Dangerous Exits

Decade after decade, violence against women has gained more attention from scholars, policy makers, and the general public. Social scientists in particular have contributed significant empirical and theoretical understandings to this issue.

Strikingly, scant attention has focused on the victimization of women who want to leave their hostile partners. This groundbreaking work challenges the perception that rural communities are safe havens from the brutality of urban living. Identifying hidden crimes of economic blackmail and psychological mistreatment, and the complex relationship between patriarchy and abuse, Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz propose concrete and effective solutions, giving voice to women who have often suffered in silence.

Strikingly, scant attention has focused on the victimization of women who want to leave their hostile partners. This groundbreaking work challenges the perception that rural communities are safe havens from the brutality of urban living. Identifying hidden crimes of economic blackmail and psychological mistreatment, and the complex relationship between patriarchy and abuse, Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz propose concrete and effective solutions, giving voice to women who have often suffered in silence.

Walter S. DeKeseredy is a professor of criminology, justice, and policy studies at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. He is the recipient of the Linda Saltzman Memorial Intimate Partner Violence Researcher Award from the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT).

"This book deserves a special place among the panoply of new scholarship on rural crime. Innovative and multi-dimensional, Dangerous Exits sounds a powerful call for action and policy change."

"Dangerous Exits is a critically important book that details the often invisible terror that many rural women face in their own homes. This book makes a valuable contribution to the field of Violence Against Women by addressing three areas we know far too little about—intimate partner sexual violence, the experiences of rural women, and separation/divorce violence. Dangerous Exits is destined to be a classic—it should be found on the bookshelves of all of us who study violence against women."

"Bravo to DeKeseredy and Schwartz for addressing the important but neglected topic of abused women and rural culture. The authors offer compelling policy suggestions for effective prevention and increasing personal and collective efficacy."

"Dangerous Exits is a new qualitative study examining the physical, psychological, and sexual violence experienced by rural women in the process of leaving their intimate partners. The book consistently takes its cues from the voices of real rural women, and its grounding in the principles of participatory feminist research is nothing short of exemplary."