In Law, Crime and Sexuality leading feminist theorist Carol Smart brings together a selection of her work specifically compiled for the needs of students to help them understand the law in conceptual terms, whilst enabling them to become fully aware of the extent to which the law is part of our everyday lives.
The book is divided into three sections, each prefaced by a specifically written introduction, which examine the major trends in contemporary thought including: the shift from criminology to the sociology of law; the identification of law as a site of struggle rather than as a tool of reform; the recognition of the contested nature of `woman' as a category; and the significance of the developing situation where feminists must debate about values and epistemologies without fearing the demise of feminist politics.
The final chapter includes Carol Smart's most recent thoughts which develop her challenging work on the gendering and sexing of the body, the survival of sociological feminism and the development of new ways of thinking about women and the law.
Introduction
PART ONE: CRIMINOLOGY
Introduction
Criminological Theory
Its Ideology and Implications Concerning Women
Feminist Approaches to Criminology, or Postmodern Woman Meets Atavistic Man
PART TWO: SEXUALITY
Introduction
Legal Subjects and Sexual Objects
Ideology, Law and Female Sexuality
Law's Power, the Sexed Body and Feminist Discourse
Unquestionably a Moral Issue
Rhetorical Devices and Regulatory Imperatives
Law, Feminism and Sexuality
From Essence to Ethics?
PART THREE: FEMINIST THEORY AND LAW
Introduction
Legal Regulation or Male Control?
Feminism and the Law
Some Problems of Analysis and Strategy
Feminist Jurisprudence
The Woman of Legal Discourse
Proscription, Prescription and the Desire for Certainty? Feminist Theory in the Field of Law
Postscript of the 1990s, or 'Still Angry After all These Years'
