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

Law Commons

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

Law and Gender

Martha M. Ertman

Selected Works

Feminism

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Legacy Of Jane Larson: The Politics Of Practicality And Surprise, Martha Ertman Sep 2013

The Legacy Of Jane Larson: The Politics Of Practicality And Surprise, Martha Ertman

Martha M. Ertman

Jane Larson's work and life enriched my own and others. Her intellectual framework - applying legal economic ideas of consent to feminist theory, backed up by legal history - suggest surprising practical solutions to problems ranging from the injuries of adultery and prostitution to housing in border towns.


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. …