Law Commons^™

Rethinking Red Lights: An Economic Approach To Appalachian Prostitution Laws, Kandi Spindler

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

The legal discourse surrounding prostitution frequently drowns out the voices of sex workers themselves by focusing on questions of morality. But ignoring the voices of those affected by prostitution laws also ignores the driving force behind prostitution: economics. This Note departs from a traditional case study by using interviews with chiefly sex workers and brothel management to craft a more efficient and fair mode of regulating prostitution. By viewing prostitution for what it is—an industry driven by basic economic principles—business law becomes the clear choice for replacing the current, ineffective laws. Furthermore, reshaping prostitution laws to meet the monetary needs …

Meeting Of The Minds And Bodies: Contract Law And The Mutuality Of Sexual Exchanges, Kelly Jo Popkin

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

Though it may seem like an obvious analogy, a comparison of consent to sex and consent to contract has rarely been explored in such detail. The legal concepts protecting bargainers to a contract can be applied to analyses of sexual coercion in consent to sexual encounters, thereby affording survivors with greater protection against instances of sexual violence that seem to consistently slip through the cracks of our criminal justice system. More importantly, this analysis has never before been applied to the Title IX campus sexual assault adjudication process and policies. As a procedure involving civil law, rather than criminal law, …

A Patient's Right Not To Hear: The Public Health Case For Challenging Pre-Abortion Ultrasound Description Mandates By Refocusing On The Listener, Juliana Shulman-Laniel

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

This Article argues for a reframing of the discourse surrounding abortion-specific informed consent laws, calling for scholars and practitioners to focus not solely on the physician’s right against compelled speech, but also a patient’s right not to listen. Although this right has not been firmly recognized by the courts, a growing body of case law and scholarly papers has begun to acknowledge the potential for this right. This Article begins by examining how bridging the First Amendment rights of doctors-as-speakers and patients-as-listeners within the context of the unique doctor-patient relationship may help to establish a patient’s right not to hear. …

Pushback: Title Vii Takes On Hobby Lobby, Carole Okolowicz

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

In Hobby Lobby, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a for-profit corporation could avoid the requirement under the Affordable Care Act that it pay for coverage of female contraception in the employee health plan due to the employer’s religious objections to birth control. In so deciding, the Court allowed the employer to discriminate against its female employees in their employee benefits. Such a decision raises the possibility of a claim of sex discrimination by the corporation’s female employees under Title VII. This article explores the main issues and pitfalls in such a claim.

The two main issues with the possible …