A Woman Scorned Acquaintance Rape on Trial

In this bracing study of American sexual culture and the politics of acquaintance rape, esteemed anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday identifies the sexual stereotypes that continue to obstruct justice and diminish women. Beginning with a harrowing account of the St. John's rape case, Sanday reaches back through British and American landmark rape cases to explain how, with the exception of earliest Colonial times, rape has been a crime notable for placing the woman on trial. A ground-breaking work of scholarship, A Woman Scorned brings a broader perspective to our understanding of acquaintance rape and envisions, finally, a new paradigm for female sexual equality.