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Laws
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Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future
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Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future

A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X). This special issue belongs to the section "Law and Gender Issues".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 111373

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Aleardo Zanghellini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Law, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6UR, UK
Interests: legal, political and moral philosophy; law, gender and sexuality; socio-legal studies; law and literature
Dr. Kate Gleeson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Interests: governance and regulation of bodies; sexuality and reproductive practices; the history of the regulation of sexual violence; gay sex; pornography, abortion, sex work, and institutional crimes ; historical child sexual abuse

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To no society is sexual activity a matter of normative indifference; in most, it figures as a site of intense regulatory investment. From the incest taboo’s centrality to “elementary structures of kinship” (Lévi-Strauss, 1949) to (heterosexual) marriage being explicitly singled out as a human right in the ICCPR and ECHR, there is no shortage of examples of the enduring relevance of sexual governance to pre-national, sub-national, national, and supra-national communities’ organization and self-understanding.

For decades, feminism has centred, often successfully, sexual activity as a key site for engagement with law reform projects, at both domestic and international levels. The treatment of homosexuality is one of the primary points of debate around which a purported “clash of civilizations” is rhetorically enacted in international relations. The last few years have also seen unprecedented activist and legal mobilisation around the problems of child sexual abuse, sexual harassment and “grey” (non-stranger) rape in a variety of national contexts. These examples show not only the two-way relationship between sexual justice and the circulation and re-allocation of political power, but also that contested understandings of good and bad sex remain central to projects of inclusion and processes of social exclusion.

This Special Issue of Laws seeks to publish state-of-the-art contributions to law and sexuality scholarship. Theoretically grounded papers are sought on any topic centring (counter)normativities/governance of sexual conduct. We are especially interested  in international contributions adopting sociolegal, critical, law and humanities, and historical approaches.

Prof. Dr. Aleardo Zanghellini
Dr. Kate Gleeson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sexual governance
  • sexual ethics
  • regulation of sexual behaviour
  • queer jurisprudence

