4 "respectful, thoughtful, collaborative" stars !!

Thanx so much to Netgalley, the activist/authors and Verso Books. This was released April 2020 and I am providing an honest review.

The authors have presented their readers with a careful and compassionate guidebook on abolition feminism within a multiracial American context. Here is what they consider to be important for a more just, peaceful and equitable society and tentative plans/goals in how to achieve. The prime focus is on both sexual violence and sexual politics. Lots of helpful background information, community and case examples as well as thoughtful and compassionate rationales with plenty of room for collaboration and disagreement.

1. Abolish the Sex Offender Registry and Civil Commitment
2. De-medicalize Sexual Violence
3. Decriminalize Child and Teen Sexuality
4. Invest in Radical and Free Sex Education
5. Complicate Consent
6. Eroticize Safety, Proliferate Pleasures
7. Build and Sustain a Robust Welfare State, not a Carceral State
8. Think Intersectionally
9. Practice Transformative and Restorative Justice.
10. Embrace Abolition Feminism



Did I agree wholly with this book ? No I did not but that is irrelevant while we try and work together for a more just, equitable and peaceful society.

I learned so much from this book! It's so important. The argument of "but what about the rapists" is always held against prison abolitionists and progressive reformists. Levine and Meiners carefully examine who gets to be labeled a sexual predator and how the prison-industrial complex criminalizes lgbt people and sex workers with these laws. But more than incarceration, sex crime laws label people as such for life, without differentiation for the severity of the crime, and such labels prevent them from living in many areas and finding work, pushing people out into the streets and subjecting them to an endless punishment. I highly recommend this book to everyone who is interested in our justice system and the social justice work surrounding it.

This book deserves to be in criminal justice curriculas around the country. In depth and well-researched while still offering a refreshing perspective of humanity, The Feminist and the Sex Offender takes decades of thorough research and social interactions and packages it into a supremely palatable and entertaining read. A must-read for self-confessed true crime junkies.

The Feminist and The Sex Offender examines the social institutions created around sexual violence. I haven't encountered a book like this, that examines the nature of these systems from a feminist perspective, as well as incorporating ideas of restorative justice and intersectionality around race/class. For that alone, I think it's worth a read.

I did find the book a bit disorganized and hard to follow, as chapters would jump from citing expert testimony to personal anecdotes without many transitions.

**I was given this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review **

The academic piece is an in-depth look at the American justice system and its treatment of sex offenders in particular. The authors, both feminists, argue that this system is broken and there needs to be a non custodial option for those convicted of such offenses.

Its a bold assertion that will anger people and, being honest, I fully expected to hate this book and disagree with everything in it. After all, sex offenders are some of the worst of the worst in our society and deserve to be the locked away, but this book makes a very good case for alternative forms of justice. Some of the statistics it contains are frightening, how normal behaviour is criminalised and the long term impact of that on the lives of all concerned. Of particular interest is the success rates of local community based programmes working with sex offenders in conjuction with victims and the positive impact everyone.

Overall, I found this a very thought provoking book which shocked me in its description of how prisoners are treated in the US system. I might not agree with everything the authors wish to see introduced but they certainly make a great case for it in a calm and measured way.

Obvious trigger warnings for content relating to rape and sexual assault.

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much!

I'm really in two minds about this one. The concept of the book absolutely fascinated me, and there were some incredible points about the lack of intersectionality in feminism, especially related to incarceration rates and race. I thought there were some really interesting debates about sex offenders and the legal system that I hadn't thought of, but there were some aspects to this book that made me like it a little less. I do, however, believe this would be a good text to read for an academic essay for a student or researcher, or someone looking to bolster their feminism knowledge.

Here are my issues, though. I did not like the interview aspects of the book. They really broke the flow of the reading, and they hindered the academic level of the text. Additionally, I felt that it was a bit dry — sort of like a high school history text. These parts really made it a bit of a struggle to keep my focus on the book, and the content itself. It was rather thorough, however, which I did appreciate. There was also a heavy focus on the US system, so if you are looking for a more global perspective, you would be out of luck.