📖 WIPIVERSE

🔍 Currently registered entries: 124,333건

Crimes Against Nature (2004 book)

Crimes Against Nature: Squatting, Perversions and Ecology is a 2004 non-fiction book by Karl Steel, published by Fordham University Press. The book examines the intersection of medieval theological and legal discourses surrounding unnatural sexual acts, often termed “sodomy” or “crimes against nature,” with contemporary ecocritical perspectives.

Steel argues that medieval conceptions of the “natural” as something divinely ordained and easily violated, particularly through non-procreative sexual acts, have lingering effects on modern understandings of ecology and environmentalism. He analyzes a range of medieval texts, including theological treatises, legal documents, and literary works, to demonstrate how the concept of "unnatural" behavior was constructed and enforced.

The book contends that this historical framing of "nature" as something to be protected from human "perversion" shapes contemporary approaches to environmental issues, sometimes in ways that are problematic. Steel explores how this binary of natural/unnatural can lead to exclusionary or even violent responses to perceived threats to ecological stability. He seeks to destabilize these categories and encourage a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between humans, sexuality, and the environment.

Key themes within the book include:

  • The historical construction of "nature" and "unnatural" acts.
  • The relationship between medieval theology, law, and sexuality.
  • The influence of medieval thought on contemporary ecocriticism.
  • The potential pitfalls of essentializing "nature" in environmental discourse.
  • A critique of binary oppositions, such as natural/unnatural and human/animal.