Diana E. H. Russell (6 November 1938 - 28 July 2020)

 

Diana E. H. Russell in 2009. Throughout her career as a scholar she studied and wrote about violence against women, including rape, incest, child abuse and battering. Credit...Susan Kennedy [Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/obituaries/diana-russell-dead.html]

Rest in power and peace, Diana E. H. Russell!💔

 

I'm trying to imagine all the girls' and women's lives her work and its effects have helped, in part by assisting them in finding their way out of a state of current traumatic and post-traumatic despair, by popularizing the term femicide, by naming men's systematic sexual exploitation of and violence against women that the victims didn't cause or deserve, and by detailing its institutionalised structures. Thank you, Diana. 

 

There are some parts of her story I was not familiar with until reading this article in the New York Times. And there were some appalling aspects to the article. The first was that "men" are not named in the heading which was supposedly making the point it was "men's" violence against women.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/obituaries/diana-russell-dead.html

 

"As a daughter of white privilege growing up in South Africa, her rebellious instincts found an outlet in the anti-apartheid movement." 

 

Why not "...her horror at witnessing racist atrocity led her to the militant wing of the anti-apartheid movement"? That's like saying, Nikki Craft was anti-rape because of her rebellious nature.

 

"In 'The Politics of Rape' (1975), she argued that rape is an act of conformity to ideals of masculinity. Rolling Stone magazine called the book “probably the best introduction to rape now in print.” The best introduction to rape???? 

 

This part is astounding! Dr. Russell’s mother, Kathleen Mary (Gibson) Russell, who was British, had traveled to South Africa to teach education and drama; when she married Mr. Russell, she became a homemaker and had six children but still found time to join the anti-apartheid Black Sash movement. (She was a niece of Violet Gibson, who had attempted to assassinate Mussolini in 1926.) 

 

The "still found time" makes it sound like she did some volunteer work at her church, maybe knitting tea pot cozies. Maybe she was an activist who still found time to look after the children. If you have a much better obit, please send it along.

 

She deserved way better an obituary than that.

 

But with enormous thanks for your life's work, Diana! 💓 Below is a list of her world-changing writings, from Wikipedia.

 

Books

• Russell, Diana E. H. (1974). The politics of rape: the victim's perspective. New York: Stein and Day. ISBN 9780812816570. OCLC 1165996.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1975). Rebellion, revolution and armed force: comparative study of fifteen countries with special emphasis on Cuba and South Africa. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 9780127857459. OCLC 886393.
• Russell, Diana E .H.; van de Ven, Nicole (1976). Crimes against women: international tribunal proceedings. Millbrae, California: Les-Femmes Publishing. ISBN 9780890879214. OCLC 2464570. Conference proceedings.
• Russell, Diana E. H.; Star, Susan; Linden, Robin Ruth; Pagano, Darlene R. (1982). Against sadomasochism: a radical feminist analysis. East Palo Alto, California: Frog in the Well. ISBN 9780960362837. OCLC 7877113.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1984). Sexual exploitation: rape, child sexual abuse, and workplace harassment. Beverly Hills, California: Sage. ISBN 9780803923553. OCLC 10696523.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1986). The secret trauma: incest in the lives of girls and women. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465075966. OCLC 12974265.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1989). Exposing nuclear phallacies. New York: Pergamon Press. ISBN 9780080364759. OCLC 18625199.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1989). Lives of courage: women for a New South Africa. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465041404. OCLC 19723691.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1990). Rape in marriage. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253205636. OCLC 8451646.
• Russell, Diana E. H.; Radford, Jill (1992). Femicide: the politics of woman killing. New York Toronto: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 9780805790283. OCLC 25367570. Front cover.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (September 1993). Against pornography: the evidence of harm. Berkeley, California: Russell Publishing. ISBN 9780963477613. OCLC 29988342.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (December 1993). Making violence sexy: feminist views on pornography. Buckingham: Open University Press. ISBN 9780335192007. OCLC 27106001.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1997). Behind closed doors in White South Africa: incest survivors tell their stories. Jo Campling (consulting editor). New York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312173753. OCLC 36066137.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1998). Dangerous relationships: pornography, misogyny and rape. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. ISBN 9780761905257. OCLC 38257798.
• Russell, Diana E. H.; Bolen, Rebecca M. (2000). The epidemic of rape and child sexual abuse in the United States. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. ISBN 9780761903024. OCLC 43384742.
• Russell, Diana E. H.; Harmes, Roberta A. (2001). Femicide in global perspective. New York: Teachers College Press. ISBN 9780807740477. OCLC 45304762.

Chapters in books

• Russell, Diana E. H. (1983). "Research on how women experience the impact of pornography". In Copp, David; Wendell, Susan (eds.). Pornography and censorship. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9780879751821.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (1992). "Nikki Craft: Inspiring protest: Introduction". In Russell, Diana E. H.; Radford, Jill (eds.). Femicide: the politics of woman killing. New York Toronto: Twayne Publishers. pp. 325–327. ISBN 9780805790283. Pdf.

See also:

"The incredible case of the Stack o' Wheat prints" by Nikki Craft pp. 327-331.

"The evidence of pain" by D. A. Clarke pp. 331–336.

"The rampage against Penthouse" by Melissa Farley pp. 339–345.

• Russell, Diana E. H. (2002). "Pornography causes violence". In Cothran, Helen (ed.). Pornography. Opposing Viewpoints series. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press. pp. 48–51. ISBN 9780737707601. OCLC 45698745. Series editors: Mary E. Odom and Jody Clay-Warner.
• Russell, Diana E. H. (2011). "Russell's theory: exposure to child pornography as a cause of child sexual victimization". In Tankard Reist, Melinda; Bray, Abigail (eds.). Big Porn Inc.: exposing the harms of the global pornography industry. North Melbourne, Victoria: Spinifex Press. pp. 181–194. ISBN 9781876756895.