The ages of consent: gay activism and the sexuality of minors in France and Quebec (1970-1980)
This paper analyzes the way in which gay activist movements of the 1970s initiated a politicization of the issue of sexual consent, in advance of a series of reforms in the 1980s. In the early 1970s, these movements faced similar challenges in France and Quebec : the age of consent, having been set...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cliowgh, |
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| Autors principals: | , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
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Clio
2022
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| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | This paper analyzes the way in which gay activist movements of the 1970s initiated a politicization of the issue of sexual consent, in advance of a series of reforms in the 1980s. In the early 1970s, these movements faced similar challenges in France and Quebec : the age of consent, having been set higher for homosexuals, raised the question of under-age sexual freedom. In both cases, the history of gay movements follows a parallel trajectory. Arising in connection with revolutionary political movements, gay movements of the mid-1970s focused on more targeted claims related, in particular, to legal discrimination against homosexuals regarding the age of consent. In the 1980s, the resulting laws redefined, almost simultaneously, both rape and the age of consent. They indicate that a similar process was under way in both France and Canada : while the age of consent was altered, its principle was reaffirmed, as a bulwark against a new figure now regarded as dangerous, the paedophile. |
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