Sex and Crime

Alexandra Fanghanel, Emma Milne, Giulia F. Zampini, Stacy Banwell, Michael Fiddler, SAGE Publications Ltd

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781526491121, 9781526491138
• eBook ISBN: 9781529752274
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

A comprehensive account of the myriad ways that sex and crime interact in contemporary social life, sensitively confronting topics such as nationhood, abortion, child sexual exploitation, war, disability, pornography, and digital cultures. To explain how sex and crime is composed by, and composes, our understanding of these issues, this book:

• Draws on the authors' research expertise, insightful case studies, and leading scholarship from across the globe.
• Develops students' capacity to engage thoughtfully with diverse problems and to think critically, this is achieved with the help of creative learning exercises, empathetic questioning, and relevant illustrative examples.
• Encourages readers to be reflexive, open-spirited, and curious about how issues of sex and crime touch their lives and those of people around them.

Part 1 Encountering Sex and Crime

1 Introduction

Chapter Outline

• Why is sex such a big deal? 4
• A content note 5
• Understanding what we mean by normative and non-normative sexuality 6
• Practising loving perception and world travelling 9
• Understanding intersectionality and positionality 10
• Reparative, rather than paranoid, thinking 13
• How to read this book 16

The issues and controversies of sex and crime are intimately intertwined. In this book, we will explore the ways that sexuality^* and sexual practice interact with crime and deviance, and the ways that understanding this interaction enriches our understanding of criminology and social justice more broadly.

* The definitions of words in bold can be checked in the glossary.

In many ways, the regulation of sexuality through the law is something that we all experience, every day of our lives. As we will see in Chapters 3 and 5, sexuality and sexual practice have been controlled by law for centuries. Certain sexual practices are legislated against (such as sex with children), while others have had changing legal status (for example, anal sex). Other expressions of sexual desire or of sexual preference may be legal, but can bring with them shame and stigma (such as bondage, domination and sadomasochism (BDSM), pornography addiction, cybersex); thus, they are also regulated by social mores and accepted sexual etiquette.

In this book, we examine a range of ways that institutions of control interact with sex and sexuality. The book is broken down into four sections: the first part, ‘Encountering sex and crime’, helps you to get on board with the key concepts and ideas crucial to understanding sex, crime and control; the second, ‘State, sex and crime’, explores how the nation state both controls and facilitates crime related to sex. The third, ‘Sex, cultures and crime’, outlines how ‘cultures’ of sexuality and sexual practice interact with the state, and how and why sex is controlled and regulated; and, finally, ‘Future sex’ is where we reflect on how laws, controls, cultures and society may develop in relation to sexual practice. In our final chapter, we suggest ways to put your learning into practice.

By the end of this chapter, you will understand more about:

• key and fundamental ideas that will help you engage with this topic
• how you might read this book
• the type of learning you are going to do as you engage with this material.

Why is sex such a big deal?

One of the reasons why sexuality, sexual practice, crime and law are so heavily intertwined is because controlling sexuality is a way of controlling the population and creating a nation; nation-building is something that preoccupies nations all over the world. We see more of this in Chapter 3. As Michel Foucault (1998[1976]) has argued, when everyone follows the rules – is an obedient citizen – society functions as desired by those with power and control. The regulation of populations and nations is a big project, so many different tools are used to do this; the criminal law – and the state in general – is but one of them. The family, the education system, multinational corporations, public health messages, and religion are all examples of ways that sexuality is policed and controlled. The implications of this for criminology will become apparent in this book. As such, we will be talking about power and control a great deal throughout the book, thinking about who holds it and how it shapes behaviour and practice.

A content note

Before we embark on this project, we would like to offer a note about the content of some of the chapters. One of the implications of reading a book about sex and crime is that you will inevitably come across discussion of topics that are unpalatable, difficult, even traumatic. They may trigger something in you that upsets you. We have tried to present each issue in as sensitive a way as possible, but we know that we may not have anticipated all instances in which specific issues may be traumatic for a reader. As you read this material, pay attention to how it makes you feel. Take breaks from the book. Come back to it later if you want to. Stay in touch with your friends and family; do things that make you feel better; rest; speak to your lecturers and university support services if you want extra support. We have offered advice and support groups who might be able to help your further in Chapter 15.

