Sex Panic and the Punitive State

322 Pages·2011·2.058 MB·English

by  Roger N. Lancaster

Sex Panic and the Punitive State
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support
of the General Endowment Fund of the University of
California Press Foundation.
Sex Panic and the
Punitive State
Roger N. Lancaster
university of california press
Berkeley • Los Angeles • London
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, En gland
© 2011 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Lancaster, Roger N.
Sex panic and the punitive state / Roger N.
Lancaster.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978–0-5 20–25565–4 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978–0-5 20–26206–5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Sex—U nited States. 2. Sexual ethics— United
States. 3. Sex customs— United States. 4. United
States— Social conditions— 20th century. I. Title.
hq18u5l35 2011
306.70973'09045—dc22 2010020837
Manufactured in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100%
post consumer waste, recycled, de- inked fi ber. FSC
recycled certifi ed and pro cessed chlorine free. It is acid
free, Ecologo certifi ed, and manufactured by BioGas
energy.
For Ritchie and Joe, who try to live well
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Present fears
are less than horrible imaginings.
—William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Whoever fi ghts monsters should see to it that in the pro cess
he does not become a monster.
—Friedrich Nietz sche, Beyond Good and Evil
Rome’s life was now an imitation of life: a mere holding on.
Security was the watchword—as if life knew any other
stability than through constant change, or any form of
security except through a constant willingness to take risks.
—Lewis Mumford, The Condition of Man
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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Fear Eats the Soul 1
part one. sex panic 19
1. Panic: A Guide to the Uses of Fear 23
2. Innocents at Home: How Sex Panics Reshaped
American Culture 39
3. To Catch a Predator: New Monsters, Imagined Risks,
and the Erosion of Legal Norms 73
4. The Magical Power of the Accusation: How I Became a
Sex Criminal and Other True Stories 104
part two. the punitive state 137
5. Zero Tolerance: Crime and Punishment in the Punitive State 141
6. Innocents Abroad: Taboo and Terror in the Global War 167
7. Constructing Victimization: How Americans Learned to
Love Trauma 181
8. The Victimology Trap: Capitalism, Liberalism, and Grievance 214
Conclusion: Whither the Punitive State? 227