Fear journals: A strategy for teaching about the social consequences of gendered violence

Although violence against women is an important topic for many sociology cl asses, teaching about it can be problematic. Students may see violence agai nst women as an individual rather than social problem, may trivialize or bl ame victims, or may react defensively. In this paper, I present an approach to teaching about violence that addresses some of these difficulties. Stud ents keep a one-day journal of their experiences of fear and use of safety strategies, and then analyze their findings both individually and in discus sion with their classmates. This analysis helps students to see violence no t simply as an individual experience, but as a form of social control that differently affects social groups. In this paper, I describe this exercise, illustrate its effectiveness using excerpts from students journals, and di scuss the advantages and disadvantages of this pedagogical approach.