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Unmanly Diversions: The Construction Of The Homosexual Body (Politic) In English Law, Carl F. Stychin

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In this article, the author interrogates the construction of gay male sexuality in legal and popular discourse. Focusing on two events-the decision of the House of Lords in Brown which upheld convictions of sadomasochists for assault, and publicity surrounding a serial killer of gay men in Britain-he argues that gay men are discursively constructed around the concepts of addiction, seduction, and contagion. Through the manipulation of these concepts, a linkage is created between sexual acts, sexual identities, the destruction of the gay male body, and a threat to the health and safety of the body politic as a whole.