Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law and Gender

Selected Works

Selected Works

2012

Human Rights Law

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Penny Wise But Pound Foolish In The Heartland: A Case Study Of Decriminalizing Domestic Violence In Topeka, Kansas, Shelley Santry Feb 2012

Penny Wise But Pound Foolish In The Heartland: A Case Study Of Decriminalizing Domestic Violence In Topeka, Kansas, Shelley Santry

Shelley M. Santry

ABSTRACT Domestic violence has been present in every society that has ever existed. Oftentimes, violence against women has been not only part of a culture but also codified into its laws. As societies and nations have progressed, so too has the outcry for a structured governmental response to the problem of domestic violence. Laws have been passed by cities, states, and nations; treaties have been entered into among nations, but still the problem of domestic violence persists. In October of 2011, the city council of Topeka, KS, voted to decriminalize misdemeanor domestic violence cases. It did so in a dispute …

Go to article

Exchange As A Cornerstone Of Families, Martha Ertman Feb 2012

Exchange As A Cornerstone Of Families, Martha Ertman

Martha M. Ertman

This essay up-ends critical theorist Ivan Illich’s critique of economic thinking as replacing households defined by vernacular gender with married pairs in “inhumane” sex-neutral economic partnerships. It challenges Illich’s view of exchange as a destroyer that has meddled in families for only a few hundred years, citing sociobiological literature to counter his case against exchange with one valorizing two exchanges that I call “primal deals” that played crucial roles in the evolution of humans, families, and day-to-day life. These primal deals—especially the primal pair-bonding deal between men and women—continue to play a central role in families and family law today. …

Go to article