Consent: Sexual Rights and the Transformation of American Liberalism

by Pamela Haag

Whom, over the past two centuries, has society construed as sexual "victims"? Where and when did the notion of consent―so crucial for law and politics today―emerge? In this brilliantly insightful work, Pamela Susan Haag traces the evolution of public wisdom on some of society's most private and controversial matters. At once an investigation of social history, popular culture, legal doctrine, and political theory, her book shows how in contemporary America the history of sexual rights is inextricably intertwined with that of liberalism. Haag examines the nineteenth-century obsession with the perils of seduction and twentieth-century disputes over white slavery, arranged marriages, interracial relationships, and rape. The history of heterosexual modernity and identity must, she argues, be viewed as a crucial component of a much larger historical narrative―that of the ways in which individual freedom and citizenship have been continually redefined in American liberal culture. She illuminates the development of liberalism from its "classic" stage that ended after the post-Reconstruction era to a "modern" version that came to fruition with the judicial acceptance of the right to privacy. Finally, she shows how debates over the meaning of heterosexual consent and violence contributed to this transformation.

Genres: History

256 pages, Paperback

Published August 3, 1999

About the author

I’m a published writer of nonfiction, cultural commentary, opinion and polemic. Much of my work has focused on women’s issues, feminism, American cultural history, and cultural trends. My interests are eclectic, and I like it that way. I don’t like cant, predictable stances, or getting stuck in a thematic or intellectual rut. I prefer to keep things moving. Among many other topics, I’ve written on modern marriage, sports talk radio, slots gambling, single-sex education, changes in wealth and class mobility, the politics of sexual violence, elite colleges and their mystique, the genius of “The Wire”, celibacy, and the rebuilding of the lower Manhattan subway system after the 9/11 attacks.

Reviews

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful history of the discourse of sexual rights, sexual behavior, and sexual violence in the United States. From seduction to abduction to white slavery to rape, this book covers a wide range of legal attitudes toward sexual violence and consent. It's just fundamentally brilliant.