Rape: Challenging Contemporary Thinking.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Date: 01 April 2010
• Author: Wise, Jenny

Rape: Challenging Contemporary Thinking

Edited by Miranda Horvath and Jennifer Brown

Cullompton: Willan Publishing, 2009

Rape: Challenging Contemporary Thinking is a well researched edited collection and a valuable contribution to the available literature on sexual assault. It does not however, as the title suggests, consistently challenge contemporary thinking. Many of the themes in the edited collection are not new; rather, most of the chapters simply offer a more up-to-date picture of the existing problems facing sexual assault victims who decide to proceed through the criminal justice process. Despite the problems with the title, this edited collection does have a lot to offer to both researchers and practitioners working within the criminal justice system. Much of the work can be practically used to assist victims by informing criminal justice practitioners of more sensitive protocols and by challenging practitioners to confront their own stereotypical beliefs. In addition, while the edited collection focuses on research conducted throughout Europe, it could be applied to most jurisdictions around the world.

In the introduction the editors, Miranda Horvath and Jennifer Brown, state that the book 'presents a comprehensive and up-to-date review of research on rape stereotypes; it confronts existing stereotypes and challenges contemporary thinking about rape' (Horvath & Brown, 2009, p. 4). There are a few moments where contemporary thinking is challenged, including Giner-Sorolla and Russell's chapter on anger and disgust in sexual crimes, and Lovett and Horvath's chapter on alcohol in rape and sexual assault. For the most part though, the chapters cover issues that are well documented in the field, although with greater depth and more current research than previous publications, for example sexual assault in the media and the justice gap faced by victims of sexual assault. It is apt then that the editors argue that this...