Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T03:58:56.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Feminism, Queer Theory, and Sexual Citizenship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

By
Maxine Eichner
Edited by
Linda C. McClain  and
Joanna L. Grossman
Linda C. McClain
Affiliation:
Boston University
Joanna L. Grossman
Affiliation:
Hofstra University, New York
Get access

Summary

The terms of full membership in society have, in the United States, as elsewhere, been conditioned on citizens conforming to a specific set of sexual norms. Some of these terms of sexual citizenship have been explicitly encoded into U.S. law. These have included, among many others, the historical ban on immigration of homosexuals, criminal proscriptions on the act of sodomy, the now rarely enforced bans on sex outside of marriage, and the still enforced criminal prohibitions on prostitution. Other sexual norms have largely been enforced extralegally through social sanctions. For example, the widespread disapproval of sex by unmarried women in the early twentieth century led to the ostracizing of unmarried pregnant women from polite society.

In the last few decades, the terms of sexual citizenship have undoubtedly changed. The U.S. Supreme Court boldly announced, in the landmark case of Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, that states could no longer criminalize sodomy, whether homosexual or heterosexual. Four state supreme courts have now struck down state laws banning same-sex marriage, and three of these states are now authorizing such marriages. In addition, three states, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, recently adopted same-sex marriage legislatively. Almost all citizens now engage in sex before marriage, and most teenagers are sexually active. Furthermore, while women bearing children out of wedlock is still controversial, society is now far from a consensus that it is morally wrong.

Type
Chapter
Information
Gender Equality
Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship
 , pp. 307 - 326
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Eskridge, William N. and Hunter, Nan D., Sexuality, Gender, and the Law (New York: Foundation Press, 2004), at 98, 111Google Scholar
McLaren, Angus, Twentieth Century Sexuality (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), at 44Google Scholar
Kunzel, Regina G., Fallen Women, Problem Girls: Unmarried Mothers and the Professionalization of Social Work (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993), at 51–52Google Scholar
Finer, Lawrence B., “Trends in Premarital Sex in the United States 1954–2003,” 122 Pub. Health Rep.73 (2007)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, Leslie J. et al., Family Law (New York: Aspen, 2005), at 290Google Scholar
MacKinnon, Catharine A., Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), at 137Google Scholar
Weber, Max, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology (New York: Bedminster Press, 1968), at 926Google Scholar
Wrong, Dennis H., Power: Its Forms, Bases, and Uses (New York: Harper and Row, 1979), at 21Google Scholar
Bordo, Susan, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), at 22–23Google Scholar
Crenshaw, Kimberle, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” 43 Stan. L. Rev. 1241 (1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, Martha R., “Whiteness and Women, in Practice and Theory: A Reply to Catharine MacKinnon,” 5 Yale J. L. and Feminism217 (1993)Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy, Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the “Postsocialist” Condition (New York: Routledge, 1997), at 234Google Scholar
Dworkin, Andrea and MacKinnon, Catharine A., Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day for Women's Equality (Minneapolis, MN: Organizing Against Pornography, 1988)Google Scholar
Rakestraw, Sheryl, “Current Event: ACLU v. Reno,” 10 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y and L.521, 523–24 (2002)Google Scholar
Scales, Ann, “Avoiding Constitutional Depression,” in Cornell, Drucilla, ed., Feminism and Pornography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), at 318, 333 n. 2Google Scholar
Abrams, Kathryn, “Sex Wars Redux: Agency and Coercion in Feminist Legal Theory,” 95 Colum. L. Rev.304–05 (1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollibaugh, Amber, “Desire for the Future: Radical Hope in Passion and Pleasure,” in Vance, Carol S., ed., Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984), at 403Google Scholar
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky, The Epistemology of the Closet (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), at 8Google Scholar
Halley, Janet E., Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break From Feminism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), at 171Google Scholar
Glick, Elisa, “Sex Positive: Feminism, Queer Theory, and the Politics of Transgression,” 64 Feminist Rev.19, 19 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Richard Thompson, “What's Queer About Race?,” 106 S. Atlantic Q. 477, 479 (2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, Nikki, A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory (New York: New York University Press, 2003), at 44Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, An Introduction (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978)Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel, “Prison Talk,” in Gordon, Colin, ed., Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), at 37, 39Google Scholar
Halley, Ian, “Queer Theory by Men,” 11 Duke J. Gender L. and Pol'y7, 25 (2004)Google Scholar
Bersani, Leu, “Is the Rectum a Grave?,” In Crimp, Douglas, ed, AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Actinsm (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988), at 206Google Scholar
Wiseman, Zipporah et al., “Roundtable Discussion: Is Subversion Subversive?,” 13 Tex. J. Women and L. 149, 151 (2003)Google Scholar
Polhemus, Ted and Randall, Housk, Rituals of Love: Sexual Experiments, Erotic Possibilities (London: Picador, 1994), at 73–74Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel, “Sex, Power, and the Politics of Identity,” in Rabinow, Paul, ed., Michel Foucault: Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (New York: New Press, 1997), at 163–73Google Scholar
Halperin, David, Saint Foucault (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), at 95Google Scholar
Rechy, John, The Sexual Outlaw (London: Futura, 1979), at 261Google Scholar
Jeffreys, Sheila, “Heterosexuality and the Desire for Gender,” in Richardson, Diane, ed., Theorising Heterosexuality: Telling It Straight (Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 1998), at 76Google Scholar
Dubois, Ellen C. et al., “Feminist Discourse, Moral Values, and the Law – A Conversation,” 34 Buff. L. Rev.11–12 (1985)Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, translated by Sheridan, Alan (New York: Vintage Books, 1994), at 387Google Scholar
McGowan, John, Postmodernism and Its Critics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991), at 140Google Scholar
Mackay, Judith, Penguin Atlas of Human Sexual Behavior (New York: Penguin Books, 2000), at 20–21Google Scholar
,New Strategist Publications, American Sexual Behavior: Demographics of Sexual Activity, Fertility, and Childbearing (Ithaca, NY: New Strategist Publications, 2006), at 66Google Scholar
Winter, Steven L., “The Power Thing,” 82 Va. L. Rev.721, 787 (1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abrams, Kathryn, “From Autonomy to Agency: Feminist Perspectives on Self-Direction,” 40 Wm. and Mary L. Rev.805 (1999)Google Scholar
McClain, Linda C., The Place of Families: Fostering Capacity, Equality, and Responsibility (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006)Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha, Sex and Social Justice (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)Google Scholar
Fineman, Martha Albertson, “The Vulnerable Subject: Anchoring Equality in the Human Condition,” 20 Yale J. L. and Feminism1 (2008)Google Scholar
Franke, Katherine, “Feminist Justice, at Home and Abroad: Women Imagining Justice,” 14 Yale J. L. and Feminism307, 311 (2002)Google Scholar
McClain, Linda C., “Some ABCs of Feminist Sex Education (in Light of the Sexuality Critique of Legal Feminism),” 15 Colum. J. Gender and L.63, 87 (2006)Google Scholar
Cossman, Brenda, Sexual Citizens: The Legal and Cultural Regulation of Sex and Belonging (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007)Google Scholar
Bordo, Susan, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), at 222Google Scholar
Cossman, Brenda et al., “Gender, Sexuality, and Power: Is Feminist Theory Enough?,” 12 Colum. J. Gender and L.601, 617 (2003)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

Available formats
×

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.

Available formats
×