Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

First And Last Chance: Looking For Lesbians In California's Fifties Bar Cases, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

Do all of us who choose members of our own sex as objects of desire and as sexual partners share some meaningful common identity, such as “homosexual,” “gay” or perhaps “queer”? The classifications “homosexual” and “gay” claim for themselves just that kind of inclusiveness; that is, that the gay world includes people of all races, all classes and any possible gender identity. You, me, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, J. Edgar Hoover: we are all gay together. In this way “homosexual” or “gay” is a generic term, like, for example, “human being.” But we know that the alleged inclusiveness masks just …

Defending Pornography: Free Speech & The Fight For Women’S Rights, Nadine Strossen

Books

The newest attacks on the First Amendment and on free expression have come from a vocal and influential segment of the feminist movement that has launched a successful - and puritanical - crusade against "pornography" as the root of discrimination and violence against women. But, as Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, forcefully argues, this view of sexuality as inherently dangerous does profound damage to human rights in general, and to women's rights in particular. In Defending Pornography, Strossen shows that, since the late 1970s, a new and startling alliance has been fused between "procensorship" feminists, most …

The Countermajoritarian Paradox, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Against Marriage, Steven K. Homer

Faculty Scholarship

What is marriage? In the debate surrounding same-sex marriage, the central term has gone undefined. Using the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in Baehr v. Lewin as a starting point, this Note argues that marriage lacks legal as well as experiential coherence. A series of legal and social moves intended, on the one hand, to preserve the dominance of heterosexuality over gays and lesbians and, on the other, to allow, heterosexuals to escape the dominance of heterosexuality over themselves, has left little conceptual space for marriage. That is, to speak of "extending marriage" to same-sex couples creates the illusion that marriage …

The Present State Of Sexual Harassment Law: Perpetuating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Sexually Harassed Women, Jennifer L. Vinciguerra

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note will argue that current federal legislation was developed, and has subsequently been interpreted by the courts, with little or no consideration for a victimized woman. Instead of addressing the causes and effects of sexual harassment head on, the legislature has largely ignored the realities of sexual harassment as a traumatizing experience faced by thousands of working women each year. Part H of this Note will address the development and current state of sexual harassment law, as well as the Supreme Court's ruling in Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson. Part III will discuss Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as …

Tying A Slipknot: Temporary Marriages In Iran, Tamilla F. Ghodsi

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this Note is to analyze the institution of mut'a critically, but objectively. It is important to first understand that it is possible to learn something from this institution. The sanctioning of temporary marriages illustrates the pervasive role of law as a method of social control, a characteristic which has parallels in the West. Furthermore, the institution may be challenged on its merits. For example, this Note intends to illustrate how the lack of formalism and the presence of great ambiguity in the institution have contributed to its lack of acceptance in Iranian society. The institution's deficiencies demonstrate …

Queer Intersectionality And The Failure Of Recent Lesbian And Gay "Victories", Darren Rosenblum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Amidst the juridical heterosexism of our legal system, the few successful lesbian and gay cases stand out as brilliant, hopeful harbingers of the future. With good cause, lesbian and gay people have hailed state cases that indicate Bowers v. Hardwick has not contaminated all American courts. Although termed "victories" for the lesbian and gay community, several recent New York cases exclude many queer legal needs. Four cases, Braschi v. Stahl Assoc., In the Matter of the Adoption of Evan, M.A.B. v. R.B. and Thomas S. v. Robin Y., embody the law's progress on lesbian and gay issues. This essay …

Sex, Sin, And Women’S Liberation: Against Porn-Suppression., Carlin Meyer

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Feminism, Work And Sex: Returning To The Gates, Carlin Meyer

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Unburdening The Undue Burden Standard: Orienting Casey In Constitutional Jurisprudence, Gillian E. Metzger

Faculty Scholarship

"Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt." With these words in the 1992 case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court ushered in a new era of abortion regulation. Speaking through a joint opinion authored by Justices O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, the Court indicated that from this point forth abortion regulations would be judged by an "undue burden" standard. According to this standard, an abortion regulation is unconstitutional if it "has the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion" of a nonviable fetus.

The Justices who wrote …

Parading Ourselves: Freedom Of Speech At The Feast Of St. Patrick, Larry Yackle

Faculty Scholarship

Three things are true. First, American society is now absorbed in yet another great civil rights movement, this one on behalf of gay, lesbian, and ambisexual citizens, which will lead ineluctably to the elimination of legal burdens on the basis of sexual orientation.' Change will come slowly, with much backing and filling, and at an awful price measured in human pain. Intolerance for the homosexualities that exist among us, and the homosexual behavior in which many of us engage, will persist in quarters where the law cannot reach.2 Yet private homophobia, deprived of legal sanction, will ultimately be discredited and …

Paradise Lost, Paradox Revisited: The Implications Of Familial Ideology For Feminist, Lesbian, And Gay Engagement To Law, Shelley A. M. Gavigan

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In this article the author addresses the theoretical and political challenges issued to feminists and feminist scholarship by recent debates and litigation concerning "family" and "family-based" benefits. The argument proceeds in four parts: first, the discussion is relocated within socialist feminist theory. The implications of the qualified pro-family stance in the critiques advanced or influenced by women of colour is considered next, followed by an examination of some proposals to extend the definition of "spouse" and "family" to lesbian and gay relationships. The author is critical of both "critiques" and illustrates with reference to Canadian welfare and immigration law that …

