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Sexuality and the Law Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Sexuality and the Law

Sex Exceptionalism In Intellectual Property, Jennifer E. Rothman Jan 2012

Sex Exceptionalism In Intellectual Property, Jennifer E. Rothman

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The state regulates sexual activity through a combination of criminal and civil sanctions and the award of benefits, such as marriage and First Amendment protections, for acts and speech that conform with the state’s vision of acceptable sex. Although the penalties for non-compliance with the state’s vision of appropriate sex are less severe in intellectual property law than those, for example, in criminal or family law, IP law also signals the state’s views of sex. In this Article written for the Stanford symposium on the Adult Entertainment industry, I extend my consideration of the law’s treatment of sex after Lawrence …


Sex In And Out Of Intimacy, Laura Rosenbury, Jennifer Rothman Jan 2010

Sex In And Out Of Intimacy, Laura Rosenbury, Jennifer Rothman

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The state has long attempted to regulate sexual activity by channeling sex into various forms of state-supported intimacy. Although commentators and legal scholars of diverse political perspectives generally believe such regulation is declining, the freedom to engage in diverse sexual activities has not been established as a matter of law. Instead, courts have extended legal protection to consensual sexual acts only to the extent such acts support other state interests, most often marriage and procreation. Although Lawrence v. Texas altered some aspects of that vision, it reinscribed others by suggesting that sexual activity should be protected from state interference only …