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Full-Text Articles in Law and Society

In The Right Direction, Family Diversity In The Inter-American System Of Human Rights, Macarena Sáez May 2019

In The Right Direction, Family Diversity In The Inter-American System Of Human Rights, Macarena Sáez

Macarena Saez

This Article argues that the Inter-American System of Human Rights has contributed to a family system that embraces gender equality and non-heterosexual and gender non-conforming families.  It argues that the system had, from its inception, an expansive idea of the family that included associations outside marriage.  This was the basis for a robust development of the concepts of equality and non-discrimination by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.  Although the IACtHR has only decided a handful of cases related to the non-heterosexual family, its rich case law on equality and the right to …

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The Polarization Of Reproductive And Parental Decision-Making, Jamie R. Abrams Feb 2019

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 …

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The Gender Of Trafficking, Kerwin A. Kaye Dec 2018

The Gender Of Trafficking, Kerwin A. Kaye

Kerwin Kaye

The exclusion of male victims from discussions of sex trafficking is pervasive. Here I detail the discursive dichotomisation of this framework, examining not only why men and boys have historically been excluded as victims of sexual trafficking, but also how this discourse acts as a gendered and gendering formation more generally. Following this I critically examine the recent turn toward the inclusion of boys as victims of DMST ("Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking"), arguing that the ‘sex trafficking’ frame is less useful – and more harmful – than it may appear.

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A Fresh Look At Title Vii: Sexual Orientation Discrimination As Sex Discrimination, Anthony Michael Kreis May 2018

A Fresh Look At Title Vii: Sexual Orientation Discrimination As Sex Discrimination, Anthony Michael Kreis

Anthony Michael Kreis

Since 2006, the Illinois Human Rights Act has prohibited discrimination in employment because of an employee’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Until 2017, employees discriminated against because of their sexual orientation had no federal cause of action, however. In a landmark decision, Hively v. Ivy Tech, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit became the first appellate court to hold that federal law’s prohibition of sex discrimination in the workplace also proscribed sexual orientation discrimination. The Hively decision is a substantial departure from decades’ worth of Seventh Circuit precedent and created a split between the circuits. This Article examines …

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Medico-Legal Collaboration Regarding The Sex Offender: Othering And Resistance, Mary Lay Schuster, Brian Larson, Amy D. Propen Apr 2018

Medico-Legal Collaboration Regarding The Sex Offender: Othering And Resistance, Mary Lay Schuster, Brian Larson, Amy D. Propen

Brian Larson

We examined medico-legal collaboration regarding dangerous sex offenders where state legislators have adopted statutes that determine the criteria for commitment to and discharge from civil commitment programs. The application of these statutes relies on medical diagnoses of pathologies such as paraphilia, anti-social personality disorder, and pedophilia along with prognoses for cure or recidivism. In our study, we examined court opinions from commitment hearings and observed a trial in federal court on the constitutionality of these commitments. We found that one result of this medico-legal collaboration is the marginalization or othering of sex offenders by essentializing, dividing, shaming, and impeaching them. …

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Professor Breaks Ground With Journal On Sexual Violence And Exploitation, Joseph Essig, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Apr 2017

Professor Breaks Ground With Journal On Sexual Violence And Exploitation, Joseph Essig, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

In December 2016, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies Donna M. Hughes published the inaugural issue of the journal Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence as editor-in-chief. Just a few months ago, in January, Dignity released its second issue. Professor Hughes has been working on issues related to sexual violence and exploitation, such as human trafficking since the 1980s. She saw an opening in the field for a journal about the particular work that she has been doing for so long. “There is no other scholarly journal that addresses sexual exploitation and violence and has an editorial position …

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New Hampshire Juvenile Sex Trafficking Survivor Urges Representatives To Vote Against Decriminalized Prostitution, Darlene Pawlik, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Feb 2017

New Hampshire Juvenile Sex Trafficking Survivor Urges Representatives To Vote Against Decriminalized Prostitution, Darlene Pawlik, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

I am a juvenile sex trafficking survivor. I was sold here in New Hampshire and other states as well. This is happening now too. Even with a law against prostitution, the more egregious elements are prevalent. Trafficking is not separate from prostitution, it is just the darker side of the very same coin. 

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Stages Of Constitutional Grief: Democratic Constitutionalism And The Marriage Revolution, Anthony Michael Kreis Feb 2017

Stages Of Constitutional Grief: Democratic Constitutionalism And The Marriage Revolution, Anthony Michael Kreis

Anthony Michael Kreis

Do courts matter?

