Drawing on historical evidence and recent criminal cases, Marriner's chilling catalogue of human flesh-eaters takes us to the frontiers of real-life horror...

Cross-cultural study of sexual attitudes.--Misha Schutt.

The Last Taboo' makes the case against having babies despite fierce, centuries old pressure on women to legitimate themselves through motherhood. Motherhood is the most important issue for a woman since it impacts everything in her life and exerts incredible pressure. This alternative, saying no to babies, will be welcome to women who are considering having babies, who are not sure about children, who don't want to have children but feel they must, who resent pressure to become pregnant, and who feel stigmatized for not having had children. Feminists, environmentalists, progressives will also benefit, as will academic programs in women's studies and family.

Through an intensive clinical study of forty incest victims and numerous interviews with professionals in mental health, child protection, and law enforcement, Judith Herman develops a composite picture of the incestuous family. In a new afterword, Herman offers a lucid and thorough overview of the knowledge that has developed about incest and other forms of sexual abuse since this book was first published. Reviewing the extensive research literature that demonstrates the validity of incest survivors' sometimes repressed and recovered memories, she convincingly challenges the rhetoric and methods of the backlash movement against incest survivors, and the concerted attempt to deny the events they find the courage to describe.

Recognizing child maltreatment as a complex phenomenon requiring multifaceted responses, this volume provides a current and comprehensive assessment of the problem, and argues for an expanded conception of helping on the part of those who work with maltreated children, their families, and their communities. Contributions follow a general outline that addresses current theory and models of practice, and empirical knowledge regarding the problem, intervention, and outcomes. Presenting and up-to- date and encompassing view of how to combat child abuse and neglect, this book discusses the concerns of service providers as well as academics. All the prevalent ways of responding to child maltreatment are addressed, and each is discussed in terms of theory, implementation and evidence for its effectiveness. For use as an undergraduate or graduate level text for courses in child welfare, sociology, family studies, and community psychology. This text would also be insightful for professionals, academics, and policymakers concerned with child welfare.

What personal truths reside in biological ties that are absent in adoptive ties? And why do we think adoptive and biological ties are essentially different when it comes to understanding who we are? At a time when interest in DNA and ancestry is exploding, Frances Latchford questions the idea that knowing one's bio-genealogy is integral to personal identity or a sense of family and belonging. Upending our established values and beliefs about what makes a family, Steeped in Blood examines the social and political devaluation of adoptive ties. It takes readers on an intellectual journey through accepted wisdom about adoption, twins, kinship, and incest, and challenges our naturalistic and individualistic assumptions about identity and the biological ties that bind us, sometimes violently, to our families. Latchford exposes how our desire for bio-genealogical knowledge, understood as it is by family and adoption experts, pathologizes adoptees by posing the biological tie as a necessary condition for normal identity formation. Rejecting the idea that a love of the self-same is fundamental to family bonds, her book is a reaction to the wounds families suffer whenever they dare to revel in their difference. A rejoinder to rhetoric that defines adoptees, adoptive kin, and their family intimacies as inferior and inauthentic, Steeped in Blood's view through the lens of critical adoption studies decentres our cultural obsession with the biological family imaginary and makes real the possibility of being family in the absence of blood.

Build a woman-centered social work practice for the new millennium! “How do we take the strengths women have--have always had--and use them to build a world that is validating, liberating, and inclusive?” This is the question at the heart of Building on Women's Strengths. This groundbreaking book explores the ways a woman-centered worldview can transform social policy, social services, and direct practice. Updated to honor the memory of Liane V. Davis, who died in 1995, this new edition of Building on Women's Strengths offers updated information to reflect the enormous changes that have occurred since 1994 in women's lives. Many of the original selections have been revised or totally rewritten to reflect those changes and the more integrated policy/practice focus of this edition. New chapters were added on working with women who have been incarcerated, women on welfare who experience violence, and lesbian and bisexual women. Building on Women's Strengths presents a woman-centered approach to understanding and analyzing the issues women must confront in their daily lives, including: family violence welfare reform mental health child welfare aging racism being silenced by society The Journal of the National Association of Social Workers said of the first edition, “Each chapter presents with skill and rigor an opening for respectful and challenging discourse.” This edition of Building on Women's Strengths offers an even more comprehensive view of the ways to overcome oppression in women's lives. It is an essential volume for social workers, policymakers, mental health professionals, and anyone working toward social justice for all women.