Criminal Law and the Man Problem

(Hardback)

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Men have always dominated the most basic precepts of the criminal legal world its norms, its priorities and its character. Men have been the regulators and the regulated: the main subjects and objects of criminal law and by far the more dangerous sex. And yet men, as men, are still hardly talked about as the determining force within criminal law or in its exegesis. This book brings men into sharp focus, as the pervasively powerful interest group, whose wants and preoccupations have shaped the discipline. This constitutes the man problem of criminal law. This new analysis probes the unacknowledged thinking of generations of influential legal men, which includes the psychological and legal techniques that have obscured the operation of bias, even to the legal experts themselves. It explains how mens interests have influenced the most cherished legal norms, especially the rules of human contact, which were designed to protect men from other men, while specifically securing lawful sexual access to at least one woman. The aim is to test the disciplines broadest commitments to civility, and its trajectory towards the final resolution, when men and women were declared to be equal and equivalent legal persons. In the process it exposes the morally and intellectually limiting consequences of male power.

Reviews

This ground-breaking and readable treatise belongs in every predominantly English law library in the world. -- Ken Fox, Law Society of Saskatchewan Library * Canadian Law Library Review *
In this erudite and powerfully argued book, Ngaire Naffine adds to her already distinguished contributions to feminist legal scholarship with a trenchant critique of the persistent patriarchy of criminal law. -- Nicola Lacey, London School of Economics and Political Science * Journal of Law and Society *
[A] hard-hitting, no-holds-barred critique of the pervasive maleness of criminal law, particularly, though far from exclusively, as it has operated, and continues to operate, in the sphere of sexual violence ... Naffines book is a hugely significant achievement, likely to be devoured and debated, celebrated and critiqued, in equal measure. Most importantly, Criminal Law and the Man Problem issues a serious challenge, not just to criminal legal scholars but to legal scholars in general, to confront the continuing legacy of a deeply patriarchal past in the context of a discursive tradition in which history and authority have long been naturally aligned. -- Joanne Conaghan, University of Bristol * Feminist Legal Studies *
I found myself at times marvelling that, after decades of feminist work in this area, the point continues to need to be made that the criminal law and associated disciplines have a man problem. However, on reflection, it seemed to me another plank in Naffines argument that demonstrates both the deep-seated nature of laws masculine bias, and also the difficulty, as Naffine so eloquently argues, in making the men of law recognise the problem. I can only hope that Naffines challenge to the discipline is recognised and acted upon so that it can be an important step in confronting as well as analysing the man problem. -- Tanya Serisier, Birkbeck, University of London * Alternative Law Journal *
This is an important book that challenges many of the things that we take for granted about the criminal law. -- Lindsay Farmer * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *
A powerful and provocative addition to literatures of criminal legal history, gender and the law and critical approaches to criminal law. It can function as a valuable teaching tool. -- Kay Lalor, Manchester Law School * Legal Studies *

Author Bio

Ngaire Naffine is Bonython Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide, Australia.