Historically, many social movements have turned to the courts to help achieve sweeping social change. Because judicial institutions are supposed to be above the political fray, they are sometimes believed to be immune from ordinary political pressures that otherwise slow down progress. Substantial scholarship casts doubt on this romanticized ideal of courts. This Article posits a new, interactive theory of courts and social movements, under which judicial institutions can legitimize and fuel social movements, but outside actors are necessary to enhance the courts’ social reform efficacy. Under this theory, courts matter and can be agents of social …

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Sex Industry Advocates Aim To Decriminalize Prostitution In New Hampshire, Kelly Roy-Williams, Lisa Thompson, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Feb 2017

Sex Industry Advocates Aim To Decriminalize Prostitution In New Hampshire, Kelly Roy-Williams, Lisa Thompson, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

There is an organized effort in New Hampshire to fully decriminalize prostitution. What that means is that all laws controlling the buying and selling of sex will be removed from the law books, making prostitution legal. Law enforcement and public officials will then have no control over if, when, and where prostitution occurs, whether it’s in massage parlors (often called spas), hotels, apartments, residences, or strip clubs. Because commercial sex will be legal, pimps and “sex workers” will be able to freely advertise prostitution services. Pimps will be able to openly recruit women and girls into prostitution, without fear of …

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Bibliography Of Sources On Prostitution Decriminalization In Rhode Island, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq Feb 2017

Bibliography Of Sources On Prostitution Decriminalization In Rhode Island, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes

A bibliography of sources on the research we did on prostitution and sex trafficking and the advocacy work we did to end decriminalized prostitution. For 29 years prostitution was decriminalized in Rhode Island (if it occurred indoors). Sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls were integrated into economic development. The number of sex businesses grew rapidly and organized crime groups operated brothels and extorted money from adult entertainment businesses. Rhode Island became a destination for pimps, sex traffickers, and other violent criminals. The lack of laws impeded police from investigating serious crimes, including sex trafficking

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Decriminalized Prostitution: Impunity For Violence And Exploitation, Melanie Shapiro Esq, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Dec 2016

Decriminalized Prostitution: Impunity For Violence And Exploitation, Melanie Shapiro Esq, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

This paper is a case study of decriminalized prostitution. For 29 years (1980 to 2009) prostitution was decriminalized in Rhode Island. Lack of laws or regulations created a permissive legal, economic and cultural environment for the growth of sex businesses. During this time, sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls were integrated into the economic development of urban areas. The number of sex businesses grew rapidly during this time period. Organized crime groups operated brothels and extorted money from adult entertainment businesses. Rhode Island became a destination for pimps, traffickers, and other violent criminals. The lack of laws impeded …

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Grasping Fatherhood In Abortion And Adoption.Pdf, Malinda L. Seymore Dec 2016

Grasping Fatherhood In Abortion And Adoption.Pdf, Malinda L. Seymore

Malinda L. Seymore

Biology makes a mother, but it does not make a father.  While a mother is a legal parent by reason of her biological relationship with her child, a father is not a legal parent unless he takes affirmative steps to grasp fatherhood.  Being married to the mother at the time of conception or at the time of birth is one of those affirmative steps. But if he is not married to the mother, he must do far more before he will be legally recognized as a father. Biology is often presented as a sufficient reason for this dichotomy – it …

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Campus Misconduct, Sexual Harm And Appropriate Process: The Essential Sexuality Of It All, Katharine K. Baker Dec 2016

Campus Misconduct, Sexual Harm And Appropriate Process: The Essential Sexuality Of It All, Katharine K. Baker

Katharine K. Baker

No abstract provided.

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Sex Trafficking Of Women Around U.S. Military Bases In South Korea: Impact Of New U.S. Laws And Policies Since 2000, Amy Levesque, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Sep 2016

Sex Trafficking Of Women Around U.S. Military Bases In South Korea: Impact Of New U.S. Laws And Policies Since 2000, Amy Levesque, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Since the Korean War and permanent stationing of U.S. troops in the Republic of Korea (ROK), U.S. servicemen stationed in the ROK have purchased sex from women trafficked domestically and across international borders to work in bars and clubs surrounding U.S. military bases. For decades, the Department of Defense (DoD) and United States Forces Korea (USFK) denied that U.S. servicemen purchased sex and did not enforce the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 138-34 Pandering and Prostitution, which states that buying sex is illegal and punishable by military law. The DoD and USFK did not connect women working in bars …

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Tolerance Of Sexual Harassment: A Laboratory Paradigm, David J. Angelone, Damon Mitchell, Kara Carola Aug 2016

Tolerance Of Sexual Harassment: A Laboratory Paradigm, David J. Angelone, Damon Mitchell, Kara Carola

D.J. Angelone

The present study attempted to develop a laboratory analogue for the study of tolerance for sexual harassment by using an online speed-dating paradigm. In that context, the relation between participants’ sexual harassment attitudes, perpetrator attractiveness, perpetrator status, and perceived dating potential of the perpetrator were examined as factors influencing participants’ tolerance of sexually harassing behavior. Participants were 128 female college students from a small northeastern public university. Results indicated that attractiveness, high social status, and attitudinal beliefs about sexual harassment were all predictive of tolerance for sexual harassment, providing preliminary support for the validity of this paradigm. In addition, participants’ …

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When God Hates: How Liberal Guilt Lets The New Right Get Away With Murder, Jose M. Gabilondo Aug 2016

When God Hates: How Liberal Guilt Lets The New Right Get Away With Murder, Jose M. Gabilondo

José Gabilondo

No abstract provided.

