Insert Sexy Title Here: Moving Toward a Sex-Positive Criminology

Abstract

Literature on sexuality in criminological contexts exists, yet much of it is sex-negative, employs a "deviance frame," and regards many sex acts as dangerous or destructive. Although research that could be considered sex-positive has been undertaken, an explicitly sex-positive theoretical and practical framework for feminist criminology has not yet been advanced. In this article, we propose "thick desire" as a way to envision an intersectional sex-positive feminist criminology that aligns with the principles of a positive sexuality approach to research and praxis. We explore the issue of criminalization of teen sexting to begin to integrate these principles.

Punishing ‘Revenge Porn’: Legal Interpretations of and Responses to Non-Consensual Intimate Image Distribution in Canada

“…intersectional feminism (Crenshaw 1991, MacDonald, Osborne andSmith 2005), anticarceral feminism (Bumiller 2008, Bernstein 2012, McGlynn, Westmarland and Godden, 2012, sex positive feminism (Rubin 1999, Friedman and Valenti 2008, Karaian and Van Meyl 2015, Khan, 2017, Wodda and Panfil 2018), and postmodern feminism (Moore 2008, McHugh, Livingston andFord 2005). These theories are useful for critically assessing understandings of legal responses to NCIID and analyzing the numerous conceptions of-for instance-sexual violence, sexual privacy, harm, and carceral justice that underpin understandings of and responses to NCIID.…”

“…Before providing a deeper description of my theoretical approach in the sections below, it is important to note that my project is indebted to and influenced by those scholars who have previously utilized feminist theories, queer theory, and/or theories of digital technology and photography to approach the topic of consensual and nonconsensual intimate image distribution (Powell 2010, Karaian 2012, Angelides 2013, Salter and Crofts 2015, Harvey 2015, Hasinoff 2015, Chun and Friedland 2015, Fairbairn 2015, Wodda andPanfil 2018). I am not the first scholar to bring together these disparate frameworks to discuss NCIID and related issues (e.g.…”

“…These shortcomings manifest in such forms as rape crisis centers that are largely focused on accompanying victims to court, without recognizing that women of color are less likely to have their cases ever make it to the court level (Crenshaw 1992), and carceral responses that do not account for the impacts of criminalization and racist criminal justice practices on communities of color (Crenshaw 1992, Razack 2005, Kim 2018. Many scholars now integrate intersectional analysis into their work on sexual violence to challenge the simplicity of a model that assumes gender is always the sole or primary explanation for this violence (Sokoloff and DuPont 2005, MacDonald, Osborne and Smith 2005, Wodda and Panfil 2018. Expanding beyond Crenshaw's main focus on the intersections of gender, class, and race, these scholars now discuss how "other forms of inequality and oppression" (e.g.…”

“…Hasinoff 2015), anxieties regarding (especially youth) sexual expression (Hasinoff 2015, Karaian andVan Meyl 2015, McGovern et al 2016, Wodda and Panfil 2018), and increasingly mainstream feminist concerns regarding sexual violence and violence against women (Hill 2015, Powell and Henry 2017). For instance, several scholars have discussed how anxieties regarding new technologies and youth sexuality/sexual often cited as the impetus for Canadian Criminal Code provisions to address NCIID (House of Commons 41st Parliament, 2nd Session 2014).…”

“…as relatively harmless). Using the insights of sex positive feminism (Friedman and Valenti 2008, Wodda and Panfil 2018), I provide a challenge to typical understandings of the harm of NCIID and argue that-to avoid the reaffirmation of the sex-negative beliefs that often support the harm of NCIID-socio-legal responses should better recognize the continuum of harms experienced in NCIID cases.…”