Respectability on Trial: Sex Crimes in New York City, 1900-1918

Description

Recovers and chronicles the plights of ordinary New Yorkers that resonate with contemporary debates on rape and domestic violence. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Eavesdropping on Sexual Revolution Gender and Respectability Cultural History and Crime Toward a Bifocal Reading 1. Trials of the First Sexual Revolution The First Sexual Revolution Criminal Law and Sexual Counterrevolution The Enforcement of Sex Crime Laws 2. Date Rape and the Crime of Seduction Criminal Law and the Seduction Genre Seduction and Sexual Coercion Seduction Trials as Reputational Repair The “Resistance Test” in Criminal Seduction Trials Proving Chastity in the Courtroom 3. Rape and the Double Bind of Progressive-Era Femininity “You can’t believe hysterical women” Sexual Violence in the Workplace Urban Amusements and Sexual Violence 4. White Slaves and Ordinary Prostitutes Belle Moore and the White Slavery Narrative Charles Dix, the English White Slaver Florence Baker and the Movie Theater Abraham Belkin and False Promises of Marriage Assenta Bruno, Physical Violence, and Womanly Honor Giuseppe Spano and Claims of Heroism Annie Jacobs, the White Slave from Minsk 5. Sodomy, Manhood, and Consent Raid at Tecumseh Hall The Ariston Bathhouse Raid Anthony Comstock and the Male Lodger “He didn’t ask for no girl” 6. Conclusion: Rethinking Sexual Revolution Sexual Consent and Sexual Agency Notes Bibliography Archival Sources Published Primary Sources Secondary Sources State Penal Codes, Legal Texts, and Decisions Sex Crime Trials in the Trial Transcript Collection, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Index