Law Commons^™

The Polarization Of Reproductive And Parental Decision-Making, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

Women’s abortion and parental decision-making in child rearing are constructed as polarized methods of decision-making in law, politics, and society. Women’s abortion decision-making is understood as myopic and individualistic. Parental decision-making is understood as sacrificial and selfless. This polarization leaves reproductive decision-making isolated, marginalized, and vulnerable while parental decision-making is essentialized, protected, and revered. Both framings are inaccurate and problematic. A unified family decision-making framework that aligns abortion decision-making and parental decision-making reveals that both forms of decision-making are more multi-dimensional, relational, and family-centered than currently understood. This Article exposes the ground to be gained by crossing longstanding boundaries in …

The Illusion Of Autonomy In Women's Medical Decision-Making, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

This Article considers why there is not more conflict between women and their doctors in obstetric decision-making. While patients in every other medical context have complete autonomy to refuse treatment against medical advice, elect high-risk courses of action, and prioritize their own interests above any other decision-making metric, childbirth is viewed anomalously because of the duty to the fetus that the state and the doctor owe at birth. Many feminist scholars have analyzed the complex resolution of these conflicts when they arise, particularly when the state threatens to intervene to override the birthing woman’s autonomy.

This Article instead considers the …

The Collateral Consequences Of Masculinizing Violence, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

Before an enraged gunman fired thirty-six deadly shots into an exercise class filled with women, on August 4, 2009, in Pennsylvania, he blogged that his killing spree was the result of his failure to meet society’s expectations of him as a man. This violent act tragically affirms that hegemonic masculinity — a dominant form of masculinity whereby some types of men have power over women and over some other men — can directly cause violence against women and reveals both an underlying connection between masculinities scholarship and feminist scholarship and the value in exploring that linkage further in both theory …

Examining Entrenched Masculinities In The Republican Government Tradition, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

No abstract provided.

Banding Together: Reflections Of The Role Of The Women's Bar Association Of The District Of Columbia And The Washington College Of Law In Promoting Women's Rights, Jamie R. Abrams, Daniela Kraiem

Jamie R. Abrams

No abstract provided.

Debunking The Myth Of Universal Male Privilege, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

Existing legal responses to sexual assault and harassment in the military have stagnated or failed. Current approaches emphasize the prevalence of sexual assault and highlight the masculine nature of the military’s statistical composition and institutional culture. Current responses do not, however, incorporate masculinities theory to disentangle the experiences of men as a group from men as individuals. Rather, embedded within contestations of the masculine military culture is the unstated assumption that the culture universally privileges or benefits the individual men that operate within it. This myth is harmful because it tethers masculinities to military efficacy, suppresses the costs of male …

Reframing The Socratic Method, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

No abstract provided.

Panel V: Masculinities And Institutions, Elaine W. Shoben, Joan W. Howarth, Deborah L. Brake, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

Moderator: Elaine Shoben

Panelists:
Joan W. Howarth: Masculinities and Institutional Strength
Deborah L. Brake: Sport and Masculinity: The Promise and Limits of Title IX
Jamie R. Abrams: Enlisting the Nineteenth Amendment as a Weapon for Political Equality

Enforcing Masculinities At The Borders, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

No abstract provided.

The Feminist Case For Acknowledging Women's Acts Of Violence, Jamie R. Abrams

Jamie R. Abrams

This Article makes a feminist case for acknowledging women's acts of violence as consistent with-not threatening to-the goals of the domestic violence movement and the feminist movement. It concludes that broadly understanding women's use of strength, power, coercion, control, and violence, even illegitimate uses, can be framed consistent with feminist goals. Beginning this conversation is a necessary-if uncomfortable-step to give movement to the movement to end gendered violence.