Tanya Serisier, Speaking out: Feminism, rape and narrative politics

AuthorRachel Loney-Howes
Date01 June 2020
DOI10.1177/0004865820907006
Published date01 June 2020
Subject MatterBook Reviews
ANJJ-53-02-TOC 1..2 Book Reviews
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The conclusion of Chan’s book is subtitled with another compelling question: “How
Do Sexual Murderers Differ from Sexual Offenders Who Do Not Kill?” His detailed
assembly of the available data on the commonalities and differences between sexual
homicide offenders and non-homicide sexual offenders sheds additional light upon the
issue flagged in Beauregard, DeLisi, and Hewitt’s (2018) article.
Chan’s casebook does a great deal to consolidate the scholarly work on sexual homi-
cide and goes some way in advancing it. He is to be commended. Of course, Chan’s
casebook is not encyclopedic, and it does not analyze some of the more infamous, but
early, cases of sexual homicide. It would, for example, be very interesting to assess the
aforementioned Ripper case through his typological lenses. Similarly, it would be
enlightening to examine the cases of Gilles de Rais (the lieutenant of Joan of Arc,
who confessed to sodomizing and murdering more than 100 children) or Albert Fish
(who killed at least three children and perhaps as many as 100). Chan’s casebook
demonstrates that current models can accommodate sexual homicides across various
countries. It would be intriguing to ask whether they can also extend through time.
References
Beauregard, E., DeLisi, M., & Hewitt, A. (2018). Sexual murderers: Sex offender, murderer, or
both? Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 30(8), 932–950.
Chan, H. C. O. (2015). Understanding sexual homicide offenders: An integrated approach.
Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008).
Krafft-Ebing, R. V. (1894). Psychopathia sexualis (C. G. Chaddock, Trans.). London, England:
F. J. Rebman.
Sugden, P. (2002). The complete history of Jack the Ripper. London, England: Carroll & Graf.
Tanya Serisier, Speaking out: Feminism, rape and narrative politics. Palgrave Macmillan: Switzerland, 2018;
259 pp. ISBN 9783319986685, e77.99 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Rachel Loney-Howes, University of Wollongong, Australia
Speaking Out: Feminism, Rape and Narrative Politics, by Tanya Serisier, explores the
tensions, contradictions, paradoxes and relationship between feminism and feminists,
anti-rape activism, and institutional responses to rape, as they pertain to the long-
standing strategy of speaking out about the experiences of rape as a tool of recognition
and prevention. The book offers a compelling, detailed, and nuanced analysis – and
critique – of the ways in which survivors of rape have engaged with, created, and
reformulated...

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