1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910373887703321

Autore

Derry Caroline

Titolo

Lesbianism and the Criminal Law [[electronic resource] ] : Three Centuries of Legal Regulation in England and Wales / / by Caroline Derry

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2020

ISBN

3-030-35300-1

Edizione

[1st ed. 2020.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xix, 323 pages)

Disciplina

345.42009

Soggetti

Sex and law

Law—History

Law—Philosophy

Law

Gender identity

Sex crimes

Criminal law

Gender, Sexuality and Law

Legal History

Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History

Gender and Sexuality

Sexual Offending

Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. Mary/Charles Hamilton: eighteenth-century female husband prosecutions -- 3. Louise Mourey and the ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ -- 4. ‘Gross indecency between females’: the 1921 Parliamentary debates -- 5. Victor/Valerie Barker: sexology and challenges to silencing -- 6. The Wolfenden Report: a shift in silencing -- 7. Allen: sexual offences prosecutions in the late twentieth century -- 8. McNally: sexual offences, gender and consent -- 9. Conclusion.



Sommario/riassunto

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the ways in which the criminal justice system of England and Wales has regulated, and failed or refused to regulate, lesbianism. It identifies the overarching approach as one of silencing: lesbianism has not only been ignored or regarded as unimaginable, but was deliberately excluded from legal discourses. A series of case studies ranging from 1746 to 2013 from parliamentary debates to individual prosecutions shed light on the complex process of regulation through silencing. They illuminate its evolution over three centuries and explore when and why it has been breached. The answers Derry uncovers can be fully understood only in the context of surrounding social and legal developments which are also considered. Lesbianism and the Criminal Law makes an important contribution to the growing bodies of literature on feminism, sexuality and the law and the legal history of sexual offences.