This is an edited volume of 12 articles previously published in Social Problems that may be considered among the most influential in the development of the sociological study of violence against women.

Chapter 1 Introduction: The Emergence of Violence against Women as a Social Problem Part 2 Part I: Forms of Violence against Women Chapter 3 "Riding the Bull at Gilley's": Convicted Rapists Describe the Rewards of Rape Chapter 4 The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence Chapter 5 Safe Conduct: Women, Crime, and Self in Public Places Chapter 6 On Being Stalked Chapter 7 The Locker Room and the Dorm Room: Workplace Norms and the Boundaries of Sexual Harassment in Magazine Editing Part 8 Part II: Institutional Responses to Violence against Women Chapter 9 Prosecutorial Justifications for Sexual Assault Case Rejection: Guarding the "Gateway to Justice" Chapter 10 Gender, Accounts, and Rape Processing Work Chapter 11 Policing Woman Battering Chapter 12 Emergency Department Responses to Battered Women: Resistance to Medicalization Chapter 13 The Social Construction of Deviance: Experts on Battered Women Part 14 Part III: Feminist Activism and Social Change Chapter 15 The Battered Woman Movement and the Creation of the Wife Beating Problem Chapter 16 Identity, Strategy, and Feminist Politics: Clemency for Battered Women Who Kill