The Coercive Power of the Law

This book offers a critical exploration of the interplay between law, care ethics, and the body, emphasizing how legal systems both reflect societal values and regulate and discipline bodies and sexualities that deviate from normative standards, branding them as deviant or pathological. The authors contend that visibility—often celebrated as empowering—frequently serves as a mechanism of state control, subjecting marginalized bodies to cycles of hyper-visibility and erasure. Grounded in critical disability studies, queer theory, and Foucault’s theories of power, the book challenges liberalism’s focus on rights and autonomy, advocating instead for a framework centered on care ethics.