palomapepper's review
3.0
This history of sex laws in the Western world is equal parts hilarious and horrifying. A lot of people have been brutally violated and/or murdered because someone else didn't like what they were doing with their private parts.
My main takeaway: it has really never been a good time to be born female. I suddenly feel privileged to be born in modern times, when rape is an actual crime, no matter if you're a servant, child, or foreigner.
My main takeaway: it has really never been a good time to be born female. I suddenly feel privileged to be born in modern times, when rape is an actual crime, no matter if you're a servant, child, or foreigner.
ellejaoy's review against another edition
4.0
I read this slowly over time and I very much enjoyed it. It was the right balance between more academic knowledge and fun stuff. It did end at 72% though as the rest of it was notes & sources.
aliciae08's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I’m not sure I would call this “hugely entertaining” as both the Sunday Times and The Guardian have called it, but it was certainly interesting and well-researched.
Before I get into contents, I will say that the structure of this work sometimes made it difficult to follow. There were so many names of people from the cases listed that Berkowitz is trying to point us to—for me it just doesn’t flow well. Even some of the chapter subcategories seemed off and there was no conclusion or closing thoughts. It just ends at the trials of Wilde and D’Adelswärd-Fersen/Warren respectively.
Berkowitz focuses on sex crimes/ how sexuality is codified in the law from Babylon and ancient Mesopotamia to the West. While there is some mention of cases in countries like India, that isn’t the main focus. This book goes into graphic detail of legal cases dating back to Babylon/Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece to Nineteenth Century. Most of the cases detail injustices committed against women, “racial inferiors” and class inferiors and Berkowitz does a good job of marking the changes in laws based on societal changes to how sex and sexuality is thought of. Even though I found it interesting, I also found some of the graphic nature of the crimes and punishments a lot to deal with.
Before I get into contents, I will say that the structure of this work sometimes made it difficult to follow. There were so many names of people from the cases listed that Berkowitz is trying to point us to—for me it just doesn’t flow well. Even some of the chapter subcategories seemed off and there was no conclusion or closing thoughts. It just ends at the trials of Wilde and D’Adelswärd-Fersen/Warren respectively.
Berkowitz focuses on sex crimes/ how sexuality is codified in the law from Babylon and ancient Mesopotamia to the West. While there is some mention of cases in countries like India, that isn’t the main focus. This book goes into graphic detail of legal cases dating back to Babylon/Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece to Nineteenth Century. Most of the cases detail injustices committed against women, “racial inferiors” and class inferiors and Berkowitz does a good job of marking the changes in laws based on societal changes to how sex and sexuality is thought of. Even though I found it interesting, I also found some of the graphic nature of the crimes and punishments a lot to deal with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Outing, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Sexism, Suicide, Sexual harassment, War, and Adult/minor relationship
trans_ishtar's review
4.0
I don't usually read nonfiction but this one was super interesting and full of horrific history.
amber_nana's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
kentcryptid's review against another edition
3.0
Sex & Punishment is an entertaining read with one major flaw. Other than the author's examinations of historical attitudes to sexuality in ancient Egypt and the Middle East, the book focuses entirely on Europe and North America. I would have killed for some information on historical sexual regulation in (for example) India or Japan. The lack of a world-wide scope makes the book feel limited and old-fashioned. It also ends weirdly abruptly. The author explains in the prologue that he decided to finish the narrative at the end of the 19th century which is fair enough - the book is already 420 pages long. However, in the event it just feels like it stops suddenly at a random point.