Eric Berkowitz has accomplished what no scholar has yet achieved: to craft a compelling history of Western sex law, using flesh-and-blood cases to tell the story. The cast includes royal mistresses, gay charioteers, medieval transvestites, lonely goat-lovers, priests, prostitutes, and London rent boys. Through their fascinating and often tragic lives, the reader gains critical insight into Western history and many of today's hot-button political issues.
This meticulously researched book, drawing on original sources and the best modern legal and feminist scholarship, presents colorful case examples showing:
Sex and Punishment is indeed a wild ride, but it is the ride everyone takes, either in their dreams or their nightmares. The book tells the human story from bedroom and backroom to courtroom, and ultimately to the human soul itself.