Mad Wife: A Memoir
Submitting to unwanted sex destroyed Kate’s love for her husband

But she considered killing herself before she could imagine leaving


In this electrifying literary memoir, Kate Hamilton deftly traces her complicated journey from loving wife to gaslit victim to furious feminist with an urgent goal: to expose how women are pressured to uphold the institutions of marriage and family, no matter the cost.

In the tradition of Know My Name and The Argonauts, Hamilton braids her own story with cultural criticism to argue that we must face the misogyny lurking in the shadows of marriage in the 21st century. She examines the beliefs and conditioning that held her in an increasingly destructive marriage and unflinchingly documents what she did to keep her family together—therapy, unwanted sex with her husband, swinging, affairs, an abortion—without always knowing what she freely chose. And she considers the damage that was done, to herself and others, until she could acknowledge that to save herself and her sons, she had to destroy her marriage.

Emotionally intense and timely, Mad Wife interrogates how marriage and the institutions that support it provide the perfect ecosystem for abuse of women and children, endangering their lives and denying them autonomy—all in the service of men’s desires.
"1144647854"
Mad Wife: A Memoir
Submitting to unwanted sex destroyed Kate’s love for her husband

But she considered killing herself before she could imagine leaving


In this electrifying literary memoir, Kate Hamilton deftly traces her complicated journey from loving wife to gaslit victim to furious feminist with an urgent goal: to expose how women are pressured to uphold the institutions of marriage and family, no matter the cost.

In the tradition of Know My Name and The Argonauts, Hamilton braids her own story with cultural criticism to argue that we must face the misogyny lurking in the shadows of marriage in the 21st century. She examines the beliefs and conditioning that held her in an increasingly destructive marriage and unflinchingly documents what she did to keep her family together—therapy, unwanted sex with her husband, swinging, affairs, an abortion—without always knowing what she freely chose. And she considers the damage that was done, to herself and others, until she could acknowledge that to save herself and her sons, she had to destroy her marriage.

Emotionally intense and timely, Mad Wife interrogates how marriage and the institutions that support it provide the perfect ecosystem for abuse of women and children, endangering their lives and denying them autonomy—all in the service of men’s desires.
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Mad Wife: A Memoir

Mad Wife: A Memoir

by Kate Hamilton
Mad Wife: A Memoir

Mad Wife: A Memoir

by Kate Hamilton

Hardcover

$29.95 
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Overview

Submitting to unwanted sex destroyed Kate’s love for her husband

But she considered killing herself before she could imagine leaving


In this electrifying literary memoir, Kate Hamilton deftly traces her complicated journey from loving wife to gaslit victim to furious feminist with an urgent goal: to expose how women are pressured to uphold the institutions of marriage and family, no matter the cost.

In the tradition of Know My Name and The Argonauts, Hamilton braids her own story with cultural criticism to argue that we must face the misogyny lurking in the shadows of marriage in the 21st century. She examines the beliefs and conditioning that held her in an increasingly destructive marriage and unflinchingly documents what she did to keep her family together—therapy, unwanted sex with her husband, swinging, affairs, an abortion—without always knowing what she freely chose. And she considers the damage that was done, to herself and others, until she could acknowledge that to save herself and her sons, she had to destroy her marriage.

Emotionally intense and timely, Mad Wife interrogates how marriage and the institutions that support it provide the perfect ecosystem for abuse of women and children, endangering their lives and denying them autonomy—all in the service of men’s desires.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807016404
Publisher: Beacon Press
Publication date: 10/15/2024
Pages: 248
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kate Hamilton is a Professor of English at a university where she teaches literature, literary theory, and women’s writing. She has published numerous books and dozens of academic articles and chapters on a wide array of authors, and she has given talks and keynote speeches about literature, pedagogy, and sexual violence at conferences and workshops throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Her first trade publication, Mad Wife uses these decades of work on literature and sexual violence to clarify her own dark past and illuminate clearer paths forward for other women.

Table of Contents

Author’s Note
Introduction: Testimony


PART 1: TUMULT

1. Fellow Creature
2. Love Story
3. Betrayal
4. Stay
5. Voices

PART 2: SEEMING LIBERATION AND PLEASURE

6. Boiling Frog
7. Freedom
8. Control
9. Family
10. What We Owe Each Other

PART 3: DIVORCE IS NOT WORST THING

11. Inside/Outside
12. Hovel
13. Cruel and Inhumane
14. Control Redux
15. Banshee

PART 4: SEX IS NOT SOMETHING YOU OWE

16. Mad
17. Disturbing
18. Monstrous

Epilogue: Awakening
Resources
Recommended Reading
Acknowledgments
Notes
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