The Boundaries of Desire: A Century of Bad Laws, Good Sex, and Changing Identities

"A bracing look at the often-strange relationship between sexuality and the legal system over six tumultuous decades" (Booklist). Society's acceptance of sex and the grasp of its many variables are in constant flux. Switch a decade, cross a border, or traverse class lines and the harmless pleasures of one group become the gravest crimes in another. Combining meticulous research and lively storytelling, this "eye-opening history of sexual legislation" traces the fast-moving blood sport of sex law over the past century. It challenges our most cherished notions about family, power, gender, and identity, and proves that nothing sparks intolerance--on the left and the right--more than sex (Publishers Weekly Starred Review). Starting when courts censored birth control information as pornography and let men rape their wives, and continuing through the "sexual revolution" and into the present day (when sexual assault, gay rights, sex trafficking, and sex on the internet saturate the news), legal scholar Eric Berkowitz explores how the law has remained out of synch with the convulsive changes in sexual morality. "In lively, passionate prose, [he] shows how irrational, unjust, and destructive even well-intentioned attempts to legislate lust can be. This controversial book is as mind-blowing as it is heart-opening" (Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn).

About the Author :
Eric Berkowitz's lengthy career as a lawyer, journalist and writer has been marked by both meticulous scholarship and uncompromising advocacy. An active intellectual property, First Amendment and business litigator, his work has appeared in the "Los Angeles Times," "LA Weekly," "California Lawyer," and "The Washington Post," as well as websites such as "Huffington Post," AlterNet and "Salon." He has been interviewed widely for radio and television including for the History Channel's recent 9-partseries, "How Sex Changed the World." He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Review :
Praise for "Sex and Punishment" "I don't think I've ever read such an entertaining historical work. It has the wisdom granted by perspective, without the condescension of someone who thinks we're wiser than our ancestors. Whether you want to fuel your indignation, or simply furnish yourself with enough jaw-dropping data to galvanize a hundred party conversations, you really must shell out for this book. It's worth every penny." - "The Guardian" "Eric Berkowitz has done an excellent job of showing just how far from certain any of us should be that we really know what is 'normal' or 'ethical' when it comes to sex. Sex and Punishment is built on solid scholarship and spiced with plenty of sordid details that will make you the hit of any cocktail party." - Christopher Ryan, author of the "New York Times" bestseller "Sex at Dawn" "Enormously informative and entertaining." - "The Boston Globe" "A thorough (and often surprisingly hilarious) look at the people who fall outside the parameters of the sexually condoned" -- "San Francisco Chronicle" "Very interesting, enlightening, well written, and timely. [Sex and Punishment] performs an important service in narrating the pre-twentieth century history of sexual mores." - Richard A. Posner, professor, University of Chicago Law School, judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and author of "Sex and Reason" "Enlightening, astounding, broad-ranging and rich in detail, exciting and impressively relentless" -- "The Sunday London Times" (lead review in book section) "Entertaining, angry, and deeply fascinating." - "The Independent" "Fascinating and gruesomely compelling" -- "Sunday Mail" "Well-paced and lucid" - "California Lawyer" "Berkowitz's book in the end is a rewarding wonderland of the forbidden, and of society's attempts to keep it so, despite their inevitable failure. It is a mural sometimes done as miniature, sometimes as epic, but always with a craftsman's hand--a sprawling story told with uncommon precision and purity of expression." -- "Tri-Quarterly Review" "[Berkowitz] addresses his subject with precision and deftly placed humor." - "We Love This Book" "This is a wonderfully well-written, well-organized and accomplished book." -- "The Literary Review" "Sex and Punishment is fascinating in its entirety." - Brain Pickings "Stories of political scandal, domestic intrigue, religious intolerance, and corporeal fervor are entwined in an intricate love--or lust--knot that's difficult to put down. Berkowitz's work will be of great interest to social historians, students of human sexuality, and anyone seeking a better understanding of that age-old wrestling match between power and desire." -- "ForeWord Reviews"