Review: Sex and Punishment by Eric Berkowitz
Title: Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire
Author: Berkowitz, Eric
Length: 456 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Publisher / Year: Counterpoint Press / 2012
Source: From the publisher for review.
Rating: 3/5
Why I Read It: It sounded interesting.
Date Read: 23/06/12
What is and isn’t acceptable and legal under the law, in terms of sexual activity, has fluctuated through the centuries. In this book Berkowitz aims to provide a historical view of how sex has been legally and culturally treated over the past thousands of years. Starting with the first recorded rules discovered, up until the late nineteenth century, he gives us details on various societies and cultures and the ways that sex and the law interacted.
The book contained a ton of facts and much new-to-me information, and was well-researched, given the large bibliography list. I would, however, have liked to see a larger notes section to see more of where various facts and figures came from. Well-written and engaging, the facts he shared and the stories he told kept me entertained and I felt I learned a lot. There was some repetition of facts and people, however, and so I feel the book could have been trimmed to make it slightly more on topic.
While I felt I learned much from the book, I had two main issues. My first is that the book deals almost exclusively with European and North American colonial law. After briefly mentioning other cultures in the introduction, the book then moves to early civilizations in Egypt, Greece, Rome, and of course biblical societies in Israel / Palestine. From there, only the European and British, and later American cultures are mentioned, ignoring the rest of the world completely. With a title expressing such a wide scope, the specific focus on this small area of the world was disappointing.
Second, as a female who has dealt with the legal and cultural issues surrounding rape, I would have liked to see more discussion of the impacts of the laws and what it meant for those involved. While Berkowitz mentions that women were treated as property, that early feminists fought to raise the legal age of consent, that there were legal battles with the aim of punishing those who forced sex on others, in many ways he seems flippant of these changes. When mentioning Roman Polanski in passing, for example, he says that his punishment and legal battles were caused by historical accident – years earlier the same action wouldn’t have been a crime. While this is true, that doesn’t make it OK, and I would have liked to see more of the moral and personal accountability on the changes to these laws and their effects on women, and on all others. Definitely more a straight history book than any kind of social commentary or discussion book.
In all, an interesting and informative read, if not quite what I was hoping for. Recommended for those who enjoy learning about history, the history of sex, and the history of laws.
I think this would be a very interesting read. I seem to recall a show on PBS several years back called “The History of Sex.” It was fascinating how the perception of what is right and wrong with regards to sex has changed over the years.
I’d not heard for that show but it sounds really interesting Jayme. It is fascinating thinking of how much things have fluctuated.
that would make my head hurt a little, the polanski bit. sometimes it’s OK to be judgemental!
Yep, that’s my opinion too Marie
It sounds like from the issues you had with the book that I would have been throwing it across the room before long!
I considered that by times Jill, but could also kind of appreciate what the author was doing. Kind of
I think the lack of information on different cultures, and the fact that the book doesn’t go into the penalties of rape might bother me some, but other than that, this sounds like it might make a great read for me. I need to know these kinds of things, and this might be a great way to learn. Wonderful review today, Amy!
Definitely informative zibilee, despite not being exactly what I thought it would be.
Perhaps the author didn’t want to give an opinion on this. Interesting read. I’m branching more and more into non-fiction. Or I hope so.
Yes, it did seem that way Nana. And that is great
Another delightful and succint review from you, Amy. Have I ever mentioned that I love the ways in which you pierce straight through to the core of your take on the books you review? (Because I do!)
I think that the lack of sustained global cultural context would be a dealbreaker for me, given the exciting title and all the possibilities it seems to present. I will keep updated on your sex and stigma readings, to see if something else appeals!
Thank you so much Shivanee, you are too kind
I do wish that other cultures were explored more too, so disappointing! Hopefully something else will come along to meet that gap.
A lack of serious engagement with issues like rape seems too serious an oversight for this topic, and the narrow focus on western law and cultures is disappointing. Of course it’s too huge a topic to work everything into one book, but still. Too bad!
Definitely too much for one volume… but yes, it was still frustrating Emily.
When I strated reading the reivew, I thought to myself that the author would have had to research widely to be able to cover all cultures. I’m glad as I read along that your sentiments about the exclusion of other cultures mirrored mine. That said, he probably used Egypt, Greek and Roman generically since civilisation is said to spring from these cultures. Though I have not read this book, I do believe it is is an ambitious one, because legal and cultural treatment of sex issues have evolved indeed since creation, and much ground would have to be covered to give the issues a comprehensive treatment, with different and diverse perspectives, practices and beliefs. An interesting book, nonetheless.
Yep, that was why he covered those ones I think readinpleasure. But I think he should have been more clear about the fact that he was excluding other cultures. Definitely interesting yep.