Law and Gender Commons^™

Women And The Equal Protection Clause, Eric R. Gilbertson

Cleveland State Law Review

The stance of the law in this respect, as with other social trends, has generally reflected the current attitudes that dominate the society it governs. Yet, as late as 1969, we still had judges on the appellate level taking judicial notice of the female's lesser capacity for sexual arousal, the sexual behavior of "the vast majority of women in a civilized society," and the "normal" behavior of a married woman in the presence of her husband in their bedroom;' all in a puritanically paternalistic fashion. This, and other absurd judicial pronouncements may have been what prompted one controversial attorney to …