Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Killing Radicalism: Anti-Rape Advocacy Reimagined

Killing Radicalism: Anti-Rape Advocacy Reimagined

Chen, Melinda

Hardcover

CriminologyGeneral Gender StudiesWomen's Studies

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1479828238
ISBN13: 9781479828234
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: Apr 7 2026
Pages: 336
Weight: 1.37
Height: 0.88 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

A radical challenge to the ways anti-rape advocates work with the survivors of sexual assault

What is victim advocacy when regulated by the government? Victim advocates have long served as the designated support people for survivors of sexual violence. But in the neoliberal era, advocates no longer work at independent collectives supporting survivors through whatever means necessary, but instead operate at rape crisis centers, government-funded agencies with strict policies on the uses of their funding. In this compelling book, Melinda Chen argues that pressures from governmental granting agencies onto rape crisis centers have compelled advocates to turn away from their responsibility of challenging intersectional violence and instead lean into normative interpretations of rape and survivorship, hurting the most marginalized of victims.

Killing Radicalism demonstrates that even the most well-intentioned anti-rape activists can inadvertently harm survivors when they forgo an intersectional critique of the oppressive social and institutional structures around them. Through interviews with advocates from over 50 rape crisis centers, and drawing from her own experience as an advocate, Chen examines how neoliberalism affects anti-rape advocacy today. She shows that through everyday activities like grant writing or the compilation of survey data, advocates can inadvertently force victims out of the post-rape process through small-scale acts suggesting that they are not worthy victims.

Chen asks advocates to reconsider their relationship to racial and other marginalized peoples' movements to reimagine a radical politics that can resist hegemonic and normative state powers. Ultimately, this book is a wake-up call for advocates and scholars to reexamine their approaches to anti-violence work and prioritize the needs of all survivors.

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