Book Review: Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial.
| Author | Kathleen Lennon |
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1177/135822919900300406 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
300
construct 'social citizenship' as 'full membership' vis-a-vis the state
and the European Union.
In
terms
of
'schools'
of
theory, the different traditions
of
West-
ern, Northern and Southern Europe are represented. Those repres-
ented most strongly are a number
of
variants upon liberal and social
democratic feminism, which start with but then problematise concepts
of
equality and difference, and the
'women's
law'
tradition
of
Scand-
inavia. The characteristic method adopted by many
of
the papers is
'deconstructionist'. They reveal the ways in which gendered assump-
tions are embedded into law and into social practices which law
often replicates (e.g. the organisation
of
time). That deconstruction
leads Kravaritou in her conclusion to call for
women's
situation
under labour law to be revealed more openly, and for the implicit
'sexualisation' to be rendered more explicit. She argues that such
sexualisation will not lead to the dreaded essentialism (although it
must be said en passant that there is relatively little discussion
through the book
of
the way in which gender intersects with race and
social class in relation to employment).
Overall, this is an interesting and worthwhile collection
of
essays. Many
of
the contributors are well known in the
'world
of
academic feminism'. Readers will find the volume a useful source
of
ideas.
Jo Shaw
University
of
Leeds
CARNAL KNOWLEDGE: RAPE
ON
TRIAL. Sue Lees, Hamish Hamil-
ton, London, 1996,
pp
292, price
h/b
£20.00. ISBN 0-241-1362.
Sue Lees monitored the handling
of
reported rapes (rapes
of
men by
women) and sat in on rape trials over a period
of
several months in
London. Reading this book brings back the issue
of
the judicial treat-
ment
of
rape as a central concern for feminist campaigning, as
indeed it was in the
70's
and early
80's.
Sue
Lees's
research shocks
us out
of
any complacent thought we might have that the judicial
process may have modified itself under pressure to handle accusa-
tions
of
rape in a fair and sensitive way. It shows a startling gender
bias within the process. Her work is particularly important given that
media interest in rape now centres on allegedly falsely accused men
and on the phenomena
of
its own invention, so-called 'date rape'.
In
the past, during the 1980's, a great deal
of
attention was paid
by feminists in Britain to the treatment which those who report rape
receive at the hands
of
the police. The interrogation and examination
at the police station was horrific and intrusive for those who had
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