Postgraduate coursework

LAWS6245 - Policing Bodies: Crime, Sexuality & Reproduction

Objectives

Explore the intersections between the criminal law, health law and medical practice in the regulation of the body.
Critically examine legal constructions of the individual and branch out to consider specific situations in which the body is subjected to regulation or control in the fields of sexual desire, body modification and reproduction.
Develop the capacity to think critically about the interplay between technologies of the body and the law, and to map possible future directions for criminal law, health law and public policy.

Content

Sex reassignment; sado-masochistic sexual practices and HIV transmission; genital alterations; limb amputation and anorexia; abortion; sex selection and prenatal genetic diagnosis; drug use and consent to medical treatment during pregnancy; enforced sterilization; characterisations of autonomy and bodily integrity; understandings of risk and responsibility; the legal regulation of certain bodies (for example gay/lesbian, transgendered, fetal, maternal, conjoined, disabled); the intersections between race, gender, disability and sexuality; the extent to which ‘medical’ and ‘criminal’ responses are collaborative.

This unit of study replaced Policing Bodies: Crime, Sexuality & Reproduction.

Session

Semester 1 Intensive
21-22 May & 4-5 June 2010

The timetable is subject to frequent changes. Please refer to the latest version of the Postgraduate Timetable.

Assessment

Class Presentation (10%)
1 x Take-Home Exam or 1 x 5,000 Word Research Essay (60%)
1 x 1,500 Word Write-Up of Class Presentation (30%)

Courses this unit is available in

Sydney Law School