A review by roach
A Field Guide for Female Interrogators by Coco Fusco

challenging informative fast-paced

3.5

 

It seems to me that our culture lacks a precise political vocabulary for understanding women as self-conscious perpetrators of sexual violence. We rely instead on moralistic language about virtue, privacy, and emotional vulnerability to define female sexuality, or on limited views that frame women's historical condition as victims.

This was a very interesting read about the weaponizing of female sexuality, specifically in the context of US military torturing methods.
Coco Fusco obviously talks about patriarchal systems that exploit feminist ideals, which is not very surprising. But the author also talks about the skewed and difficult way we culturally perceive (or don't) sexual violence from female perpetrators, and the way we generalized and gendered the concepts of victim and perpetrator, which is a fascinating subject.

I don't know if I agree with everything Coco writes here, but it nonetheless was a very engaging and pretty thought-provoking short read.