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Carnal Crimes: Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900-1975
Winner of the 2009 Canadian Law and Society Association Book Prize Carnal Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900-1975 is an engaging and powerful book about sexual assault crimes in Canadian history by one of Canada's foremost legal historians. Using a case-study approach, Constance Backhouse explores nine sexual assault trials from across the country throughout the twentieth century. We move from small towns to large cities, from the Maritimes to the Northwest Territories, from the suffrage era to the period of the women's liberation movement. Each of these richly-textured vignettes offers insight into the failure of the criminal justice system to protect women from sexual assault, and each is highly readable and provocative. The most moving chapters document the law's refusal to accommodate a woman who could only give evidence in sign language, and the heartbreak of a child rape trial. Backhouse deals sensitively and deftly with these difficult stories. This book is the best kind of legal history--a vivid exploration of the past which also gives us the tools to assess the efficacy (or in this case lack of efficacy) of the legal system. Published for the Osgoode Society for Legal History.
460 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 12, 2014
I usually don't rate books I read for classes, but this one deserved an exception.
It is a formidable text, that uses examples drawn from across Canadian legal history to illustrate how the interaction between good and important, even fundamental legal principles (such as "You shall not put an innocent in jail") and the faulty premises society and thus the legal system assumed ("It is up to women to guard their purity; if they fail to do enough to protect it, it amounts to consent"; if she doesn't do enough ")created a system that is heavily slanted against rape victims.
The book bring to light the story of the victims, but also of the lawyers, the judges and the accused in each case. It shows how their personality, and the society each of them lived in, influenced the way the trial happened, the questions asked, and the ultimate (generally unahppy) fate of the victims.
At a time when the issue of society (and the legal system's) treatment of rape victims is drawn in the spotlight once again, this book is an extraordinary read.
It is a formidable text, that uses examples drawn from across Canadian legal history to illustrate how the interaction between good and important, even fundamental legal principles (such as "You shall not put an innocent in jail") and the faulty premises society and thus the legal system assumed ("It is up to women to guard their purity; if they fail to do enough to protect it, it amounts to consent"; if she doesn't do enough ")created a system that is heavily slanted against rape victims.
The book bring to light the story of the victims, but also of the lawyers, the judges and the accused in each case. It shows how their personality, and the society each of them lived in, influenced the way the trial happened, the questions asked, and the ultimate (generally unahppy) fate of the victims.
At a time when the issue of society (and the legal system's) treatment of rape victims is drawn in the spotlight once again, this book is an extraordinary read.
October 18, 2023
Backhouse, a legal historian loos at sexual assault laws & cases in Canada from 1900-1975. It is an important book for anyone interested in the law as its relates to sexuality & gender.
'The chaos of the Second World War had briefly opened up new space for gays and lesbians, but post-war retrenchment demanded strict compliance with compulsory heterosexuality.10 In 1952, Canadian immigration law had been amended to bar all “homosexuals” from entry.11 And during the late 1950s and early six- ties, the RCMP would recruit psychologists and psychiatrists to oust gay and lesbian “perverts” from the civil service.12 Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s research on the prevalence of same-sex relations, released in Canada a few years earlier, had sparked accusations of Communism and demands for suppression.13 Anti- vice campaigners disparaged Batman and Robin comics as “a wish dream of two homosexuals living together” and Wonder Woman as a dangerous role model, whose lesbianism was “psychologically unmistakable.”14” 197-198
“The few Canadian medical researchers and clinicians who wrote about homosexuality in the 1950s characterized it as “a mental hygiene problem,” “a personality disturbance,” and “a matter of neurotic conflict,” possibly linked to “hereditary susceptibilities” and triggered by “faulty training and environment.” Although the literature focused primarily on male homosexuality, there were isolated references to “homosexual females.” Canadian medical journals noted that it had “been thought that homosexual females are masculine in appearance and movement” and are “interested in more masculine occupations.” However, it was not always possible to pick them out “by appearance and manner alone.” Speculating on the causes of lesbianism, one Saskatchewan psychologist put the blame on mothers who might have made girls “believe that all men are evil wolves and that sex relations are bestial.”17 Even the most progressive of physicians, who pleaded for sympathy from the medical profession, the clergy, and the law, defined homosexuality as an “affliction” in need of a “solution.”18 Electroshock, chemical intervention, hypnotism, aver- sion therapy, and other forms of behaviour modification were prescribed as “treatment” for lesbians incarcerated in prison or mental institutions.198-199