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Ri Should Target Sex Buyers, Donna M. Hughes Dr. May 2016

Ri Should Target Sex Buyers, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Men who buy sex----and they are only a small minority of men---are responsible for the crime of sex trafficking continuing to thrive. When sex traffickers find victims and coerce them into prostitution, they are serving the sex buyers, who pay them well for finding and marketing the victims to them.

For years, analysts have studied sex trafficking to determine the best way to combat this modern form of slavery. Today, a consensus is forming among advocates and law enforcement that to combat sex trafficking, the focus has to be on men who buy sex as much as on the pimps …

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Bridging The Gap Between Intent And Status: A New Framework For Modern Parentage, Yehezkel Margalit Jan 2016

Bridging The Gap Between Intent And Status: A New Framework For Modern Parentage, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

The last few decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the conceptualization and methodologies of determining legal parentage in the U.S. and other countries in the western world. Through various sociological shifts, growing social openness and bio-medical innovations, the traditional definitions of family and parenthood have been dramatically transformed. This transformation has led to an acute and urgent need for legal and social frameworks to regulate the process of determining legal parentage. Moreover, instead of progressing in a piecemeal, ad-hoc manner, the framework for determining legal parentage should be comprehensive. Only a comprehensive solution will address the differing needs of today’s …

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From Baby M To Baby M(Anji): Regulating International Surrogacy Agreements, Yehezkel Margalit Jan 2016

From Baby M To Baby M(Anji): Regulating International Surrogacy Agreements, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

In 1985, when Kim Cotton became Britain’s first commercial surrogate mother, Europe was exposed to the issue of surrogacy for the first time on a large scale. Three years later, in 1988, the famous case of Baby M drew the attention of the American public to surrogacy as well. These two cases implicated fundamental ethical and legal issues regarding domestic surrogacy and triggered a fierce debate about motherhood, child-bearing, and the relationship between procreation, science and commerce. These two cases exemplified the debate regarding domestic surrogacy - a debate that has now been raging for decades. Contrary to the well-known …

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Sexbots; An Obloquy, Thomas E. Simmons Dec 2015

Sexbots; An Obloquy, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

Sexbots may displace humans in the sex trade (or on a wider scale) sometime between the 2020s and the 2050s. Although some perquisites may derive from the proliferation of sexbots (lower levels of sexually transmitted diseases, for example), significant social harms can also be predicted. In anticipation of those harms, lawmakers may endorse targeted regulation or outright bans. The uncertain limits of Lawrence v. Texas and its progeny of sex-toy decisions will present vague constitutional shoals to these aims. The legislating-of-sexbots crusade will also make for strange bedfellows, politically speaking, as social conservatives aiming to maintain traditional values ally with …

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The Respectable Dignity Of Obergefell V. Hodges, Yuvraj Joshi Oct 2015

The Respectable Dignity Of Obergefell V. Hodges, Yuvraj Joshi

Yuvraj Joshi

In declaring state laws that restrict same-sex marriage unconstitutional, Justice Kennedy invoked “dignity” nine times—to no one’s surprise. References in Obergefell to “dignity” are in important respects the culmination of Justice Kennedy’s elevation of the concept, dating back to the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In Casey, “dignity” expressed respect for a woman’s freedom to make choices about her pregnancy. Casey laid the foundation for Lawrence v. Texas, which similarly respected the freedom of choice of homosexual persons. Yet, starting in United States v. Windsor and continuing in Obergefell, the narrative began to change. Dignity veered …

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The New Battleground For Same-Sex Couples Is Equal Rights For Their Kids, Tanya Washington Oct 2015

The New Battleground For Same-Sex Couples Is Equal Rights For Their Kids, Tanya Washington

Tanya Monique Washington

No abstract provided.

