Damned Whores and God’s Police: The Colonisation of Women in Australia

Description

Sexual harassment, domestic violence and date rape had not been named, although they certainly existed, when Damned Whores and God’s Police was first published in 1975. That was before the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 and before large numbers of women became visible in employment, in politics and elsewhere across society. It’s hard to imagine an Australia where these abuses were not yet fully understood as obstacles to women’s equality, yet that was Australia in 1975. It was in this climate that Anne Summers identified ‘damned whores’ and ‘God’s police’, the stereotypes that characterised all women as being either virtuous mothers whose function was to civilise society or bad girls who refused, or were unable, to conform to that norm and who were thus spurned and rejected by mainstream Australia. These stereotypes persist to this day, argues Anne Summers in this updated version of her classic book which, in the 40 years since it was first published, has sold well over 100,000 copies and been set on countless school and university syllabuses. Who are today’s damned whores? And why do women themselves still want to be God’s Police? And although sexual harassment, domestic violence and date rape are well understood today they are nevertheless still with us and seem to be increasing. The fight is far from over. Contents Acknowledgements Introduction to the 2016 edition Author’s note to the second revised edition [2002] Author’s note to the new edition [1994] Introduction to the new edition [1994] Introduction [1975] PART ONE: The nexus of oppression 1 A sexist culture 2 Manzone country 3 The sporting wife 4 The ravaged self 5 The poverty of dependence 6 The family of woman 7 A colonised sex PART TWO: Sexist stereotypes past and present 8 ‘Damned whores’ 9 ‘God’s police’ 10 Education for motherhood 11 Feminism and the suffragist 12 The mobilisation of mum 13 Suburban neurotics? 14 Prospects for liberation Letter to the next generation [1994] The march of women [2002] Timeline of achievements by and for Australian women 1788–2015 Notes Index