Across the globe, acts of violence against women produce more deaths, disability, and mutilation than cancer, malaria, and traffic accidents combined. The truth is that violence on such a scale could not exist were it not structured in some way into the very fabric of societies and cultures themselves. It could not continue if it were not somehow supported by deep assumptions about the value of women, or some justification of the use of power. In many cultures such assumptions are reiterated every day in the absence of legal protection for women, or indifference toward issues of human rights. In Scars Across Humanity, Elaine Storkey offers a rigorously researched overview of this global pandemic. From female infanticide and child brides to domestic abuse, prostitution, rape, and honor killings, violence against women occurs at all stages of life, and in all cultures and societies. How and why has this violence become so prevalent? It seems ambitious to hope that we can find an answer to this question, but if violence to women is ever to be eliminated, we need to know what we are up against.
"I've traveled the world observing and writing about injustice against women and girls. I thought I had seen it all. Yet Scars Across Humanity has left me shocked and indescribably saddened. We need this deeply moving book. We need Elaine Storkey's probing research in order to understand the world our sisters inhabit. We need to be challenged to take an active part in the struggle against violence and join those who are working to bring about healing and change."
Kay Marshall Strom, writer, speaker, twenty-first-century abolitionist
"Scars Across Humanity is a thoroughly researched revelation of the constellation of violent injustices against females. What Storkey rightly names 'a global pandemic' piles on social, economic, and spiritual losses beyond anything the world has ever seen. This book serves as a powerful call to action for every reader to speak up and invest in the freedom and empowerment of women and girls in the hardest places."
Michele Rickett, author, CEO of She Is Safe
"Elaine Storkey's Scars Across Humanity is a bold and invaluable effort to educate us on the sprawling global humanitarian crisis that is destroying the lives of millions of women and girls. This well-researched discussion of what women and girls are suffering also reports how many individuals and NGOs are combatting these injustices. Storkey also tackles the root issues that drive, sustain, and normalize this appalling crisis. She is fearless in confronting the role religion plays in the subjugation of women, including her own Judeo-Christian tradition-a topic that needs even further examination. Her discussion of patriarchy and how it violates the humanity of both women and men (no matter how soft a form it takes) is worth the price of the book. It's impossible to overstate the urgency of reading this book and becoming part of the solution. So buckle up and read!"
Carolyn Custis James, author of Malestrom and Half the Church