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Stemming The Hobby Lobby Tidal Wave: Why Rfra Challenges To Obama's Executive Order Prohibiting Federal Contractors From Discriminating Against Lgbt Employees Will Not Succeed, Kayla Higgins Aug 2015

Stemming The Hobby Lobby Tidal Wave: Why Rfra Challenges To Obama's Executive Order Prohibiting Federal Contractors From Discriminating Against Lgbt Employees Will Not Succeed, Kayla Higgins

Kayla Higgins

On July 21, 2014 President Obama released Executive Order 13672, which expressly aimed to provide for a uniform policy for the Federal Government to prohibit discrimination and take further steps to promote economy and efficiency in Federal Government procurement by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Some commentators believe that the order “could be the next battleground” for the competing views of religious leaders and liberals when it comes to how to weigh religious liberty against other priorities. However, there are two main reasons why the most recent executive order should not crumble under the Hobby Lobby …

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Children's Rights In The Midst Of Marriage Equality: Amicus Brief In Obergefell V. Hodges By Scholars Of The Constitutional Rights Of Children, Tanya Washington, Susannah Pollvogt, Catherine Smith, Lauren Fontana Aug 2015

Children's Rights In The Midst Of Marriage Equality: Amicus Brief In Obergefell V. Hodges By Scholars Of The Constitutional Rights Of Children, Tanya Washington, Susannah Pollvogt, Catherine Smith, Lauren Fontana

Tanya Monique Washington

No abstract provided.

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Interstate Intercourse: How Modern Assisted Reproductive Technologies Challenge The Traditional Realm Of Conflicts Of Law, 24 Wis. J. L. Gender, & Soc'y 25 (2009), Sonia Bychkov Green Jul 2015

Interstate Intercourse: How Modern Assisted Reproductive Technologies Challenge The Traditional Realm Of Conflicts Of Law, 24 Wis. J. L. Gender, & Soc'y 25 (2009), Sonia Bychkov Green

Sonia Bychkov Green

No abstract provided.

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Coming Out: Decision-Making In State And Federal Sodomy Cases, Susan Ayres Jul 2015

Coming Out: Decision-Making In State And Federal Sodomy Cases, Susan Ayres

Susan Ayres

In 1791, American states were enacting laws against sodomy at the same time they ratified the Bill of Rights, the first ten constitutional amendments meant to safeguard fundamental rights of individuals in a free society. In a March 1789 letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson asserted that a bill of rights was necessary to give the judiciary the power to protect such individual rights. Ironically, that which the judiciary gives, it may also take away, since "[t]he legislator is a writer. And the judge a reader."

This Article deconstructs recent sodomy cases in order to challenge judicial adoption or reinscription …

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Better Safe? Why Obergefell Matters Before Court Rules, Tanya Washington Jun 2015

Better Safe? Why Obergefell Matters Before Court Rules, Tanya Washington

Tanya Monique Washington

No abstract provided.

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Crisis And Trigger Warnings: Reflections On Legal Education And The Social Value Of The Law, 90 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 615 (2015), Kim D. Chanbonpin Jun 2015

Crisis And Trigger Warnings: Reflections On Legal Education And The Social Value Of The Law, 90 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 615 (2015), Kim D. Chanbonpin

Kim D. Chanbonpin

This Essay begins by understanding the law school crisis through the framework of disaster capitalism. This framing uncovers the ways in which reformers are taking advantage of the current crisis to restructure legal education. Under the circumstances, faculty may reasonably read the contemporaneous student-led movement to require trigger warnings in the classroom as an assault on academic freedom. This reading, however, clouds the water. Part II attempts to clear the confusion by decoupling the trigger-warning movement from the broader phenomenon of law school corporatization. Trigger-warning demands might alternatively be read as a student critique of traditional law school pedagogy. Especially …

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“It’S A Kākou Thing”: The Dadt Repeal And A New Vocabulary Of Anti-Subordination, 3 U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 905 (2013), Kim D. Chanbonpin Jun 2015

“It’S A Kākou Thing”: The Dadt Repeal And A New Vocabulary Of Anti-Subordination, 3 U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 905 (2013), Kim D. Chanbonpin

Kim D. Chanbonpin

The repeal of DADT represents the triumph of non-discrimination rhetoric, while the MLDC's report stands for a renewed effort to expand the military's affirmative action policies for the benefit of people of color and women: two historically subordinated groups in the U.S. military. The repeal of DADT may have purchased equality for LGB service members, but at a premium. The strategic decision to rally around the non-discrimination model, I argue in this Article, will reinforce the continued subordination of LGB service members. As an alternative, I propose the application of kakou principles to military policies and programs for integrating LGB …

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Ending Bacha Bazi: Boy Sex Slavery And The Responsibility To Protect Doctrine, 25 Ind. Int'l. & Comp. L. Rev. 63 (2015), Samuel Vincent Jones May 2015

Ending Bacha Bazi: Boy Sex Slavery And The Responsibility To Protect Doctrine, 25 Ind. Int'l. & Comp. L. Rev. 63 (2015), Samuel Vincent Jones

Samuel V. Jones

This essay challenges the conventional wisdom that prohibitions against government-condoned child-sex slavery have attained non- derogable, peremptory status under international law. Much to the utter shock of field investigators and human rights experts, boy sex slavery has evolved into a constitutive and central feature of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Afghanistan) because of a customary practice commonly referred to as bacha bazi.

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