Contenu du sommaire : Sexualités : expression et répression.

This paper examines the socio-semiotic relations between pornography and technology in cyberspace. It analyzes how the computer affects the construction of sexual exchanges, and how the electronic interface modifies the borders between permission and transgression. This new construction, it is argued, finds its nodal and ideological origins in « fin de siècle » California, where the main values of the 'sixties' are being reframed into the techno-industrial paradigm.

This paper proposes a multi-layered reading of the Tales series from a literary perspective. It focuses on the devices used by Armistead Maupin to depict the coming of age of a "gay everyman " in a world of role-playing. It intends to show how this ground-breaking work, an intriguing insider's guide to gay America, confronts the myths about gay life and attempts to correct the misrepresented images of gays in everyday life.

In 1994, French Parliamentary representatives voted a «bio-ethics» law largely based on the advice and consent of a national bioethics committee inaugurated by President Mitterrand. In the United States, the lack of similar centralized policymaking has created a situation wherein on the one hand market forces in the realm of biogenetics and medically-assisted procreation benefit from almost total freedom of activity, while on the other hand conflicts resulting from the social consequences of these new scientific fields are left almost solely in the hands of the judiciary. This article examines the often uncomfortable, and sometimes inappropriate role played by the judiciary branch, especially in the realm of new tort law concepts, and attempts to demonstrate how the latter might be contributing, albeit indirectly, to a future "fetal rights" juridical framework.