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16 - Regulating Sexuality

from Section V - Regulating Sexuality and Bodily autonomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Celia Wells  and
Oliver Quick
Celia Wells
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Oliver Quick
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
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Summary

The orthodox separation of sexual offences into consensual and non-consensual offences significantly shapes legal images of sexuality. Yet, as we have seen, the question of consent in adult sexual relationships is a contested one. Duncan notes that:

…the power of the criminal law in respect of physical and sexual violence is not merely or even mainly juridical, but, more importantly, disciplinary. As a disciplinary power, these aspects of the law's text demarcate the boundary between the normal and the abnormal and, in doing so, they define the normal around the notion of the heterosexual male subject in two principal ways: first, by a concept of consent which is very differently constructed as between offences and, secondly, by a subtext of visibility which privileges visible physical violence over (often) invisible sexual violence. The law disciplines bodies differentially as between different genders and different sexual orientations

[Duncan 1995, p. 326].

The extraordinary number of different offences, albeit most now gathered in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, testifies to the confusions besetting what are regarded as appropriate legal and social responses in this area. What is the connection between sexual activity between two 15-year-olds and the persistent sexual abuse of a small child by a relative? Is child sexual abuse an abuse of sexual autonomy, or of trust, or of physical security, or all three?

Type
Chapter
Information
Lacey, Wells and Quick Reconstructing Criminal Law
Text and Materials
 , pp. 540 - 595
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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  • Regulating Sexuality
  • Celia Wells, University of Bristol, Oliver Quick, University of Bristol
  • Book: Lacey, Wells and Quick Reconstructing Criminal Law
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511751028.020
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  • Regulating Sexuality
  • Celia Wells, University of Bristol, Oliver Quick, University of Bristol
  • Book: Lacey, Wells and Quick Reconstructing Criminal Law
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511751028.020
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Regulating Sexuality
  • Celia Wells, University of Bristol, Oliver Quick, University of Bristol
  • Book: Lacey, Wells and Quick Reconstructing Criminal Law
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511751028.020
Available formats
×