Revisiting Roe V. Wade: Substance And Process In The Abortion Debate, Margaret G. Farrell

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Civil Rights Act Of 1991: A “Quota Bill,” A Codification Of Griggs, A Partial Return To Wards Cove, Or All Of The Above?, Kingsley R. Browne

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Getting To Know: Honoring Women In Law And In Fact, Lynne Henderson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Sex, Reason, And A Taste For The Absurd, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Like much of Richard Posner's best work, Sex and Reason does many things, and for that reason will no doubt attract a large and diverse readership. This heavily footnoted, exhaustively researched, and imminently accessible book is a welcome introduction to the interdisciplinary study of sex. For the lay reader it presents an arresting set of speculations about human sexuality, drawn from the author's evident familiarity with a sizeable library of studies representing at least half a dozen scientific and social scientific disciplines, assembled in a readable and lively way. Of more interest, perhaps, to academicians and social scientists familiar with …

The (Queer) Revolution Will Not Be Liberalized, Sarah E. Chinn, Kris Franklin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Decriminalizing Prostitution: Liberation Or Dehumanization?, Carlin Meyer

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Building Bridges Between Theory And Practice, Activism And Scholarship, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sexual Orientation And The Workplace: A Rapidly Developing Field, Arthur S. Leonard

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Legitimating The Illegitimate: A Comment On 'Beyond Rape', Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Professor Dripps's provocative proposal, as I understand it, is that we think of sex as a commodity and rape as the theft of that commodity. Understood as such, the theft of sex accomplished through violence or the threat of violence is a twofold wrong: it violates our "negative" right to refuse to have sex with anyone for any or no reason, and violence or the threat of violence infringes our right to personal, physical security. Therefore, the violent expropriation of sex should be punished as a major felony, as is violent rape, at least in theory.
  
Furthermore, according to Dripps, …

A Defense Of Prostitutes' Self-Organization, Drucilla Cornell

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article advocates for the decriminalization of prostitution as a necessary step toward empowering sex workers to self-organize and improve their working conditions. Drawing on personal experiences as a union organizer in the 1970s, the author highlights the shared struggles of women workers, including prostitutes, under exploitative capitalist systems. The article emphasizes the importance of recognizing prostitutes as workers deserving of labor rights and union representation, rather than viewing them solely as victims. It critiques the exclusion of sex workers from traditional labor organizing and argues that decriminalization would enable them to collectively address their exploitation and deconstruct oppressive conditions.

Cunning Stunts: From Hegemony To Desire A Review Of Madonna's Sex, Katherine M. Franke

Faculty Scholarship

What is sex? Is it an accidental or contingent property that every person can be said to have? I am brunette and female, but the Pope is bald and male. Or, is sex more constitutive, that is, an essential part of who we are? In this respect, the claim is often made that women experience the world ditfierently than men. Or, is sex something we do?

If we consider sex as an adjective, can we or should we be able to manipulate it like a new hair style? Or does the notion of sexual malleability trivialize the significance …

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death: Political Asylum And The Global Persecution Of Lesbians And Gay Men, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

In a time marked by dramatic global change, women and men persecuted because they are lesbian or gay form part of the growing pool of international refugees. Their persecution takes the form of police harassment an assault, involuntary institutionalization and electroshock and drug "treatments," punishment under laws that impose extreme penalties including death for consensual lesbian or gay sexual relations, murder by paramilitary death squads, and government inaction in response to criminal assaults against lesbians and gay men. The survival of these women and men, like the survival of all refugees, depends on obtaining asylum outside the home country. Yet, …

A Unified Approach To Causation In Disparate Treatment Cases: Using Sexual Harassment By Supervisors As The Causal Nexus For The Discriminatory Motivating Factor In Mixed Motive Cases, Margaret E. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Comment examines a unified approach for disparate treatment mixed motives claims paired with sexual harassment claims under Title VII. The Author argues that because of the policy for nondiscriminatory and desegregated work environments embodied in Title VII, and because of the documented harm resulting from sexual harassment, courts should allow the burden of proof to shift to the defendant if the plaintiff demonstrates that her supervisor sexually harassed her, or condoned the harassment, and that the harassing supervisor made an employment decision that was adverse to her.

A Date With Justice: Prostitution And The Decriminalization Debate, Margaret A. Baldwin

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critiques the decriminalization of prostitution, arguing that it fails to address the systemic exploitation and violence faced by women in prostitution. The author contends that decriminalization would empower pimps, johns, and legal systems to further exploit women, as it legitimizes their power dynamics. The analysis emphasizes the need to prioritize the survival and empowerment of prostituted women over legal reforms that benefit their exploiters.

Sex Selection: Regulating Technology Enabling The Predetermination Of A Child's Gender, Owen D. Jones

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The debate over the prohibition of sex (or gender) selection (also known as "preselection" or "predetermination"), has focused almost exclusively on the context of aborting a "wrong-sex" fetus after a fetal gender-identification procedure. Despite the fact that sex selection abortions represent only a small subset of sex selection procedures, attitudes toward the former are driving general policy approaches to the latter. However, the issues are analytically distinct, and only during the former infancy of the pre-conceptive (and non-abortive post-conceptive) technology for sex selection were members on both sides of the debate afforded the economy of using one logic to support …

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.

Women's Annotated Legal Bibliography Staff, Vol. 7 (1992)

Women's Annotated Legal Bibliography

No abstract provided.