ABSTRACT
In this and the next chapter I examine the events surrounding two pieces of legislation which are lucid illustrations of the political, cultural and legal aspects of questions concerning the regulation of sexuality, and in particular of the sexuality of women. It is unnecessary to say that the regulation of sexuality is a crucial aspect of the social control of women (on this see Pitch 1988, Introduction). There are, however, also other issues which come to light with the struggles around these two laws: the relation between protection and autonomy, the symbolic use of criminal law, the construction and the attribution and assumption of the status of victim.
