Dr. Cathy Winkler uses her training as an ethnographer and anthropologist to narrate and contextualize her own experiences as a VISA--her term for “VIctim as Survivor and Activist” (p. vii). She writes of three rapes: the physical rape(s) Kenneth Redding inflicted on her on a summer night in 1987; the “social rape” friends, counselors, colleagues, and others subjected her to following the first rape; and the “legal rape” perpetrated by the criminal justice system as she fought for ten years to bring Redding to justice and prevent him from raping again.

The resulting ethnography is horrific, farcical, tragic, incisive, and inspiring. It is also difficult in some ways to review. First, how does a social scientist writing for a scholarly journal critique a book the author herself describes as “nonfiction, fiction, fantasies, and memories” (p. vii)? This characterization gives Winkler permission to deviate from academic conventions. If I then find myself annoyed when she reveals that a detailed and realistic story she has just told is only a fantasy, how can I object when she has already made this “leeway” explicit? Second, when a book is so profoundly an account of a person’s life, how does one assess the book without at the same time evaluating how the person lived that life, and thus risking becoming one of the very people Winkler describes as culturing rape? If Winkler appears to me “defensive” as she defends virtually every action she has taken and interaction in which she has been involved, am I “judgmental” as I judge, another of those who “isolates” and “silences” VISAs (p. 287)? Although Winkler’s innovative style is highly effective and her efforts to explain and justify her life are entirely consistent with research on revictimization processes, some readers may be put off.

They should read the book anyway. It is richly detailed, employing thick description of the original rape and of Winkler’s interactions with Redding and the people surrounding her in its aftermath, letters written by and to her, journals, the written commentary of her students, journalists’ accounts, and more--an anthropological treasure trove accumulated during a long and painful odyssey. The organization of these materials is chronological, but also theoretical; importantly, Winkler develops a well-articulated cultural framework for rape and shows how each of the three kinds of rape she describes fit within it, despite their seeming dissimilarities. She thus makes important contributions to social theorizing about culture even as she adds significantly to a much-needed substantive literature on the lived experiences of VISAs. She also offers a methodological critique of quantitative research on rape, pointing out that the “constrained choices” of the survey researcher are “just like the rapist imposed” and that they perpetuate the “culturing” of rape (pp. 115–116).

These elements combine to create a compelling saga and analysis that has the potential to inform, educate, and mobilize diverse audiences. I have never read a more awful, pain-full, and disturbing account of a physical rape, even though Winkler expresses the difficulty of trying to “demonstrate the terror and shock”: “How does a writer who controls words present rape without control?” (p. 176). Winkler spares no details, including even those things too terrible for her to have told anyone previously. She refers to the “realities” of rape in her subtitle, and anyone who works with or knows VISAs, or would teach others about them, can benefit from reading this section of the book.

Perhaps even more important is the story that follows, especially the descriptions of Winkler’s interactions with those who helped and those who (often inadvertently) hindered her. They reveal what happens in the criminal justice system (and other arenas) to people who do not meet cultural expectations of what victims should act like. Winkler astutely captures societal reactions to the “deviant victim”--one who is not passive, compliant, and helpless, but who instead takes an active role throughout. In her efforts to save her life during the physical rape, to find appropriate therapy, to investigate the crime, and to prosecute Kenneth Redding, Winkler, as a survivor and an activist, finds herself the target of a great deal of antagonism and misunderstanding. I have seen just this kind of process occurring when women fight for their rights as “victim-witnesses” in legal arenas serving not their interests, but those of the state and of the accused. Winkler documents this brilliantly and in doing so adds tremendously to scholarship in this area. In sum, I have learned a great deal from this book, however uncomfortably, and highly recommend it.