Sex and Harm in the Age of Consent

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Sex and Harm in the Age of Consent cautions against the adoption of consent as our primary determinant of sexual freedom. Examining the representation of consent in U.S. law and media culture, Joseph J. Fischel contends that the figures of the sex offender and the child are consent's alibi, enabling fictions that allow consent to do the work cut out for it under late modern sexual politics.

Reviews

"Sex and Harm in the Age of Consent is a strongly original, frequently brilliant, cross-disciplinary study of the limitations of consent for measuring sexual freedom and sexual harm."Tim Dean, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign

"Joseph J. Fischels Sex and Harm in the Age of Consent offers a breathtakingly queer account of sex, perversion, innocence, and consent. His careful and complex reading of the social and legal meaning of the sexual predator boldly challenges the common wisdom about the justifications for and consequences of regulating outlaw sexuality."Katherine Franke, director, Center for Gender & Sexuality Law, Columbia Law School

"A very well-researched book . . . I applaud the author for the depth and breadth of his scholarship."PsycCRITIQUES

"A carefully written, intellectually challenging argument... A must read for queer and feminist scholars."CHOICE

"Through his proposal of autonomy, peremption, and an adolescence not isolated from social and historical contexts of inequality yet distinguishable from childhood, Fischel effectively moves the debate on what constitutes sexual harm well beyond the dichotomy of consent and predation." PoLAR

"The book is deeply compelling in its capacity to weave a legal archive anda popular culture archive, and in its compelling close-readings of both caselaw (and policy) and visual culture."Political Theory

"Sex and Harm in the Age of Consent should be considered required reading for anyone committed to thinking age as a central determinant of sexuality in consensual times."GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies

Author Bio

Joseph J. Fischel is assistant professor of womens, gender, and sexuality studies at Yale University.