“This was precisely the dilemma that underlay the prosecution. Criminal law had always concentrated on gay male sexuality. Canadian medical ex- perts sourced biology as the explanation for the maleness of “sex delinquen-cy,” suggesting that “for anatomical reasons” many of the acts “were only possible of male indulgence,” and noting that the law took “no cognizance of female inversion.”59 The lore was that criminal law had neglected lesbians because when asked, Queen Victoria replied that “ladies did not do such things.”60 The Canadian military prosecuted male homosexuals with rig- our, but the Second World War court-martial records contain no files about female same-sex behaviour.61 Even the Nazis, who forcibly interned homosexuals, defined illegal homosexuality as same-sex relations between men.62” 215
“In 1954, Parliament had amended the definition of “gross indecency,” to permit charges to be laid against women as well as men, in what later judges would describe as a “modern recognition of equality between sexes.”79 However, most understood the new gender-neutral definition of “gross indecency” to be aimed at non-coital heterosexual practices rather than lesbian- ism, and so far no one has discovered any other sexual prosecutions against same-sex female activity prior to 1975. Other Canadian judges would profess to be confused and disgusted by a range of non-coital sexual practices, con- sensual or otherwise, but Willimae Moore’s prosecution would remain in a category of its own.80” 223-224
'The chaos of the Second World War had briefly opened up new space for gays and lesbians, but post-war retrenchment demanded strict compliance with compulsory heterosexuality.10 In 1952, Canadian immigration law had been amended to bar all “homosexuals” from entry.11 And during the late 1950s and early six- ties, the RCMP would recruit psychologists and psychiatrists to oust gay and lesbian “perverts” from the civil service.12 Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s research on the prevalence of same-sex relations, released in Canada a few years earlier, had sparked accusations of Communism and demands for suppression.13 Anti- vice campaigners disparaged Batman and Robin comics as “a wish dream of two homosexuals living together” and Wonder Woman as a dangerous role model, whose lesbianism was “psychologically unmistakable.”14” 197-198
“The few Canadian medical researchers and clinicians who wrote about homosexuality in the 1950s characterized it as “a mental hygiene problem,” “a personality disturbance,” and “a matter of neurotic conflict,” possibly linked to “hereditary susceptibilities” and triggered by “faulty training and environment.” Although the literature focused primarily on male homosexuality, there were isolated references to “homosexual females.” Canadian medical journals noted that it had “been thought that homosexual females are masculine in appearance and movement” and are “interested in more masculine occupations.” However, it was not always possible to pick them out “by appearance and manner alone.” Speculating on the causes of lesbianism, one Saskatchewan psychologist put the blame on mothers who might have made girls “believe that all men are evil wolves and that sex relations are bestial.”17 Even the most progressive of physicians, who pleaded for sympathy from the medical profession, the clergy, and the law, defined homosexuality as an “affliction” in need of a “solution.”18 Electroshock, chemical intervention, hypnotism, aver- sion therapy, and other forms of behaviour modification were prescribed as “treatment” for lesbians incarcerated in prison or mental institutions.198-199
“This was precisely the dilemma that underlay the prosecution. Criminal law had always concentrated on gay male sexuality. Canadian medical ex- perts sourced biology as the explanation for the maleness of “sex delinquen-cy,” suggesting that “for anatomical reasons” many of the acts “were only possible of male indulgence,” and noting that the law took “no cognizance of female inversion.”59 The lore was that criminal law had neglected lesbians because when asked, Queen Victoria replied that “ladies did not do such things.”60 The Canadian military prosecuted male homosexuals with rig- our, but the Second World War court-martial records contain no files about female same-sex behaviour.61 Even the Nazis, who forcibly interned homosexuals, defined illegal homosexuality as same-sex relations between men.62” 215
“In 1954, Parliament had amended the definition of “gross indecency,” to permit charges to be laid against women as well as men, in what later judges would describe as a “modern recognition of equality between sexes.”79 However, most understood the new gender-neutral definition of “gross indecency” to be aimed at non-coital heterosexual practices rather than lesbian- ism, and so far no one has discovered any other sexual prosecutions against same-sex female activity prior to 1975. Other Canadian judges would profess to be confused and disgusted by a range of non-coital sexual practices, con- sensual or otherwise, but Willimae Moore’s prosecution would remain in a category of its own.80” 223-224
December 11, 2025
In Carnal Crimes, Backhouse uses 9 legal cases to trace the history of sexual assault law in Canada throughout the 20th century. Covering how factors like agency, personhood, gender, race, ethnicity, and class shape legal responses, Backhouse presents a history of Canadian law that worked actively to negate the testimonies of women and girls and to uphold the (mostly) male perpetrator's actions as innocence. Often times the case was less the question of did sexual violence occur and rather, did the women's characters, class, race, etc. negate the actual need for consent. While Backhouse uses a narrative focused lens to analyze this history, this book does leave a lot to desire analytically as it often leaves sections unexamined or makes, at times, odd leaps of conclusions around jury or prosecutor motives around these cases.
July 20, 2023
Very good book
March 25, 2024
Another book for school!
April 4, 2024
Informative look into the history of sexual assault law in Canada. The "rule of law" and justice have been routinely absent in such cases.
July 18, 2015
available on her website at http://www.constancebackhouse.ca/uplo...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews