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I Do' Kiss And Tell: The Subversive Potential Of Non-Normative Socialsexual Expression From Within Cultural Paradigms, Elaine Craig Oct 2004

I Do' Kiss And Tell: The Subversive Potential Of Non-Normative Socialsexual Expression From Within Cultural Paradigms, Elaine Craig

Dalhousie Law Journal

Using a comparative analysis of the equality movements of sexual minorities in Canada and India the author identifies a symbiosis between the subversive benefits of a deconstructionist approach to equality and the practical achievements to be gained by a rights-based model of social justice. The analysis is conducted through an examination of the role that the expression of same-sex desire plays in the legal and social positions of sexual minorities in Canada and India The author argues that the acquisition of rights can provide sexual minorities with greater access to dominant cultural rituals and that such access provides opportunities to …


Honest Beliefs, Credible Lies, And Culpable Awareness: Rhetoric, Inequality, And Mens Rea In Sexual Assault, Lucinda Vandervort Oct 2004

Honest Beliefs, Credible Lies, And Culpable Awareness: Rhetoric, Inequality, And Mens Rea In Sexual Assault, Lucinda Vandervort

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The exculpatory rhetorical power of the term "honest belief" continues to invite reliance on the bare credibility of belief in consent to determine culpability in sexual assault. In law, however, only a comprehensive analysis of mens rea, including an examination of the material facts and circumstances of which the accused was aware, demonstrates whether a "belief' in consent was or was not reckless or wilfully blind. An accused's "honest belief" routinely begs this question, leading to a truncated analysis of criminal responsibility and error. The problem illustrates how easily old rhetoric perpetuates assumptions that no longer have a place in …