ABOUT THIS BOOK

The past fifty years are conventionally understood to have witnessed an uninterrupted expansion of sexual rights and liberties in the United States. This state-of-the-art collection tells a different story: while progress has been made in marriage equality, reproductive rights, access to birth control, and other areas, government and civil society are waging a war on stigmatized sex by means of law, surveillance, and social control. The contributors document the history and operation of sex offender registries and the criminalization of HIV, as well as highly punitive measures against sex work that do more to harm women than to combat human trafficking. They reveal that sex crimes are punished more harshly than other crimes, while new legal and administrative regulations drastically restrict who is permitted to have sex. By examining how the ever-intensifying war on sex affects both privileged and marginalized communities, the essays collected here show why sexual liberation is indispensable to social justice and human rights.

Contributors. Alexis Agathocleous, Elizabeth Bernstein, J. Wallace Borchert, Mary Anne Case, Owen Daniel-McCarter, Scott De Orio, David M. Halperin, Amber Hollibaugh, Trevor Hoppe, Hans Tao-Ming Huang, Regina Kunzel, Roger N. Lancaster, Judith Levine, Laura Mansnerus, Erica R. Meiners, R. Noll, Melissa Petro, Carol Queen, Penelope Saunders, Sean Strub, Maurice Tomlinson, Gregory Tomso

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

David M. Halperin is W. H. Auden Distinguished University Professor of the History and Theory of Sexuality in the English Department at the University of Michigan and the author, most recently, of How to Be Gay.

Trevor Hoppe is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and author of Punishing Disease.

REVIEWS

"Interdisciplinary in scope and inclusive of activist voices from outside the academy, the book is an essential introduction to a struggle for self-determination and sexual self-assertion that has been occurring behind mainstream social movements’ focus on dignity and respectability.... [A]n urgent, well-argued agenda...."

-- Ben Miller Lambda Literary Review

"This is an illuminating, often disturbing book, handling some extremely touchy subjects...."

-- Perry Brass Huffington Post

"[A]n ambitious and provocative collection of essays.... The political credentials of many contributors to this volume show that much can be achieved in the face of overwhelming odds, and serve as a model for blending scholarship with civic engagement."

-- Dan Udy TLS

"The editors have done a valuable service putting together these 17 rigorous pieces that, collectively, paint a grim picture of the nation’s sexual culture.... It’s a valuable book meant for an academic audience, a useful resource for one’s bookcase to draw upon when considering a truly troubling dimension of sex and contemporary life: the criminalization of sex."

-- David Rosen New York Journal of Books

"At a moment when Queer Studies in the United States has turned its attention away from sex to matters considered more pressing, The War on Sex appears as a welcome reminder of the urgent work that remains to be done. . . . A thoroughly researched, expertly edited collection of substantial scholarly contributions . . . With meticulous documentation and persuasive argumentation, the various chapters of The War on Sex combine to tell a powerful story."

-- Tim Dean European Journal of American Culture

"The War on Sex ultimately throws down a resounding gauntlet for scholars of sexuality, demanding we attend to. . . emerging twenty-first century regulatory frameworks."

-- Whitney Strub Journal of the History of Sexuality

"This book should be required reading for prosecutors, judges, therapists, social workers, and anyone who cares about criminal justice reform."

-- William A. Percy Foundation for Social & Historical Studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword. Thinking Sex and Justice / Trevor Hoppe ix
Introduction. The War on Sex / David M. Halperin 1
Part I. The Politics of Sex
1. The New Pariahs: Sex, Crime and Punishment in America / Roger N. Lancaster 65
2. Sympathy for the Devil: Why Progressives Haven't Helped the Sex Offender, Why They Should, and How They Can / Judith Levine 126
3, Queer Disavowel: "Controversial Crimes" and Building Abolition / Owen Daniel-McCarter, Erica R. Meiners, and R Noll 174
4. A New Iron Closet: Failing to Extend the Spirit of Lawrence v. Texas to Prison and Prisoners / J. Wallace Borchert 191
5. Seeing the Sex and Justice Landscape through the Vatican's Eyes: The War on Gender and the Seamless Garmet of Sexual Rights / Mary Anne Case 211
Part II. The Invention of the Sex Offender
6. Sex Panic, Psychiatry, and the Expansion ofthe Carceral State / Regina Kunzel 229
7. The Creation of the Modern Sex Offender / Scott de Orio 247
8. For What They Might Do: A Sex Offender Exception to the Constitution / Laura Mansnerus 268
Part III. Sex Work and the Trouble with Trafficking
9. The "Hooker Teacher" Tell All / Melissa Petro 291
10. Carceral Politics as Gender Justice? The "Traffic in Women" and Neoliberal Circuits of Crime, Sex, and Rights / Elizabeth Bernstein 297
11. California's Proposition 35 and the Trouble with Trafficking / Carol Queen and Penelope Saunders 323
Part IV. Making HIV a Crime
12. HIV: Prosecution or Prevention? HIV is Not a Crime / Sean Strub 347
13. HIV Monsters: Gay Men, Criminal Law, and the New Political Economy of HIV / Gregory Tomso 353
14. HIV Care as Social Rehabilitation: Medical Governance, the AIDS Surveillance Industry, and Therapeutic Citizenship Neoliberal Taiwan / Hans Tao-Ming Huang 378
Part V. Resistance
15. The New War on Sex: A Report from the Global Front Lines/ Maurice Tomlinson 409
16. Building a Movement for Justice: Doe v. Jindal and the Campaign Against Louisiana's Crime Against Nature Statute / Alexis Agathocleous 429
17. Bringing Sex to the Table of Justice / Amber Hollibaugh 454
Afterword. How You Can Get Involved / Trevor Hoppe 461
Contributors 465
Index 469

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.

It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.