Book Review: Vice Patrol: Cops, courts, and the struggle over urban gay life before Stonewall

• Published date: 01 March 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/07340168221136174
• Author: Sydney Flonnoy
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

how abusers manipulate the identity work (the process of constructing oneself through physical, sym-

bolic, verbal, textual, and behavioral cues) of transgender partners as a way to exert control. Finally,

this research explains why survivors stay in an abusive relationship and sends a message of hope and

resilience to survivors and those in abusive relationships.

Part two is comprised of chapters four through six. Chapters four, f‌ive, and six explore barriers to

escaping abuse, transgender resilience and coping mechanisms among survivors, theories and sup-

porting evidence, gaps in T-IPV research, and the intersections of race and immigration. These chap-

ters demonstrate how resilient transgender people are in the face of abuse, transphobia-fueled

isolation, and stigmatization, among many other barriers to escaping T-IPV. By exploring empirical

research and theoretical explanations of T-IPV, the authors provide distinctions between the experi-

ences of cisgender and transgender people and aim to help survivors or those in abusive relationships

by providing practical strategies and skills for service providers to adopt.

Part three discusses best practices in T-IPV service provisions and law. Chapters seven through

ten discuss the heteronormative and cisnormative nature of health-care services and IPV shelter pro-

visions, discriminatory police treatment, and the need for legal reform. Each chapter details the dire

need for policies and procedures to be trans-inclusive of T-IPV survivors and the need for aff‌irmative

and culturally responsive approaches. The authors provide best practices for service providers and

legal system professionals to follow. These chapters are for service providers and criminal justice

agencies interested in protecting transgender individuals from abuse and helping survivors of T-IPV.

Finally, part four provides recommendations and future directions (chapters 11–14). In chapters

11 and 12, the authors offer multiple frameworks, prevention strategies, interventions, barriers to

service by providers and survivors, and reasons to integrate services for people of all genders.

Chapter 13 guides scholars interested in researching T-IPV. Methodological challenges, including

def‌ining the population, sampling, measuring T-IPV, and inclusivity of transgender survivors in

IPV research, are discussed. In the f‌inal chapter (14), Guadalupe-Diaz and Messinger ref‌lect on

the work presented in the book and its implications for future service provision, public policy,

and research. The empirical research in this book demonstrates that victimhood differs between cis-

gender and transgender individuals. As such, cisnormative conceptualizations of who experiences

IPV are challenged, thus demonstrating the need to require a broader reframing of the role that

gender plays in IPV.

Transgender Intimate Partner Violence is a powerful read suitable for scholars across disciplines,

anti-violence activists, advocates, survivors, service providers, policymakers, etc. In each chapter,

there is a desire to help survivors understand their varied experiences with abuse, why their hesitancy

to seek help is justif‌ied given the current state of practice and policy, and the call for service providers

to do more. This book is necessary for anyone who wants to teach and learn about T-IPV, survivors,

or agencies interested in trans-inclusive policy recommendations. Above all, the interdisciplinary

collaboration between scholars dedicated to building empirical and theoretical research on T-IPV

is commendable. The book f‌its nicely in academia as it will benef‌it scholars and students of crimi-

nology, sociology, psychology, social work, transgender studies, sexuality research, and more.

Lvovsky, A. (2021).

Vice Patrol: Cops, courts, and the struggle over urban gay life before Stonewall. Chicago, IL: The University of

Chicago Press. Paperback. pp. 337. ISBN: 978-0-226-76978-3. $35.00

Reviewed by: Sydney Flonnoy ,Georgia State University

DOI: 10.1177/07340168221136174

Book Reviews 107