Law Commons^™

How To Get Away With Discrimination: The Use Of Algorithms To Discriminate In The Internet Entertainment Industry, Sumra Wahid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In July 2021, Ziggi Tyler posted a video on TikTok, a popular video sharing platform, where he expressed his frustration with being a Black content creator on TikTok. The video showed Ziggi typing phrases such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Black success” into his Marketplace creator bio, which the app would immediately flag as inappropriate content. However, when Ziggi replaced those words with “white supremacy” or “white success,” no inappropriateness warning appeared. Although a TikTok spokesperson responded to the video clarifying that the app had mistakenly flagged phrases without considering word order, Ziggi refused to let an algorithm absolve TikTok …

Foreword Introduction To Symposium: Enhancing Anti-Discrimination Laws In Education And Employment, Susan D. Carle

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

When this Symposium was first conceived in the Summer of 2021, the nation was just emerging from the first phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the beginning of trying to go back to life as normal. Given this reawakening, the Symposium’s planning committee felt the urgency of a need to regroup, rethink, and reassess the state of employment antidiscrimination law. We were not sure where others would be on this possible project, given the newness of the hopeful end to lockdowns and social isolation and return to “normal” concerns. But we quickly found that those who joined the Symposium …

Unlocking The Beauty From Within Title Vii: Arguing For An Expansive Interpretation Of Title Vii To Protect Against Attractiveness Discrimination, Michael Conklin

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Beauty may only be skin deep, but discrimination against the unattractive runs far deeper. Research emphatically demonstrates that attractiveness discrimination affects nearly every aspect of life, including hiring and promotion decisions. For example, personal injury attorneys utilize economists as expert witnesses for how their clients’ reduced attractiveness will negatively affect their future earnings. Attractiveness discrimination is just as prevalent as discrimination based on ethnicity. Unfortunately, current interpretations of federal antidiscrimination legislation do not offer protections from attractiveness discrimination. This Article offers a comprehensive framework for providing such protections under an expansive interpretation of Title VII.

Exposing Sedated Legal Responses To Non-Consensual Pelvic Exams Under Anesthesia, Ashleigh Austel

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

When Ashley Weitz, a woman from Utah, underwent sedation for treatment of vomiting, the last thing she expected was to wake up in the middle of an invasive pelvic exam that she did not consent to. The doctor informed her he was collecting a sample to test for sexually transmitted diseases, but the doctor had previously determined a pelvic exam was unnecessary. Reflecting on the experience, Ashley said, “in any other setting, someone putting their fingers into my vagina without my consent is assault. I did not consent to this exam, and he did it anyway.”

Principle Originalism--The Third Way: A Jurisprudential Response To Dobbs V. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Ryan Fortson

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

All judges attempt to decide cases for reasons other than politics or their own personal opinions. But finding a consistent judicial methodology is fraught with peril. Against what it sees as the hyper-textualism of strict constructionism and the unfettered discretion of living constitutionalism, originalism posits itself as the only viable way to achieve an objectively neutral interpretation of the law. This is certainly the stance taken by the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which claims that the Constitution is silent on abortion and that therefore no corresponding right to abortion exists. But there can be different …

How The Overturning Of Roe V. Wade Disproportionately Affects The Immigrant Asian American Population In The United States, Amy P. Lyons

Human Rights Brief

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the historic case Roe v. Wade, ending the right to abortion across the United States. The overturning of Roe v. Wade and the responsive state statutes that criminalize abortion are yet further barriers to health access for Asian Americans, especially those who experience domestic violence, and are a violation of the universal Right to Health.

Reevaluating Regional Law Reform Strategies After Dobbs, Jamie Abrams

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article studies the triad of 2016 social media campaigns known as “#AskDr.Kasich,” “#askbevinaboutmyvag,” and “#PeriodsforPence.” While these campaigns, each located in the regional mid-South, were motivated by restrictive state abortion bills, they uniquely positioned menstruation and women’s bodies at the center of their activism—not abortion alone. They leveraged, as a political fault line, the contradiction of these states’ governors’ perceived disgust relating to basic women’s reproductive health, relative to their patriarchal assuredness in regulating and controlling women’s bodies.

In so doing, they tapped into meaningful disruptions in the geographies, religiosities, and masculinities of abortion politics. These campaigns achieved regional …

The Law Of Friends, Ezra Rosser

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

A serious law professor would not write an article about the TV show Friends, but having just written a book and an article, I’m on a “break.” Besides, I’m not that serious a law professor. And Friends is as good a topic as any. For those of us of a certain age—too young to have watched M.A.S.H. when it came out and old enough to remember watching broadcast TV and not just through a streaming service on a device—Friends was and is a big deal. It both captured a particular moment in history and helped make that moment.

Looking back …

My Body Is Note My Choice Anymore? How Conscience Protections For Doctors Violate An Individual’S Right To Use Contraceptives And The Establishment Clause, Wanying Yang

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Introduction

After a month of waiting, Evann finally met her gynecologist for a consultation on her first intrauterine device (IUD). However, before Evann told the gynecologist her request and symptoms, the gynecologist emphasized she was in a Catholic hospital and that they only prescribe oral contraceptives to patients with heavy cramping. The gynecologist then passed Evann an unofficial paper with an IUD provider’s number and expressed sorrow regarding Evann’s decision to use contraceptives. Evann walked out of the hospital without any information on the IUD, but instead with frustration and shame.

Queering Bostock, Jeremiah A. Ho

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. INTRODUCTION

Regarding queer identities, the enduring misconceptions about sexual and gender identities underscore precisely why queer lived experiences are critically salient for understanding and remedying instances of discrimination. Without substantively acknowledging the lived experiences of discrimination, one danger is that the dominant establishment more easily retains the posture of redressing discrimination as a means for preserving a discriminatory status quo. For instance, where anti-subordination approaches might better detect and address the inequalities of a marginalized groups lived experiences than anti-classification approaches, scholars have noted that the establishment’s choice to maintain anti-classification approaches allows the status quo to reify its …

Prospects And Pitfalls: Confronting Sexual Harassment In The Legal Cannabis Industry, Alexis N. Smith, Griffon Toronjo Pivateau

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. Introduction

In the last decade, the legal cannabis industry emerged as a fast-growing and complex new market. Legal cultivation of the cannabis plant promises to create tremendous economic opportunities. Further, the new market hints at significant social consequences. Numerous women have entered the field as entrepreneurs, advocates, and employees. Early reports indicate a much higher percentage of women within the cannabis industry than the agricultural industry in general.

Nevertheless, women face challenges and obstacles. The cannabis industry bears the characteristics of a start-up entity, but this entity resides within a market skewed by the federal law banning the cultivation …