BOX 1.1

As we begin these discussions, we ask you to think about the ways in which you are aware, in today’s context, that sexuality and sexual practice are policed and controlled:

• What examples of illegal sexual practice and behaviour can you think of?
• What examples of deviant sexual practice and behaviour can you think of?
• Can you think of any other ways that sexuality or sexual practice is controlled?

What is clear is that attitudes towards crime, law, sexuality and sexual practice emerge in social and cultural contexts that are specific to the time and place in which they occur. As far as possible in this book, we have tried to situate the examples that we use to tell the stories of sex and crime in the temporal and geographic context in which they are relevant. This helps us not only to understand that there is no one ‘truth’ about sex or crime, or when sex is criminalised, and when it is not (for example, child marriage or the publishing of pornographic stories), but also to consider that our understanding of what is going on when sexual practice or sexuality is criminalised (or is not) can only ever be partial and limited by our own positionality (or the place from which we speak). It is our job as criminologists to enquire after the parts of the story that we do not know; to ask awkward questions that address this partial knowledge, in order to gain a better understanding of the politics, morality or exercise of power that work to normalise the specific control of sexuality. It is also our job to be curious about why we think what we do about a specific issue. What is it about us/our lives/our upbringing/our society that leads us to think the way that we do about sex and crime? As authors, we have outlined our own positionalities in the opening pages of this book.

Alongside examining the complex relationship between crime and sex, we intend to help you to acquire the tools to do this awkward questioning and this critical thinking. We will do this by exploring some of the many ways that sex and crime are linked and, using case studies to illustrate what we are saying, invite you to ask, and to answer, probing questions about the scenarios we are asking you to think about.

The following four tools will come in handy for you when you are doing this work.

1. Understanding what we mean by normative and non-normative sexuality

The word ‘normative’ is used in the social sciences to describe something mainstream or commonplace. For instance, in most of the world heterosexuality is mainstream and normative; much policy planning, news reporting, educational material, and law are created with heterosexual people and heterosexual coupling in mind. The word heteronormative is used to describe a world created for heterosexual lifestyles. Other things are normative too: marriage, monogamy, having children, living in a family unit, working, staying fit and healthy, obeying the law … and it is not only heterosexual people who do all these things. People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans (LGBT+) can also live normative lives, just as some heterosexual people may refuse to live a normative lifestyle. Nonetheless, normativity is often a word used to describe the way certain dominant modes of living – and in this context having sex – have become mainstream. We sometimes use the word ‘normativity’ critically because the mainstreaming of certain lifestyles necessarily comes at the expense of others. Minority groups are usually excluded from what is normative. For instance, same-sex relations are criminalised in 70 countries around the world and carry the death penalty in seven. In England and Wales, it was only in 2011 that the census started collecting data for same-sex households. In the USA, the census of 2020 will be the first to collect these data. And, even despite now counting gay and lesbian couples, these records of the population do not count bisexuals, trans people or gay/lesbian people who are not living in a couple. What do you think the implications of missing this population might be?

We also use the word ‘normative’ to describe a desire for the way life ‘should’ be, or ‘could’ be. We might say that we want social justice to be normative, meaning that we want it to be mainstream that we live in a socially just world. We might say that the fact that, as of 2019, same-sex marriage is recognised in 26 countries worldwide means that gay marriage is becoming normative.

In the context of sexual practice and the law, Gayle Rubin’s (1984) analysis of the so-called ‘charmed circle’ of sexuality also helps us to better understand normativity. Rubin suggests that, in public policy, law and morality, there is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sex:

Only sex acts on the good side of the line are accorded moral complexity. For instance, heterosexual encounters may be sublime or disgusting, free or forced, healing or destructive, romantic or mercenary. As long as it does not violate other rules, heterosexuality is acknowledged to exhibit the full range of human experience. In contrast, all sex acts on the bad side of the line are considered utterly repulsive and devoid of all emotional nuance. (Rubin, 1984: 152)

