The Bedrooms of the Nation: A Critical Examination of the Laws of Private Sexual Ordering and Their Sources In the Legal Regimes of the 21st Century

Abstract

Law regulates the sexual citizen in myriad ways, from overt sexual behaviour, to conjugal and familial formation and dissolution, to issues which engage questions of sex and societal behaviour. This work uses Queer Theory, Legal Feminism, and Legal Historicism to explore the law regulating “private sexual ordering” through an analysis of three subject areas: polygamy, prostitution/sex work, and law’s regulation of female sexuality. The analysis is undertaken of both national and international legal regimes. The author’s informational methodology consists of textual analysis, comparative law, and investigating historical and social science literature which bears on, and is applied to, a legal analysis.

The philosophical, religious, and moral motives of laws regulating sexual and sexualized behaviour are analyzed, as is the restriction of forms of private sexual ordering on dissenting minorities, some of whom invoke freedom of religion and conscience to justify their choices. The work concludes that contemporary law restricting forms of private sexual ordering is imbued with religio-moral content which inhibits law applying principles of human autonomy and freedom of choice. The work thus recommends reform of the laws prohibiting or restricting private sexual ordering in the areas of polygamy and prostitution, while remaining optimistic that both national and international law can be used to safeguard the agentic and physical integrity of women faced with restrictions on their private sexual ordering and reproductive behaviours.