Law Commons^™

In The Shadow Of The Law: Applying Therapeutic Approaches To Sexual Harassment Conflicts In The Context Of #Metoo, Michal Alberstein, Shira Rosenberg-Lavi

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article comprises a firsthand account of working as a university Sexual Harassment Commissioner (SHC), a role that manifests a combination of law and advanced conflict resolution practice. It offers a working model grounded in alternative justice principles to address sexual harassment and other, similar types of conflict. The resultant therapeutic and conflict resolution approach may apply to other institutions and other areas of law and society as well. Moreover, it fits in well during the era of #MeToo, where women raised their voices to challenge grave offenses such as rape, as well as attitudes, patterns, and allegedly “small” and …

#Metoo’S Landmark, Yet Flawed, Impact On Dispute Resolution: The Ending Forced Arbitration Of Sexual Assault And Sexual Harassment Act Of 2021, Imre S. Szalai

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

On March 3, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (the Amendment) into law. This Amendment is the most significant change in the last several decades to the Federal Arbitration Act (the FAA), the main federal law governing arbitration since 1925. This landmark Amendment is also the most important federal legislation to arise thus far from the #MeToo movement. The Amendment invalidates predispute arbitration agreements in cases involving sexual harassment or sexual assault, thereby allowing survivors to proceed with their claims in public court with more robust procedural protections. …

#Metoo And The Corporation In Popular Culture, Brenda Cossman

Seattle University Law Review

#MeToo’s initial virtual explosion in the fall of 2017 was very much about Hollywood, with famous actresses speaking out against famous producers, media moguls and celebrities, exposing the ubiquity of sexual harassment and sexual violence in and around the entertainment industry. Since then, #MeToo has made its way into Hollywood representations without much irony. Films and television shows have explicitly taken up the #MeToo themes, exploring issues of sexual harassment and violence and its afterlives. Many television shows, from the relaunched version of Murphy Brown to Brooklyn Nine-Nine to The Good Fight have incorporated #MeToo themes into episodes exploring the …

#Wetoo, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

Florida State University Law Review

Content Advisory: This article discusses sexual violence in detail. The #MeToo movement has caused a widespread cultural reckoning over sexual violence, abuse, and harassment. 'Me Too" was meant to express and symbolize that each individual victim was not alone in their experiences of sexual harm, they added their voice to others who had faced similar injustices. But viewing the #MeToo movement as a collection of singular voices fails to appreciate that the cases that filled our popular discourse were not cases of individual victims coming forward. Rather, case after case involved multiple victims, typically women, accusing single perpetrators. Victims were …

Sexual Harassment: A Doctrinal Examination Of The Law, An Empirical Examination Of Employer Liability, And A Question About Ndas— Because Complex Problems Do Not Have Simple Solutions, Michael Heise, David S. Sherwyn

Indiana Law Journal

The #MeToo movement casts critical light on the pervasive nature of sexual harassment, particularly in the employment context, and continues to motivate a number of initiatives that address important social and workplace ills. The problems this movement has uncovered, however, run much deeper and likely exceed the scope and capacity of many of the proposed “fixes” it has inspired. Worse still, however, is that some of the proposed fixes may prove counterproductive. This Article examines the history and development of the relevant employment laws, empirically assesses judicial holdings on the employers’ affirmative defense to liability, and argues that many employees …

Sexual Misconduct By Law Enforcement: A New Meaning To Stop And Frisk?, Anastasia Cassisi

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Turn on the television at any time during the day and you are likely to find at least one channel playing an episode of Law and Order, Special Victims Unit (S.V.U.). If you catch the opening sequence, after a few moments of catchy music, an ominous narrator recites the above words. The fictional show is about a group of New York City detectives who investigate sex crimes and the attorneys who prosecute the offenders. The show portrays sex crimes as egregious offenses committed by heinous criminals. However, what the show fails to depict is what happens when these dedicated …

That Was Then, This Is Now: The Revival Of The Proposed Equal Rights Amendment And The Co-Optation Of The #Metoo Movement, Kyndal Currie

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment argues that the anticipated effect of an Equal Rights Amendment on the experiences of Black women and girls who have survived sexual violence is incongruent with the original tenets of the #MeToo movement. To provide context, Part I of this Comment recounts historical efforts to enact the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. Part I also details the concept of “intersectionality,” as well as modern campaigns that embrace its meaning to advance the social position of Black women.

In evaluating the efficacy of an Equal Rights Amendment, Part II of this Comment defines the contours of Black women’s experiences in …

Reasonableness In Hostile Work Environment Cases After #Metoo, Danielle A. Bernstein

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The #MeToo movement, a global social response to sexual harassment in the workplace, has turned the traditional approach to sexual harassment on its head. Instead of shielding perpetrators and discrediting survivors, employers, the media, and the public have begun to shift from presuming the credibility of the perpetrator to presuming the credibility of the survivor. But this upending of the status quo has occurred almost entirely in the social sphere—and the legal system, where survivors of workplace sexual harassment can seek remedies for the abuse they have suffered, is proving much slower to adapt.

