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Civil Passions: Moral Sentiment and Democratic Deliberation

illuminating the often unintended, but nevertheless problematic, consequences of the forms that this response has taken in the context of neoliberalism. For example, in chapter 2 she examines how feminist characterizations of sexual violence as a key component of “the gender war” have served to inflame public responses to this type of violence in a manner that feeds into racially charged understandings of “good victims” and “dangerous predators.” In chapter 3, she extends this analysis through a discussion of two high-profile gang rape trials: the New Bedford case and the Central Park jogger trial. She argues that both trials demonstrate how such excessively publicized events become “vehicles for acting out expressive justice in ways that serve the state’s need to portray itself as containing the horrors of unleashed sexual atrocities” (56). To the extent that they reinforce a model expressive justice, Bumiller argues that high-profile sexual assault trials “allow for more ‘rationalized’ forms of social control to serve the interests of the most ‘deserving’ victims and to target ‘dangerous’ classes of perpetuators” (62). In chapter 4, Bumiller moves from a focus on symbolic representations to an analysis of bureaucratic structures by examining how the administrative functions of the state have been applied to the feminist campaign against sexual violence. Although she recognizes the value of educating medical and social work professionals about this problem, Bumiller argues that the institutionalized responses that have developed around sexual violence lead to the increased surveillance and control of victims, who inevitably become clients of the state when they seek help. Many of Bumiller’s observations about the negative implications of state responses to sexual violence in the United States will be familiar to those who are interested in the problem of violence against women. There is a well-established and growing body of writing by feminist activists, academics, and service providers who have begun the important process of critically evaluating the progress and impact of the violence-against-women movement. The significant contribution of this book lies in Bumiller’s ability to develop her critique within a larger argument about the growth of neoliberalism and the inevitable consequences that arise when progressive social movements seek to rely on the neoliberal state to achieve their objectives. Her conclusions suggest that, especially in the context of the relentless push toward criminalization, feminists would be wise to adopt a critical stance toward state-based solutions that demands “justice not only in individual cases but for the collectivity. Such a movement would call attention not only to the harm of sexual violence but also to the role of the government in preventing the full exercise of women’s autonomy and freedom, and it would encourage action against the state when it fails to recognize the consequences of violence in women’s lives” (164).