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 338 KiB  
Article
ISIL in Iraq: A Critical Analysis of the UN Security Council’s Gendered Personification of (Non)States
by Faye Bird
Laws 2022, 11(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11010005 - 10 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3793
Abstract
Legal feminist theories have troubled dominant conceptions of statehood, revealing the threat of the ‘Other’ as integral to the hegemonic masculinity of powerful states. In this paper I provide a critical gendered discourse analysis of the UN Security Council’s response to the Islamic [...] Read more.
Legal feminist theories have troubled dominant conceptions of statehood, revealing the threat of the ‘Other’ as integral to the hegemonic masculinity of powerful states. In this paper I provide a critical gendered discourse analysis of the UN Security Council’s response to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL). I consider the role of personification in constituting legal subjects as states (persons) and excavate this from the Council’s resolutions concerning Iraq. In constituting ISIL as a barbaric, hypermasculine terror group in relational opposition to the state of Iraq, the Council draws on gendered normativities ordinarily veiled by seemingly objective legal criteria as to the creation of states. Whilst the state of Iraq is constituted through the hegemonic model of statehood, one premised upon democratic, liberal Westphalian ideals, it is still subject to the paternalism of the Security Council. In this way, the state of Iraq is framed as failing to reach a particular masculine standard of statehood, and is thus subject to the continuation of ‘civilising’ discourses. Thus, instead of asking whether ISIL is or is not a state under international law, it is revealing to consider how responses to it work to maintain and (re)produce a graded, hierarchical international community of states. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future)
20 pages, 304 KiB  
Article
Queering Marriage: The Homoradical and Anti-Normativity
by Alexander Maine
Laws 2022, 11(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11010001 - 21 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6352
Abstract
This article explores ‘bad’ sex in an age of same-sex marriage, through an analysis of the ‘homoradical’ as a rejection of both hetero and homo-normativities. Drawing on qualitative data from 29 LGBTQ interviewees, the article considers resistance to the discursive privileging of same-sex [...] Read more.
This article explores ‘bad’ sex in an age of same-sex marriage, through an analysis of the ‘homoradical’ as a rejection of both hetero and homo-normativities. Drawing on qualitative data from 29 LGBTQ interviewees, the article considers resistance to the discursive privileging of same-sex marriage in the context of Gayle Rubin’s theories of respectability and sexual hierarchies. These hierarchies constitute a ‘charmed circle’ of accepted sexual practices which are traditionally justified by marriage, procreation and/or love. It examines non-normative sexuality through the example of the lived experiences of non-normative, anti-assimilationist identities, particularly non-monogamy, public sex, and kink sex, showing how the ‘homoradical’ deviates from the normative practices that same-sex marriage reinforces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future)
20 pages, 322 KiB  
Article
“Sexuality” through the Kaleidoscope: Sexual Orientation, Identity, and Behaviour in Asylum Claims in the United Kingdom
by Alex Powell
Laws 2021, 10(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws10040090 - 23 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5920
Abstract
The asylum system is a key site in which disputes over “sexuality” are contested. In refugee status determinations, administrative bodies are required to determine the actual or perceived sexuality of a claimant. This article draws on eight semi-structured interviews with refugees who claimed [...] Read more.
The asylum system is a key site in which disputes over “sexuality” are contested. In refugee status determinations, administrative bodies are required to determine the actual or perceived sexuality of a claimant. This article draws on eight semi-structured interviews with refugees who claimed asylum in the United Kingdom based on their sexual diversity to deconstruct the distinct conceptions of sexual orientation, identity, and behaviour prevalent within the asylum system. It argues that the UK system overly privileges identity, falsely construing this as determinative of other aspects of sexuality. In doing so, it proposes a new framework of sexual diversity as a more relativist and inclusive way of making sense of sexual difference. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future)
18 pages, 338 KiB  
Article
Privacy, Porn, and Gay Sex Parties: The Carceral Governance of Homosexuality in Indonesia
by Hendri Yulius Wijaya
Laws 2021, 10(4), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws10040087 - 15 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 88581
Abstract
This article examines how the recent Indonesian Pornography Law renders homosexuality and/or homosexual acts intelligible to the Indonesia state and society by institutionalising them as criminal offences. By drawing on insights from queer studies and exploring the cases of gay arrests in the [...] Read more.
This article examines how the recent Indonesian Pornography Law renders homosexuality and/or homosexual acts intelligible to the Indonesia state and society by institutionalising them as criminal offences. By drawing on insights from queer studies and exploring the cases of gay arrests in the country, I demonstrate that certain same-sex sexual acts are more susceptible to criminalisation, especially when those acts blur the distinction between public and private. The deployment of the Pornography Law against gay people, together with the anti-LGBT media environment in the country, has carried consequences for LGBT individuals, particularly gay people, by making them visible, legible, and thus subject to state surveillance and control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future)
17 pages, 297 KiB  
Article
The Queer, the Cross and the Closet: Religious Exceptions in Equality Law as State-Sponsored Homophobia
by Stella Coyle
Laws 2021, 10(4), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws10040083 - 2 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5372
Abstract
The struggle for queer people to be recognised as full sexual citizens continues to be thwarted by the existence of religious exceptions to equality law. These exceptions reactivate and legitimise the historical oppression of queer people, who have long been plagued by the [...] Read more.
The struggle for queer people to be recognised as full sexual citizens continues to be thwarted by the existence of religious exceptions to equality law. These exceptions reactivate and legitimise the historical oppression of queer people, who have long been plagued by the Four Horsemen of Homophobia. War—because the language of war is often used in the context of religious conscientious objection to gay equality. Famine—because public spending cuts have led to religious groups filling the gap in service provision. Pestilence—because old tropes of infection, promiscuity, and corruption of youth persist, albeit masked by a concern for religious freedom. Finally, Death—because exceptions to equality law operate to limit the citizenship of non-heterosexuals. This paper argues that religiously motivated attempts to restrict queer people’s participation, in a hetero- and theonormative public space, constitutes harm which can be characterised as degrading treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The state must be more interventionist in its pursuit of genuine gay citizenship, and remove religious exceptions to equality law; otherwise, it is implicated in the constructive delegation of religious homophobia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Normativities of Sex: Past, Present, Future)
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