Governing Sexuality: The Changing Politics of Citizenship and Law Reform

(Hardback)

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"Governing Sexuality" explores issues of sexual citizenship and law reform in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe today. Across western and eastern Europe, lesbians and gay men are increasingly making claims for equal status, grounded in the language of rights and citizenship, and using the language of international human rights and European law. This book uses same sex sexualities as a prism through which to explore broader questions of legal and political theory concerning democratic legitimacy; rights discourse; national sovereignty and identity; citizenship; transnationalism; and globalisation. Case studies are widely drawn: from New Labour's sexual politics in the UK to the decriminalisation of same-sex sexualities under pressure from the EU in Romania; to new civil solidarity laws in France.

Reviews

Carl F. Stychin's 'Governing Sexuality' is of enormous interest because it both illustrates a distinguished form of queer legal theory and brings it to bear on developments in EuropeStychin's discussion of gays as transnational citizens is one of the best chapters in the bookHe offers an excellent discussion of the potential 'disciplinary' effect of such measures on gay relationshipsThis discussion, and many others in this book, combines a strong sense of justice with a shrewd and skeptical eye for the vagaries of liberal political reform. -- David A.J. Richards * International Journal of Constitutional Law Vol 3 No 4 *
Two years after its publication, Stychin's work on sexual citizenship appears more relevant than ever. -- Emily Grabham * European Public Law, Vol 12, no.1 *
Carl Stychin is a pioneer in the field of law and sexuality, and this book is an important, intelligent and sensitive contribution to its development. -- Matthew Weait, Keele University * The British Journal of Sociology *
an exciting contribution to the critical legal scholarship on sexuality. -- Anastasia Vakulenko, PhD Student, University of Nottingham * Human Rights Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 *
The strength of Stychin's writing and analysis lies in his ability to trace the complexities of a situation...Governing Sexuality is an exemplary piece of theoretically informed, politically engaged scholarship of a kind that is all too lacking in the contemporary academy. -- Jon Binnie, Manchester Metropolitan University * International Journal of Law in Context, Volume 1/1 *
Stychin's well researched, well argued, and insightful book -- Judith A. Baer * The Law and Politics Book Review *
We desperately need writers and thinkers such as Stychin to help us make sense of the complexities of the world we live in Governing Sexuality is an exemplary piece of theoretically informed, politically engaged scholarship of a kind that is all too lacking in the contemporary academy. -- Jon Binnie, Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University * International Journal of Law in Context *

Author Bio

Carl Stychin is Professor of Law and Social Theory at the University of Reading.