Bodies of law / Alan Hyde.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hyde, Alan, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human body--Law and legislation.

Human body.

Law--Philosophy.

Law.

Critical legal studies.

Physical Description:

xii, 278 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 1997.

Summary:

The most basic assertions about our bodies -- that they are ours and distinguish us from each other, that they are private and have boundaries, races, and genders -- are all political theories, constructed in legal texts for political purposes. So argues Alan Hyde in this first account of the body in legal thought. Hyde demonstrates that none of the constructions of the body in legal texts are universal truths that rest solely on body experience. Drawing on an array of fascinating case material, he shows that legal texts can construct all kinds of bodies, including those that are not owned at all, that are just like other bodies, that are public, open, and accessible to others. Further, the language, images, and metaphors of the body in legal texts can often convince us of positions to which we would not assent as a matter of political theory.

Through analysis of legal texts, Hyde shows, for example, how law's words construct the vagina as the most searchable body part; the penis as entirely under mental control; the bone marrow that need not be shared with a half-sibling who will die without it; and urine that must be surrendered for drug testing in rituals of national purification. This book will interest anyone concerned with cultural studies, gender studies, ethnic studies, and political theory, or anyone who has heard the phrase "body constructed in discourse" and wants to see, step by step, exactly how this is done.

Contents:

Ch. 1 The Body as Machine: Hawkins v. McGee 19

Ch. 2 The Fatigued Body: On the Progressive History of the Body as Machine 34

Ch. 3 The Body as Property 48

Ch. 4 Constructing the Autonomous Legal Body: Privacy, Property, Inviolability 80

Ch. 5 Reproductive Capacity: Unsalable, Commodified, Compensable 97

Ch. 6 Sandwich Man; or, The Economic and Political History of Bodily Display 109

Ch. 7 Suppressing Bodily Display: Legal Breasts, Sunbathing, Dance, Photographic Images 131

Ch. 8 The Body's Narratives 151

Ch. 9 The Legal Vagina 165

Ch. 10 The Legal Penis 173

Ch. 11 Tranquilizing the Prisoner 187

Ch. 12 Body Wastes 205

Ch. 13 The Racial Body 222

Ch. 14 Diseased Bodies: Antibodies and Anti-Bodies 241

Ch. 15 Offensive Bodies 252

Conclusion: A Body Fantasia 258.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0691012296

0691012288

OCLC:

35986376