Legal Narratives of Sexual Consent and Coercion in the Early Twentieth Century

FAIN: FA-51682-05

Brian Donovan
University of Kansas, Lawrence (Lawrence, KS 66045-7505)

Using transcripts of sex crime trials from 1900 to 1920 drawn from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Trial Transcript Project, I examine the rhetorical construction of feminine and masculine sexuality in testimony about forced prostitution, seduction, statutory rape, and first-degree rape. My analysis of courtroom narratives of sexual coercion and coercion examines how legal actors made attributions of blame and causality, and the degree of power these plaintiffs and defendants were said to have over their bodies, passions, and sexual practices. This research will show how the legal sphere shapes relations between men and women, and acts as a central mechanism whereby gender inequality is both alleviated and perpetuated.

Associated Products

Respectability on Trial: Sex Crimes in New York City, 1900-1918 (Book)
Title: Respectability on Trial: Sex Crimes in New York City, 1900-1918
Author: Brian Donovan
Abstract: Providing a front row seat at critical courtroom battles over seduction, pimping, rape, and sodomy in early twentieth-century New York City, Brian Donovan uses verbatim trial transcripts to understand the city’s history during the so-called “first sexual revolution.” By tracing the revolutionary and repressive dimensions of this time period, Donovan reveals how conflicting ideas about sex and gender shaped the city’s criminal justice system. He unearths stories of sexual violence and legal injustice that contradict the image of early twentieth-century America as a time of sexual revolution and progress. Police and courts often served the interests of the upper classes, men, and racial and ethnic majorities, but the trial transcripts included here reveal the considerable extent to which members of working-class and immigrant communities used the machinery of law enforcement for their own ends. Many previous books have fully documented and analyzed the sensational trials of turn-of-the-century New York City, but none have paid such close attention to the courtroom experiences of common city dwellers.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.sunypress.edu/p-6274-respectability-on-trial.aspx
Primary URL Description: SUNY Press online catalog
Publisher: SUNY Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781438461953
Copy sent to NEH?: No

---