Sex and World Peace

By William R. Jankowiak

Book Overview

Sex and World Peace unsettles a variety of assumptions in political and security discourse, demonstrating that the security of women is a vital factor in the security of the state and its incidence of conflict and war.

The authors compare micro-level gender violence and macro-level state peacefulness in global settings, supporting their findings with detailed analyses and color maps. Harnessing an immense amount of data, they call attention to discrepancies between national laws protecting women and the enforcement of those laws, and they note the adverse effects on state security of abnormal sex ratios favoring males, the practice of polygamy, and inequitable realities in family law, among other gendered aggressions.

The authors find that the treatment of women informs human interaction at all levels of society. Their research challenges conventional definitions of security and democracy and shows that the treatment of gender, played out on the world stage, informs the true clash of civilizations. In terms of resolving these injustices, the authors examine top-down and bottom-up approaches to healing wounds of violence against women, as well as ways to rectify inequalities in family law and the lack of parity in decision-making councils. Emphasizing the importance of an R2PW, or state responsibility to protect women, they mount a solid campaign against women's systemic insecurity, which effectively unravels the security of all.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231131836
• ISBN13: 9780231131834
• Release Date: February 2014
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

wonderful

a wonderful and fascinating insight into the minds and methods of the Chinese and the Mongols of northern China. Explores many aspects of their culture, though Jankowiak does not really differentiate between the two (much of the Mongol culture has been assimilated by the Han, or Chinese). my favorite chapters were chapter 6: Strangers Mediating Strangers, demonstrating the communal mentality of the Chinese, and chapter 8: Romance in Daily Life, because of the many similarities to Western cultures and the differences based on the different mentalities. though my research deals mostly with ancient China, Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City provides wonderful insight and is a truly fascinating read.