Figure 1.1 The sex hierarchy: the charmed circle vs the outer limits

The circle of the ‘sex hierarchy’ that Rubin has created situates sex that is monogamous; married; procreative; non-commercial; coupled; in a relationship; ‘vanilla’ (meaning not engaged with non-normative or unusual – we might say kinky – sexual practices); taking place at home; without pornography; between heterosexuals of a similar age; using just their bodies (and no sex toys), as ‘good sex’. ‘Bad sex’ – sex which is condemned, criminalised or otherwise deviant or ‘non-normative’ – is kinky sex; using objects; taking place in public; using pornography; non-procreative; queer; anonymous; promiscuous; commercial (paid for); inter-generational; unmarried; casual; alone; or in a group. In this way, Rubin’s sex hierarchy helps us to understand the difference between ‘normative’ and ‘non-normative’ sex. We will use these concepts a lot in this book because normativity is so important in the context of crime and of designating how deviant sexuality or sexual practice is approached.

BOX 1.2

Rubin’s schema was created in 1984:

• Do you think it still applies now?
• What is similar?
• What is different?
• Are there now any practices that you would add or remove from the circle?
• How can the concept of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sex and ‘sexual hierarchies’ help us understand sex and crime?
• Who do you think gets to decide what counts as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sex?

2. Practising loving perception and world travelling

In this book, we will talk about issues that you may sometimes find difficult. Paedophilia, rape as a weapon of war, so-called ‘revenge porn’, sex trafficking, online harassment, sexual violence: all of these issues are highly emotive and sometimes controversial. You, or someone you know, may have personal experience of some of the things. Indeed, it is likely that in your class, at least one person will have some experience of these sorts of crimes. According to the 2017 Crime Survey of England and Wales, one in five women and 4 per cent of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16. According to the United Nations, in North Africa and the Middle East, 40–60 per cent of women have experienced street-based sexual harassment. In 2017, of the women in the world who were intentionally killed 58 per cent were killed by intimate partners or family members (UN Women, 2019a). In the first three months of 2019, nearly 2,000 women and girls received treatment for female genital mutilation (FGM) in England (NHS Digital, 2019). Sexual violence and sex crimes are not rare.

When we talk about issues in this book, and as you explore them in your classes, we bear in mind the different trajectories that people have taken to come to study these questions (see also the section on intersectionality and positionality below). Some people may need to spend more time than others on some topics in order to fully work with them. For some people, the material may just be unbearable, or not-yet-bearable.

When encountering difference in this book, and with other people with whom you talk about the topics in this book, we suggest that you consider adopting a praxis (that is, a practical action) that Maria Lugones (1987) refers to as ‘loving perception’ and ‘world travelling’. It may seem counter-intuitive to be asked to encounter violent crimes like FGM and child sexual abuse with ‘love’, and here we are not suggesting that you should try to love or like these crimes. Instead, we are offering loving perception as a tool to understand why they happen, so that from this position of understanding, we can better act against them. We discuss this more in Chapter 15. We appreciate that it is somewhat unusual to reflect on topics such as these in this way and you may find this challenging, odd or unsettling.

Lugones (1987: 5) contrasts loving perception with arrogant perception. Arrogant perception is one that refuses to ‘travel’ to the perspective of another person or to try to see a situation or understand a concept from their perspective. Arrogant perception thinks that nothing anyone else has to say is of interest if it does not agree with them. Arrogant perception tries to erase differences of opinion, or worse, silence them. The tool of world travelling helps us to practise loving perception. A ‘world’, in this context,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• About the authors
• Acknowledgement
• Part 1 Encountering Sex and Crime
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Theory: How to think about sex and crime
• 3 Sex and crime in time and space
• Part 2 State, Sex and Crime
• 4 Consent and its discontents
• 5 Sex and institutional cultures of abuse
• 6 Reproduction, sex and crime
• 7 Sexual exploitation and the State
• 8 Sex and war
• Part 3 Sex, Cultures and Crime
• 9 Pleasurable risk
• 10 Sex and disability
• 11 Digital sex
• 12 Children, sexualisation and the law
• 13 Illegal representations
• Part 4 Future Sex
• 14 The future
• 15 How to change your life: Hope, love, anger and other unlikely revolutionaries
• Glossary
• References
• Index