Louise A. Jackson

Child Sexual Abuse in Victorian England is the first detailed investigation of the way that child abuse was discovered, debated, diagnosed and dealt with in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The focus is placed on the child and his or her experience of court procedure and welfare practice, thereby providing a unique and important evaluation of the treatment of children in the courtroom. Through a series of case studies, including analyses of the criminal courts, the author examines the impact of legislation at grass roots level, and demonstrates why this was a formative period in the legal definition of sexual abuse. Providing a much-needed insight into Victorian attitudes, including that of Christian morality, this book makes a distinctive contribution to the history of crime, social welfare and the family. It also offers a valuable critique of current work on the history of children's homes and institutions, arguing that the inter-personal relationships of children and carers is a crucial area of study.

Child Sexual Abuse in Victorian England

Women's work has proved to be an important and lively subject of debate for historians. An earlier focus on the pay, conditions and occupational opportunities of predominantly blue-collar working-class women has now been joined by an interest in other social groups (white-collar workers, clerical workers and professionals) as well as in the cultural practices of the work place, reflecting in part the recent 'cultural turn' in historical methodology. Although the term 'culture' is debated and contested, this volume reflects this diversity, addressing a variety of interpretations. The individual essays address such issues as how women have created occupational and professional identities, negotiated masculine working practices (cultural, legal and institutional) and created their own 'feminine' environments. They also examine the integration of paid work with domestic responsibilities, the concept of 'career' for women, and the construction and representation of women's work within the wider cultural landscape.' By focusing on the experiences of British women between c.1850 and 1950, the collection vividly demonstrates that the association of 'work' with paid labour is problematic and that the categories of 'work', 'leisure' and 'consumption' must be viewed as overlapping and inter-linked rather than as separate entities. Furthermore, it highlights the ways in which the concept of gender operated as an organising principle in the construction and negotiation of identities and practices in British society.

Britain c.1850–1950

Women and Work Culture

Women Police examines the professional roles, identities, activities and everyday experiences of women employed within the UK police service since the First World War against a backdrop of social and cultural change.As the first in-depth historical study of women's involvement in uniform, plain-clothes and undercover policing in the period before formal integration with male officers in the 1970s, it charts the relationship between gender, surveillance and penal-welfare strategies. For much of the twentieth century women police played a 'specialist' role in the detection and prevention of child abuse and neglect, the investigation of sexual violence and, in London, the regulation of prostitution. The book shows how women officers fashioned their own 'feminine' occupational culture and style of working in relation to male colleagues, other professionals and the women and children they encountered. Jackson concludes by examining experiences at the end of the twentieth century, comparing and contrasting the differing concepts of 'equality' that have shaped women's involvement in the police service.

Gender, welfare and surveillance in the twentieth century

Women Police

Shani D'Cruze

Shani D'Cruze and Louise A. Jackson provide students with a lively overview of women's relationship to the criminal justice system in England, exploring key debates in the regulation of 'respectable' and 'deviant' femininities over the last four centuries. Major issues include: • attitudes towards murder and infanticide * prostitution • the decline of witchcraft belief * sexual violence • the 'girl delinquent' * theft and fraud The volume also examines women's participation in illegal forms of protest and political activism, their experience of penal regimes as well as strategies of resistance, and their involvement in occupations associated with criminal justice itself. Assuming that men and women cannot be studied in isolation, D'Cruze and Jackson make reference to recent studies of masculinity and comment on the ways in which relations between men and women have been understood and negotiated across time. Featuring examples drawn from a rich range of sources such as court records, autobiographies, literature and film, this is an ideal introduction to an increasingly popular area of study.

Louise A. Jackson

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