Law Commons^™

Title Seven Ate Nine? Extending Bostock's Meaning Of "Sex" From Title Vii To Title Ix, Julia L. Shea

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

When JayCee Cooper walked out onto the platform at a women’s powerlifting competition for the first time, “everything else fell away: her years-long internal struggle over her gender identity, her decision to leave men’s sports when she began transitioning, her doubts that she would ever feel safe if she returned to competitions.” Powerlifting was JayCee’s way of feeling empowered in her own life, but after signing up for more competitions, she was told she could no longer compete because of a discriminatory policy that barred transgender women. Transgender athletes play sports for the same reasons as anyone else, including …

Freeing Females From Toplessness Bans: A Strict Scrutiny Analysis, Colleen Marron

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Males may exhibit their bare chests on outdoor public property their entire lives. In many locations, this fundamental right to bodily autonomy afforded to men is denied to women. This Comment examines the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in conjunction with the fundamental right to bodily autonomy and focuses on the regulations forbidding female breast exposure. The assumption that female breasts require coverage due to their provocative nature normalizes and entrenches problematic issues, particularly the objectification of women, into law. The fundamental right to bodily autonomy requires protection over arbitrary and capricious social norms. This Comment stresses courts …

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 …

Sex-Segregation, Economic Opportunity, And Roberts V. U.S. Jaycees, Elizabeth Sepper

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Gender-Stereotyping Theory, Freedom Of Expression, And Identity, Carlos A. Ball

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article argues that the expressive components of gender-stereotyping theory serve to delink the equality protections afforded by that theory from fixed and predetermined identity categories in helpful and positive ways. Many have viewed American antidiscrimination law as being normatively grounded in the notion that there are certain identities that, because of their stable and immutable characteristics, deserve equality-based protections. Gender-stereotyping theory can help make the normative case for a more pluralistic understanding of equality, one that is grounded in the need to protect the fluid and multiple ways in which gender is performed or expressed rather than focusing, as …

"Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Shorter": An Analysis Of Lenient Sentencing For Female Sex Offenders In The United States, Deborah Goodwin

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Legitimacy And Protection Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination Under Title Vii, Matt Snodgrass

Indiana Law Journal

Until relatively recently federal courts have held that claims of discrimination based in sexual orientation fall beyond the purview of Title VII protection. Even after the landmark holding in Price Waterhouse that recognized discrimination based in sex stereotypes and subsequent amendment to Title VII, courts resisted “bootstrapping” sexual orientation claims with sex discrimination claims. The result has been a number of puzzling outcomes—for example, extending Title VII protection to gay men who received adverse employment treatment due to stereotypically “effeminate” mannerism but not to gay men who meet cultural standards of masculinity— rigidly applying the structure of protected categories in …

Sick And Tired Of Hearing About The Damn Bathrooms, Colin Pochie

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Gavin Grimm’s struggle to access restrooms which align with his gender identity brought the plight of transgender students to the fore of national consciousness. With it came scrutiny of the judiciary’s historical failure to understand transgender individuals’ place in the law. The trend in cases like G.G. ex rel. Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board and Whitaker ex rel. Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1 Board of Education is reliance on equality theory and the law of sex stereotyping. And yet sex-stereotyping law does not mesh soundly with equality theory. Equality theory eradicates gendered difference—but the law of …

Gender Violence And Human Rights In An Era Of Backlash, Julie Goldscheid

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article brings the lens of civil cases seeking accountability for gender violence to the question of how international human rights decisions interpret gender and gender norms. It argues that a broad interpretation of gender is particularly critical as we face increasing backlash globally. It demonstrates how international human rights decisions assessing state responses to gender violence recognize the role of historic gender biases and stereotypes in holding states to account for redressing discriminatory responses to abuse, and considers structural limitations in those instruments that could impede those instruments’ transformative reach.

Inching Towards Equality: Lgbt Rights And The Limitations Of Law In Hong Kong, Joy L. Chia, Amy Barrow

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Since legislative reform decriminalizing sodomy in 1991, the Hong Kong government has taken a passive role in the legal protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Instead, LGBT rights advancements have occurred primarily through the work of the courts, resulting in piecemeal progress that has left unaddressed the daily discrimination experienced by LGBT people in Hong Kong. Despite increased pressure in recent years for antidiscrimination legislation, the Hong Kong government continues to assert that self-regulation and public education, rather than legislation, are more appropriate tools for addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This Article argues …

Same-Sex Harassment After Boh-Brothers, Alex Reed

Utah Law Review

Because Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Boh Brothers Construction Company ostensibly represents the first faithful application of the gender-stereotyping theory in the context of same-sex harassment litigation, additional courts may elect to abandon the objective-evidence standard in favor of adopting the Fifth Circuit’s subjective-perception test. Employers, therefore, must resist the temptation to dismiss Boh Brothers as a legal aberration confined to the Fifth Circuit and instead take steps to prepare for the possibility of a legal environment in which overtly masculine men and patently feminine women may assert viable same-sex harassment claims. By eliminating the requirement that harassees exhibit readily …

(Un)Equal Protection: Why Gender Equality Depends On Discrimination, Keith Cunningham-Parmeter

Northwestern University Law Review

Most accounts of the Supreme Court’s equal protection jurisprudence describe the Court’s firm opposition to sex discrimination. But while the Court famously invalidated several sex-based laws at the end of the twentieth century, it also issued many other, less-celebrated decisions that sanctioned sex-specific classifications in some circumstances. Examining these long-ignored cases that approved of sex discrimination, this Article explains how the Court’s rulings in this area have often rejected the principle of formal equality in favor of broader antisubordination concerns. Outlining a new model of equal protection that authorizes certain forms of sex discrimination, (Un)Equal Protection advocates for one particular …

Social Framework Studies Such As Women Don’T Ask And It Does Hurt To Ask Show Us The Next Step Toward Achieving Gender Equality—Eliminating The Long-Term Effects Of Implicit Bias—But Are Not Likely To Get Cases Past Summary Judgment, Andrea Doneff

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Lawyers and judges long have relied on outside evidence—usually studies or empirical research—to help them better understand the impact or meaning of the facts in certain cases. In employment cases, lawyers have used studies that show statistical variance in hiring or promotion between men and women to prove discrimination. They have used studies that talk about implicit bias, the kind of bias that we apply without even knowing we are biased, perhaps the kind of bias we apply even when we are doing our best not to be biased, to understand that comments like “You should go to charm school” …

Eradicating Sex Discrimination In Education: Extending Disparate-Impact Analysis To Title Ix Litigation, James S. Wrona

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Yet Another Gender Study? A Critique Of The Harvard Study And A Proposal For Change, Morrison Torrey

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Separate But Equal Education In The Context Of Gender, Isabelle Katz Pinzler

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Abuse Of Female Sweatshop Laborers: Another Form Of Sexual Harassment That Does Not Fit Neatly Into The Judiciary's Current Understanding Of Discrimination Because Of Sex, Gregory A. Bullman

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Least Respected: The Girl Child And The Gender Bias Of The Vienna Convention's Adoption And Reservation Regime, Linda A. Malone

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Violence Against Women Act: Civil Rights For Sexual Assault Victims, W. H. Hallock

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Maryland V. Craig: Can And Should Adult Rape Victims Be Permitted To Testify By Closed-Circuit Television?, Lisa Hamilton Thielmeyer

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.