While our social presumptions are flipping …

Promoting Gender Equity And Foreign Policy Goals Through Ratifying The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, Raj Telwala

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

"If Consent Is Bought, It Is Not Freely Chosen": Compromised Consent In Prostituted Sex In Ireland, Ivana Bacik

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article offers feminist arguments for the reconsideration of consent as a legal concept, informed by insights gained through the work of the #MeToo movement and other feminist campaigns. It suggests that consent may be seen as legally compromised in certain contexts of structured gender inequality, such as domestic violence, workplace sexual harassment, and prostitution. The legal understanding of consent in such contexts is antithetical to the conception of consent as “freely and voluntarily” given within a mutual sexual relationship. This understanding of consent underpins the recent introduction of the Nordic model approach into Irish law through the Criminal Law …

Disappearing Act: Are Free Speech Rights Decreasing?, Michael Conklin

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

A Cacophony Of Speech, Law, And Persona: Battling Against The Vortex Of #Metoo In France And The U.S., Anne Wagner, Sarah Marusek

Journal of Civil Law Studies

The pervasive proliferation of rumors, through #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc, communicates meaningful and meaningless-making processes on misconducts both in the French and U.S. con-texts. Such rumors have transformed the online practices by culti-vating both verbal and non-verbal hate speech free and/or free speech. This cacophony of speech, law, and persona has led to a debate relayed on social media platforms, exposing people to a dan-ger zone mostly based as shame, hate, fear, or even destruction, as anonymity and due process no longer prevail.

Evidence’S #Metoo Moment, Aníbal Rosario-Lebrón

University of Miami Law Review

The #MeToo movement has drawn attention to the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence. But more importantly, it has exposed how society discounts the testimony of women. This Article unfolds how this credibility discounting is reinforced in our evidentiary system through the use of character for untruthfulness evidence to impeach victims. Specifically, through defense attorneys’ practice of impeaching sexual and gender-based violence victims’ character for truthfulness as a way to introduce functional evidence of credibility biases regarding the trustworthiness of sexual and gender-based violence victims and the plausibility of their testimonies. The Article further shows a correlation between the poor …

Censoring Hate In The Music Industry: Shifting Perspectives In Pursuit Of Cultural Equity, Joey A. Tan

Backstage Pass

Music is intended to be expressive and unconstrained, a tool of communicating emotion and bridging humanity. As such, censorship is widely despised among music creators, listeners, publishers, distributors, and other music industry stakeholders. “Freedom of expression,” however, proves to be an applicable argument for both sides of the matter when the censorship concerns hate directed at marginalized communities. Analyzing the concept of censorship through the lens of those with privilege and power fails to recognize the extent to which hate speech impacts its victims and the indirect recipients of the message. As a powerful influencer of popular and youth cultures, …

Dignity And Discrimination In Sexual Harassment Law: A French Case Study, L. Camille Hébert

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

In 2012, France adopted new prohibitions on sexual harassment into its Labor and Penal Codes. That enactment, which significantly broadened the definition of actionable harassment, was based on a model of harassment law that defines sexual harassment as a form of discrimination, while the French have traditionally conceived of sexual harassment as a form of sexual violence. Cases decided under the new prohibitions, as well as additional legislation adopted in France in 2016 and 2018, the latter prompted by France’s “#MeToo” movement, suggest that the French are beginning to perceive sexual harassment as implicating issues of both dignity and equality …

#Metoo, Statutory Rape Laws, And The Persistence Of Gender Stereotypes, Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer

Utah Law Review

This Article illustrates how movements for increased equality between men and women can fail to meet their stated goals. Using the example of statutory rape laws, this Article explains how the legislative shift from gender-specific to gender-neutral terminology, brought on in part by feminists seeking an egalitarian society, has failed to achieve the goal of increasing equality between males and females and, in many ways, led to a return to the historical paradigm of girls as both powerless and property.

Critiquing Matter Of A-B-: An Uncertain Future In Asylum Proceedings For Women Fleeing Intimate Partner Violence, Theresa A. Vogel

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The #MeToo movement has brought renewed attention to the impact of gender inequality on our society’s ability to provide protection to women from physical and sexual violence, including intimate partner violence. Despite advances in legal protections and increased resources to prevent, prosecute, and bring an end to intimate partner violence, in the absence of true efforts to combat gender inequality as a whole, intimate partner violence will continue to pervade our society. The discussion of gender inequality’s impact on the treatment of intimate partner violence must expand beyond the violence that occurs in the United States to gender inequality’s impact …

Believing Survivors: In Veterans Affairs Benefits Claims, No In-Service Report Is Required To Prove An Instance Of Military Sexual Trauma, Allysen Adrian

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

AZ v. Shinseki held that the Department of Veterans Affairs could not treat the absence of military documentation of an in-service sexual assault as proof that the assault never occurred. Nor can the Department of Veterans Affairs assert that a veteran’s decision not to report an instance of sexual trauma to military authorities is proof that the assault did not occur. A veteran’s submission of testimonial lay evidence can supplant the lack of report. This holding aligns with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ duty to consider all evidence in the file and to maximize benefits for the veteran.

Consequential Sex: #Metoo, Masterpiece Cakeshop, And Private Sexual Regulation, Melissa Murray

Northwestern University Law Review

The last sixty years have ushered in a tectonic shift in American sexual culture, from the sexual revolution—with its liberal attitudes toward sex and sexuality—to a growing recognition of rape culture and sexual harassment. The responses to these changes in sexual culture have varied. Conservatives, for their part, bemoan the liberalization of sexual mores and the rise of a culture where “anything goes.” And while progressives may cheer the liberalization of attitudes toward sex and sexuality and the growing recognition of sexual harassment and sexual assault, they lament the inadequacy of state efforts to combat sexual violence. Although these responses …

Breaking The Silence: Holding Texas Lawyers Accountable For Sexual Harassment, Savannah Files

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Following the 2017 exposure of Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo movement spread rapidly across social media platforms calling for increased awareness of the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault and demanding change. The widespread use of the hashtag brought attention to the issue and successfully facilitated a much-needed discussion in today’s society. However, this is not the first incident prompting a demand for change.

Efforts to bring awareness and exact change in regards to sexual harassment in the legal profession date back to the 1990s. This demonstrates that the legal profession is not immune from these issues. In fact, at least …