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26 New Eng. L. Rev. 1309 (1991-1992)
Sexual Abuse, Sexy Dressing and the Eroticization of Domination

handle is hein.journals/newlr26 and id is 1323 raw text is: Sexual Abuse, Sexy Dressing and the
Eroticization of Domination*
Duncan Kennedy**
Introduction  .................................................. 1310
I.  Sexual Abuse  Law  ........................................ 1314
A.  Defining  Sexual Abuse  ............................... 1315
B. The Legal Treatment of Sexual Abuse ................ 1317
1. Formal rules governing abuse ..................... 1318
2. The administration of the formal rules ............ 1319
3. Toleration of abuse and its consequences ......... 1319
II. The Conflict of Interests Between Men and Women with
Respect to Preventing Sexual Abuse ...................... 1321
A. The Pathology/Competence Analysis ................. 1321
B. The Cost of Precautions v. the Burden of Excess
Enforcem ent ......................................... 1323
1.  Costs  to  wom en  .................................. 1323
2.  Benefits  to  m en  .................................. 1324
C. Bargaining in the Shadow of Sexual Abuse Law ....... 1327
III.  Sexual Abuse  as Discipline  ............................... 1329
A.  The Disciplinary Mechanism  .......................... 1329
B.  Characterological Discipline  .......................... 1331
1. Men's interest in traditional female identity ........ 1331
2. An endorsement and a critique ................... 1336
a.  Endorsem ent .................................. 1336
b.  C ritique  ...................................... 1338
C. Problematizing Men's Interest in Abuse ............... 1339
IV. Sexual Abuse and Female Dress .......................... 1342
A. The Production and Regulation of Sexy Dress ........ 1343
1. Sexy dressing as deviation from the norm of the
setting  ...........................................  1344
2. The sexy dress subculture and female agency ...... 1347
B. The Conventional View: Sexy Dress Provokes Sexual
A buse  ...............................................  1350
1. The conventional view as narrative ................ 1351
2.  Responses to  the  narrative ........................ 1354
* Copyright © 1992 by Duncan Kennedy. Reprinted with permission.
** Professor of Law, Harvard Law School. This article is dedicated to the
memory of Mary Joe Frug.

1309

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