Abstract
The Gender of Suicide: Knowledge Production, Theory and Suicidology, by Katrina Jaworski, is an excellent book that will be a much needed addition to the study of suicide. As someone who has taught the Sociology of Death and Dying for more than 40 years, I found this book to be a wonderful, intriguing book to read. While there are only seven chapters, each chapter is full of information, analysis, history, and theoretical knowledge that makes it a difficult book to put down. The author is clearly trained in the European tradition and has mastery of existential thinking and analysis. For readers trained in the U.S. tradition, this book will be an enlightening read. This book is not written for the suicide survivor or for the lay audience. It is truly a scholarly text that is intended for scholars, students, professionals in the field, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, educators, and “cop docs.” As a scholarly text, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in gender, suicidology, sociology, theory development, or working with suicide and gender issues.
As an educator, this book is an excellent resource for teaching about Durkheim’s analysis of suicide, theoretical sociology, gender theory and analysis, and analyzing social events with a sociological model. I would have enjoyed having this book as a text in my Sociology of Death and Dying course. Jaworski begins by discussing suicide through gender with the framework of hermeneutics, feminism, and Foucault—a marvelous presentation of her ideas and approach to the role of gender and suicide. While there are many books that examine the history of knowledge construction of suicide and of gender, her analysis is thought-provoking, informative, theoretical, interesting, and fun to read. In chapter 2, Jaworski attempts to recast the methodology of how gender is framed sociologically using the work of Judith Butler on performativity to show how understanding suicide is dependent upon more than suicide itself. Chapter 3 offers an examination of the work of Emile Durkheim that is truly refreshing, interesting, and scholarly. Durkheim would have gained a lot from reading her analysis of his work on gender and suicide. Having written my own dissertation using Durkheim’s model of suicide, I was fascinated with her analysis of his approach. Chapter 4 examines the legal process of investigating suicide from the inquest, medical-legal, and psychiatric models. Chapter 5 looks at the physical body, the autopsy, and the images of dead bodies. Antoon A. Leenaars’ work on the “psychological autopsy” would be a similar model in the United States. The focus, like that of Leenaars, is on the images, intent, and the role of gender in the interpretations. Chapter 6 looks at the role of depression, state of mind, the desire to die, and the work of Edwin Shneidman, who saw suicide as “a drama of the mind.” Jaworski’s examination of Shneidman’s work, feminism and gender, and desire are excellent. Chapter 7 mirrors with work of sociologist Robert Fulton and his analysis of media coverage. Robert Fulton’s work with the deaths of Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, and others with public and media images is quite similar to her analysis of Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates, female suicide bombers, indigenous suicides, and queer youth suicides. This is an another excellent chapter for students, scholars, and even media producers to read.
Katrina Jaworski presents a model of suicidology that suggests that suicide as a form of death and dying is understood only by examining it as it relates to life and living. She rejects the clinical approach and calls for a less compartmentalized approach using gendered meanings, the relationship between life and death, and an understanding that “determinate truths” and answers may not be able to explain the complicated causes of suicide. While the book could be used in a course in social theory, it is more directly suited to courses in death and dying, suicidology, and psychology. As a book, it clearly fills a need in the field of suicidology. It offers an examination of the role of gender that builds on the work of Emile Durkheim over 100 years ago. For those who study social theory, her analysis of the work of Durkheim would be an excellent addition to any social theory course. In teaching about Durkheim’s theories, I would use this book to provide an analysis of his work from a different perspective than traditional social theory books. She also offers a way to improve his analysis of the role of gender in suicide. For those in death and dying courses, be they sociological, philosophical, or psychological, the analysis of the role of gender in suicide is a welcome addition to the field. While I have not taught a course that dealt just with suicide, it is an important part of the discussion of death and dying. This book would offer a deeper, more scholarly analysis of suicide than any of the existing textbooks. It should also be quite interesting for both male and female students as well as those who plan to go on to work in the death awareness field.
The greatest strengths of the book are the level of analysis, the use of theoretical concepts, and the fresh ideas and concepts that she develops. She has an excellent analysis of the history of societal responses to suicide as well as an excellent review of the history of theories of suicide. It is a scholarly book with excellent research and study. It is very well written, interesting, and easy to read but deep in analysis and explanation. It is truly a book that I enjoyed reading. I learned a great deal reading the book and look forward to reading her future works. The book is a critical analysis of what has been taught for the last hundred years on suicide. It forces us to critique our own understanding of the causes, images, and understandings of suicide. It is an important contribution to sociology, theory, suicidology, psychology, and death and dying. It is beautifully written and very understandable for readers of all levels. For the scholarly, the book is theoretically demanding and forces thinking. For those wanting to understand the role of gender, bodies, culture, and subjectivity in suicide, the book offers a thoughtful, ethical, and useful approach. I would highly recommend this book to any serious scholar, an interested learner, or a professional in the field.