Sex Equality, 3d

by Catharine A. MacKinnon

Sex Equality is a legal casebook that breaks the mold and defines the field. Theoretical and practical, scholarly and engaged, domestic and transnational, this volume combines a thorough canvas of the law of the status of the sexes with an insightful authoritative treatise and creative litigation manual. The first half of the book, Foundations, interrogates the mainstream legal equality paradigm through materials drawn from theory, social science, history, and comparative law. Cases on racism, work, education, athletics, and pregnancy are examined in detail, accessibly presenting the statutory and constitutional materials of sex discrimination law in a fresh light. A chapter on Sex, Race and Nation expands on the connections between racism and sexism raised throughout. Burdens of Proof equips the litigator with basic technical skills while examining the political and theoretical issues on procedural terrain. Applications, the second half of the book, explores issues that have received less legal equality attention, including the law of the family, rape, abortion, prostitution, and pornography. The argument that gay and lesbian rights are sex equality rights is advanced. Sexual harassment in employment and education are discussed in depth. In this volume, legal doctrine and social theory are analyzed together with international and comparative perspectives supplied throughout. Sex Equality provides an exciting interdisciplinary, global, practical state-of-the-art inquiry into the past, present and possible law of relations between the sexes.

Genres: Feminism, Law, Politics, Nonfiction, Feminist Theory

1982 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Catharine A. MacKinnon is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan and the James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (long-term). She holds a BA from Smith College, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in political science from Yale, and specializes in sex equality issues under international and domestic (including comparative and constitutional) law.

Prof. MacKinnon pioneered the legal claim for sexual harassment and, with Andrea Dworkin, created ordinances recognizing pornography as a civil rights violation and the Swedish model for abolishing prostitution. The Supreme Court of Canada has largely accepted her approaches to equality, pornography, and hate speech, which have been influential internationally as well. Representing Bosnian women survivors of Serbian genocidal sexual atrocities, she won with co-counsel a damage award of $745 million in August 2000 in Kadic v. Karadzic under the Alien Tort Act, the first recognition of rape as an act of genocide.

(source: law.umich.edu)

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This casebook is not only a stimulating compendium of thought-provoking cases (each alone, but especially when juxtaposed together) -- I found it strangely amusing to read pretty often. Professor Mackinnon takes something of an absurd tone in order to distance her personal voice from her explication of key ideas. It makes sense; she cannot make a new idea intuitive to a reader by defending it in the terms in which she intuitively conceives of it. She has to use ideas more attractive to people of divergent views to make sure she gets her theories across for due consideration. In any case, the results were often laughable to me. If you have a high sensitivity to comic absurdity, perhaps you too will be amused. In any case, it's a stimulating read whether you're studying this area of legal theory from a sympathetic, suspicious, or wholly open mindset. I thought and learned a lot reading this material.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very heavy.