This book analyzes the development of age of consent laws in the UK from the nineteenth century to the present, in international perspective. The analysis, informed by contemporary perspectives in social theory on gender, sexuality, youth and childhood, focuses upon changing understandings of citizenship embodied in the law.
Author(s): Matthew Waites
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 296
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 8
1 Introduction......Page 10
Outline of chapters......Page 15
Childhood and youth......Page 20
Gender and sexuality; heterosexuality and homosexuality......Page 23
The meaning of consent......Page 27
Children, sexuality, consent and the law......Page 33
Consent and children's sexual behaviour......Page 37
The rationale for age of consent laws......Page 39
Citizenship......Page 41
Sexual citizenship......Page 44
Conclusion......Page 48
The globalization of age of consent debates......Page 49
Age of consent laws in comparative cross-national perspective......Page 53
Sex tourism and the transnational extension of sex offences......Page 62
International law and human rights......Page 64
Conclusion......Page 68
The origins of law on sex and childhood in the UK......Page 69
Social purity and the age of consent in the late nineteenth century......Page 76
Gender, class, competence and citizenship......Page 80
Parliamentary debates......Page 83
The age of protection......Page 86
The regulation of male homosexuality......Page 89
Conclusion......Page 95
Lesbianism and the age of consent in the inter-war years......Page 97
The Wolfenden Report and the decriminalisation of male homosexuality......Page 105
Rethinking the Wolfenden Report's rationale for decriminalisation......Page 113
The male homosexual age of consent......Page 123
Conclusion......Page 126
New social movements and epistemological transformations......Page 128
Gay liberation: Liberty, equality and the age of consent......Page 132
From the margins to the mainstream: Emerging challenges......Page 140
The Policy Advisory Committee on Sexual Offences......Page 142
Heterosexuality and the age of consent to sexual intercourse......Page 148
Homosexuality......Page 154
Conclusion......Page 164
7 Equality at Last? Age of Consent Debates in the 1990s......Page 167
Age of consent debates 1993–2000: An overview......Page 168
Legal developments: Childhood and consent......Page 171
The emergence of a new hegemony in age of consent debates......Page 175
Political discourses......Page 179
Legal discourses......Page 181
Social policy, health and young people's welfare......Page 182
Biomedical knowledge of sexual identity and psychological development......Page 183
Conclusion......Page 189
8 New Age of Consent Laws: Adulthood and Childhood......Page 192
The Home Office review of sex offences......Page 193
'Adult sexual abuse of a child'......Page 197
'Child sex offences committed by children or young persons'......Page 206
Consent in the Sexual Offences Act 2003......Page 212
Conclusion......Page 213
9 Rethinking the Age of Consent......Page 217
The history of age of consent laws in the UK......Page 218
The contemporary context......Page 221
Young people's views of age of consent laws......Page 224
Citizenship, sexuality and childhood......Page 226
Libertarian and liberal critiques of age of consent laws......Page 229
Youth justice......Page 236
Consent and vulnerability......Page 238
A proposal for reform of the age of consent......Page 244
Notes......Page 251
Bibliography......Page 256
A......Page 281
C......Page 282
F......Page 285
H......Page 286
I......Page 287
L......Page 288
N......Page 289
P......Page 290
R......Page 291
S......Page 292
U......Page 293
Y......Page 294
