Sodomy's Solicitations

"The book is erudite, playful at times, and well-argued.... Fischel takes his evidence from sodomy law and its deployment in Louisiana. His evidence is carefully presented and often fascinating, and the legal and constitutional analysis here is strong and thorough.... [T]he book is a major addition to the academic study of sexuality."—Compulsive Reader

"Joseph Fischel has done it again! Cutting through the discursive habits and cultural taboos that exceptionalize sex, Sodomy's Solicitations reveals alternatives that are not only pragmatic but advance human understanding beyond the places where it has been mired in sexual fears and misperceptions. To read this book is to confront the consequences of the outsized ethical significance assigned to sex, namely its easy weaponization by the state, which uses sexual hierarchies and punishments to police all of us." - Jane Ward, Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of The Tragedy of Heterosexuality

"In this groundbreaking work on queer sexual politics, Joseph Fischel shifts the focus from marginalized identities to state machineries of sexual control. From sex work to park cruising, from abortion restrictions to laws governing animal sexual abuse, Sodomy's Solicitations unpacks how sexual regulation functions as a potent tool for governance. Drawing on legal theory, queer studies, critical race theory, and feminist scholarship, this rigorously interdisciplinary work offers a provocative and incisive analysis of sexuality and the state. Essential and transformative, Fischel opens new avenues for understanding political power and sexual justice." - Paisley Currah, Professor of Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies at the City University of New York, and author of Sex Is as Sex Does: Governing Transgender Identity

"Fischel has undertaken a detailed examination of the ways that legislative changes such as those in Louisiana undermine a long line of precedents celebrated for their expansion of sexual liberty and bodily autonomy. Given our current political moment, Sodomy's Solicitations should have been published yesterday." - Joe Rollins, Professor of Political Science at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York