Citation

Picart CJ. Rhetor. Public Aff. 2003; 6(1): 97-125.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Michigan State University Press)

DOI

10.1353/rap.2003.0035

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article I examine the rhetorical dimensions of feminist lawmaking on rape and battering, as instantiated in Violence Against Women Act, and ask why this controversial act, and in particular its civil rights remedy, resulted in ambiguous gains. Current popular and legal interpretations of "agency" (labeled the "reasonable man" standard) and of "victimhood" leave battered women in a double bind.