience
of
Male Violence, Routledge &
Kegan Paul, London.
Deakin
University
KATHY
PHELAN
Policing
and
Punishment in China: From Patriarchy to "the People", Michael R
Dutton, Cambridge University Press, (1992) 391pp, $75 cloth.
Michael Dutton asks us: "How does one begin a work on social regulation and
punishment in China?" This is not only a good question, it is, as it were, the key to
other
basic questions we must ask ourselves. How do we understand and judge the
present? More particularly, how do we construct a context within which China's
regimes for social regulation and punishment can be examinedand understood? In
his book Policing
and
Punishment in China: From Patriarchy to "the People': Michael
Dutton confronts these questions and invites us to engage with him in their process
of definition and exploration.
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