When legal scholars or judges approach the subject of sexuality, they are often constrained by existing theoretical frameworks. Queer theorists typically focus on sexual liberty but tend not to consider issues such as sexual violence; feminist theories focus on violence but often ignore the joy of sexuality. Craig examines the Supreme Court of Canada’s approach to sexuality to assess the possibility of devising a legal theory of sexuality that can embrace both the good and the bad, ensuring equality without assimilation, diversity without exclusion, and liberty without suffering. Blending feminist theory with queer theory, she advances an iconoclastic approach to law and sexuality that has the power to transform both theory and practice.

Elaine Craig is professor of law, Dalhousie University, and the author of Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession and Troubling Sex: Towards a Legal Theory of Sexual Integrity.

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Elaine Craig’s book contributes significantly by studying sexuality transversally, across legal fields normally seen as distinct. Through provocative readings of leading cases, grounded in feminist and queer theory, it shows how the Supreme Court’s judgments embody different approaches from one field to another.

Robert Leckey, Faculty of Law, McGill University