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Lesbianism and the Criminal Law

Three Centuries of Legal Regulation in England and Wales

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Caroline Derry

    1. Law School, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

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  • Examines the deliberate and 'accidental' silencing of lesbianism over 300 years

  • Offers an extensive overview and analysis of the criminal law’s regulation of sex between women in England and Wales

  • Includes ‘stories’ of the women involved

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 1-39

  3. Mary/Charles Hamilton: Eighteenth-Century Female Husband Prosecutions

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 41-82

  4. Louise Mourey and the ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 83-122

  5. ‘Gross Indecency Between Females’: The 1921 Parliamentary Debates

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 123-153

  6. Victor/Valerie Barker: Sexology and Challenges to Silencing

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 155-189

  7. The Wolfenden Report: A Shift in Silencing

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 191-225

  8. Allen: Sexual Offences Prosecutions in the Late Twentieth Century

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 227-266

  9. McNally: After the Sexual Offences Act 2003

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 267-302

  10. Conclusion

    • Caroline Derry
    Pages 303-312

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 313-323
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Keywords

About this book

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the ways in which the criminal justice system of England and Wales has regulated, and failed or refused to regulate, lesbianism. It identifies the overarching approach as one of silencing: lesbianism has not only been ignored or regarded as unimaginable, but was deliberately excluded from legal discourses. A series of case studies ranging from 1746 to 2013 from parliamentary debates to individual prosecutions shed light on the complex process of regulation through silencing. They illuminate its evolution over three centuries and explore when and why it has been breached. The answers Derry uncovers can be fully understood only in the context of surrounding social and legal developments which are also considered. Lesbianism and the Criminal Law makes an important contribution to the growing bodies of literature on feminism, sexuality and the law and the legal history of sexual offences.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Law School, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Caroline Derry

About the author

Caroline Derry is Lecturer in Law at the Open University, UK. She taught for fifteen years at London Metropolitan University where she was a senior lecturer in Criminal and Evidence Law and Gender and Law, and LLB course leader. She has been a visiting lecturer in Criminal Law at SOAS and at Paris Descartes. She is a co-author of Complete Criminal Law (OUP, 2018) and Gender and Law (Routledge, 2018).

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