Hard Bargains

Under what conditions do people seek and grant one another access to their physical selves? The authors discuss Western history's changing regulatory schemes of sexual consent, commerce and community, pointing out flaws and success, and concluding with a prescription for a new sexual order.

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Under what conditions do people seek and grant one another access to their physical selves? This is a book about the politics of heterosexual sex, a book about the law - the rules of sexual engagement - and a book about the history of sexual relations. Sex, the authors show, shorn of social presumption is a question of bargaining - hard bargaining over the benefits and burdens of sexual interaction, the empowerment or disempowerment of the participants. The authors discuss Western history's changing regulatory schemes of sexual consent, sexual commerce and sexual community, pointing out flaws and success, to conclude with their own prescription for a new sexual order for the next century.