"What is the difference between sex and sexual violation?" Event

This paper reconsiders the conceptual and legal boundary between sex and sexual violation. It explores the current constructions of sex and sexual violation contained within the Sexual Offences Act 2003. It then reflects on whether these constructions adequately capture the distinction between sexual conduct that is acceptable and that which is experienced as violating. These reflections are informed by data from an empirical study which consisted of interviews and focus groups with lay people, police officers, domestic violence support workers and caseworkers supporting women involved in street-based sex work. The paper forms the central argument of the author’s forthcoming book, Re-Negotiating Sex and Sexual Violation in the Criminal Law, which will be published by Hart in 2014.