Book Reviews : BELINDA FEHLBERG, Sexually Transmitted Debt: Surety Experience and English Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, 310 pp., £40.00
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/096466399800700414 |
| Author | Alice Belcher |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
588
BELINDA
FEHLBERG,
Sexually
Transmitted
Debt:
Surety
Experience
and
English
Law.
Oxford:
Oxford
University
Press,
1997,
310
pp.,
£40.00.
This
book
reveals
the
frighteningly
strong
power
of
emotional
manipulation.
I
had
some
doubts
about
reading
it,
but
I
need
not
have.
My
interest
was
engaged
in
the
opening
pages
and,
on
the
whole,
sustained.
The
book
is
based
on
a
DPhil
thesis
and
the
first
thing
to
say
is
that
its
research
contribution
is
obvious
and
welcome.
Struc-
turally
it is
in
the
standard
format
of
a
work
of
social
science
research.
The
intro-
duction
explains
the
importance
of
the
topic,
some
of the
terminology
employed
and
the
structure
of
the
book.
The
next
two
chapters
set
the
scene
for
the
research
work
by
providing
a
legal
context
and
a
short
literature
review.
The
research
methodology
is
then
explained,
results
presented
and
conclusions
drawn.
I
found
this
familiar
framework
both
helpful
and
comforting.
Within
the
standard
structure,
however,
Fehlberg
manages
to
write
in
an
uncomplicated
style
without
in
any
way
being
shallow.
The
typical
scenario
which
Fehlberg
investigates
is
one
where
’a
wife,
under
some
emotional
pressure
or
misunderstanding
caused
by
her
husband,
signs
a
charge
over
the
family
home
in
order
to
provide
financial
assistance
to
a
business,
usually
con-
ducted
by
her
husband,
but
often
providing
the
family’s
income’
(p.
2),
but
her
research
also
includes
partners
in
relationships
outside
of
marriage
and
(in
two
instances
out
of
the
20
researched)
male
sureties.
The
public/private
dichotomy
provides
some
of the
book’s
theoretical
grounding
and,
at
the
heart
of
the
book,
lies
the
question
of
’whether
the
law
is
the
most
appro-
priate
way,
or
even an
effective
way,
of
dealing
with
the
problems
faced
by
sureties’
(p.
281).
At
the
outset,
the
use
of
the
law
is
seen
as
problematic;
Fehlberg
points
out
that
’while
contract
law
assumes
an
equal
and
agreed
bargain
between
the
parties,
the
reality
of
the
conjugal
relationship
does
not
align
with
this ...
the
contract
is
not
between
equals,
socially
or
economically.
The
&dquo;public&dquo;
judicial
perspective
of
the
partnership
of
marriage ...
tends
to
conceal
this
&dquo;private&dquo;
reality’
(p.
90).
The
book
reports
the
results
of
49
semi-structured
personal
interviews
with
sureties,
debtors,
lenders
and
lawyers.
The
’private
reality’
experienced
by
the
20
sureties
consists
of
financial
ruin,
emotional
trauma
and,
in
at
least
one
case,
physical
violence.
The
night-
mare
quality
of
the
sureties’
experiences
is,
perhaps,
most
apparent
in
their
descrip-
tions
of
how
they
came
to
sign
the
relevant
documents.
One
said:
’I
was
just
forced.
There’s
no
other
word
really
to
describe
it.
Not
physically
forced,
but
forced’ (p.181).
Another
said
’It
was
real
emotional
blackmail,
almost,
&dquo;If
you
can’t
do
this
for
me,
I
don’t
see
that
we
have
a
relationship&dquo;’
(p.
182).
Complex
and
conflicting
emotions
were
shown
by
the
surety
who
said:
’I
didn’t
feel
I
had
any
choice
[about
signing]
because
he
attacked
me
...
I
hated
him
and
I
loved
him ...
I
think
in
the
end
I
signed
because
I
loved
him’
(p.
184).
Faced
with
the
private
reality
of
severe
emotional
manipulation,
the
sureties
were
asked
to
become
part
of
a
transaction
which
could,
on
the
face
of
it,
be
enforced
in
the
public
sphere
of
commerce.
In
The
Woman in
Whtte
by
Wilkie
Collins,
a
Victorian
wife
who
refuses
to
sign
over
property
to
her
husband
has
her
own
death faked
(so
the
property
passes
to
the
husband)
and
is
shut
up
in
a
private
asylum
for
the
insane
under
another
name.
The
Woman
in
White
is
an
extraordinary
book
not
because
the
husband
attempts
to
manipulate
the
wife,
but
because
the
wife
(supported
by
her
half
sister)
shows
an
extraordinary
degree
of
resist-
ance
when
asked
to
sign.
The
crucial
legal
question
of
Fehlberg’s
sureties
is
the
extent
to
which
private
pres-
sures
and
misunderstandings
may
operate
to
invalidate
the
transaction
against
the
lender
(p.
2).
However,
Fehlberg
concludes
that
the
problem
requires
a
social
rather
than
a
legal
solution.
She
states:
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