Category Archives: Feminism and Law

Republicans Sure Did a Lot of Objecting When Women Tried to Speak

From House debate about the Stupak Amendment: Via.

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Politics | 2 Comments

Three teenaged boys gang rape a 15 year old girl and get probation.

The 15 year girl gets blamed for drinking alcohol, which somehow caused the boys to lock her in a bathroom and rape her, according to the judge. The boys are even permitted to return to their high school. According to … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Courts and the Judiciary, Feminism and Law | 2 Comments

Deputies Caught Stealing Documents From Defense Attorney During Court Proceeding

From this article: …The tape shows Stoddard walking to the defense table during a sentencing that day. He leans over the table and begins reading from a document in the file of defense attorney Joanne Cuccia, who was speaking before … Continue reading

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Webinar on Teaching Reproductive Rights – “What is the Role for Transnational Law?” on Friday, November 13th, from 3 – 4pm (Eastern).

The webinar will focus on an important new article by Professor Martha Davis of Northeastern   -“Reproductive Rights in the Legal Academy: A New Role for Transnational Law,”which was published in the American Journal of Legal Education in September. The … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, From the FLP mailbox, Reproductive Rights, Upcoming Lectures | 1 Comment

Adam Candeub and Mae Kuykendall, “E-Marriage: Breaking the Marriage Monopoly”

From this press release: “Michigan State University College of Law Professors Adam Candeub and Mae Kuykendall announce the creation of the Legal E-Marriage Project, a clearinghouse for legislative proposals to institute “e-marriage.” Their proposal has the potential to alter the … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Families, Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal Scholarship, From the FLP mailbox, LGBT Rights | 1 Comment

Robson on “Compulsory Matrimony”

Feminist Law Prof Ruthann Robson (CUNY) has posted to SSRN her chapter, Compulsory Matrimony, from the new Ashgate Press book Feminist and Queer Legal Theory: Intimate Encounters, Uncomfortable Conversations (Martha A. Fineman, Jack E. Jackson and Adam P. Romero eds., … Continue reading

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Maybe there are nude pictures of you on the Internet.

Because maybe you have disrobed in a medical facility: A traffic stop led officers to discover that a Willard man allegedly has been compiling nude photos of patients from the medical facility where he worked. … … The officers later … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, Feminism and Technology, Women's Health | 2 Comments

Wisconsin Teen Charged with Blackmailing Other Students for Nude Photos

From here: A 14-year-old Whitnall [WI] High School student is accused of coercing teen girls into sending him sexually explicit photos of themselves. … … The photos investigation began Sept. 21 when two students provided information to the Greenfield police … Continue reading

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Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, Sexual Harassment | 1 Comment

Contact the AALS About Restoring Child Care Services During the Annual Meeting.

If you’re a law professor with young children, you’ve probably noticed that AALS has discontinued the previous practice of offering child care services to members attending the annual meeting, due to low enrollment in the past. Our understanding is that … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Families, Feminism and Law, Feminists in Academia, Law Teaching | Comments Off on Contact the AALS About Restoring Child Care Services During the Annual Meeting.

“I don’t want to be (on the Internet), but I have to be there and it’s never going away, and that’s a scary thought,” she said.

Child porn victim seeks restitution VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Oct. 25 (UPI) — A U.S. woman filmed in a series of pornographic movies as a child says she is seeking restitution from anyone convicted of possessing them. The 20-year-old woman, whose … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Justice? | Comments Off on “I don’t want to be (on the Internet), but I have to be there and it’s never going away, and that’s a scary thought,” she said.

How are my legal subject areas doing re: gender balance?

Brian Leiter conducted a poll regarding the Top Law Faculties for Intellectual Property and Cyberspace Law. The results give a window into the subject specific gender balance at each of the “Top 24” schools. There were 95 men and 45 … Continue reading

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Rape a Pre-existing Condition to Insurance Companies?

Well, not exactly, but pretty damn close.   And in one case, maybe so. Here’s the story from the Huffington Post. Basically, women who are raped who need medical treatment of some form, for possible HIV-contraction or post-traumatic stress disorder, … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law | 2 Comments

Ruth O’Brien (editor),”TELLING STORIES OUT OF COURT: Narratives about Women and Workplace Discrimination”

Professor Ruth O’Brien teaches in the Political Science department at the Graduate Center of CUNY. Her new book about women and workplace discrimination uses both legal commentary and ‘story-telling’ methods to explore sexism and discrimination at work. From the publisher’s … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Employment Discrimination, Feminism and Law, Feminism and the Workplace, Feminists in Academia, Sexual Harassment | 1 Comment

George Mason School of Law Sued for Sexual Harassment

From Law.com: … This July, Kyndra Rotunda filed a lawsuit against the Arlington, Va., school, where just three years before she had happily signed on as director of a legal assistance clinic for military service members. In her suit, she … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Employment Discrimination, Feminism and Law, Feminism and the Workplace, Law Schools, Law Teaching, Sexual Harassment | 1 Comment

The Yale Law School Information Society Project’s Upcoming Conference is Entitled: “JOURNALISM AND THE NEW MEDIA ECOLOGY: WHO WILL PAY THE MESSENGERS?” and 32 Out of 39 Listed Speakers Are Male.

Website here, program here.   New media conference, same old YLS misogyny. Not so random aside: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) launched an Ethical Journalism Initiative in 2008. The IFJ considers fair gender portrayal as part of ethical journalism, … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, Sexism in the Media, The Underrepresentation of Women | 3 Comments

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services’ (GEMS) mission is to empower young women, ages12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential.

MESSAGE FROM HALLE BERRY October 1, 2009 Dear GEMS Friends, Being a girl isn’t easy. Today in New York City, a girl will flee an abusive home, only to be approached by a pimp-trafficker who will promise her love and … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, From the FLP mailbox, Justice?, Women's Health | Comments Off on Girls Educational and Mentoring Services’ (GEMS) mission is to empower young women, ages12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential.

Alienate My Affections: The Market (In)Alienability of Attending to Others (Or, Aynnie Did You Dun?)

I have been away from my blog for quite some days now as I plunge into teaching, writing, editing articles, and finalizing my dissertation. Anyway, with all of the intellectual cross-pollination going on in my life, I find myself thinking … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Families, Feminism and Law | 1 Comment

“The word”rape”has been disappeared from the English language”

That’s the title of this interesting post at Historiann. Below are the first two paragraphs: At least in the coverage of Roman Polanski’s arrest it has!   I keep hearing about how he was arrested in Switzerland this weekend on … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

Former assistant public defender found guilty of having sex with a client in return for promising to work harder on her case.

From the (Albany NY) Times Union: … The six-member panel convicted Matthew Swedick, 39, of one misdemeanor count of official misconduct. He was acquitted on two other counts of the same charge. The case against him goes back two years … Continue reading

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Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Legal Profession | 1 Comment

Chung on “From Lily Bart to the Boom Boom Room: How Wall Street’s Social and Cultural Response to Women Has Shaped Securities Regulation”

Christine Sgarlata Chung (Albany) has accepted an offer from the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender to publish her article “From Lily Bart to the Boom Boom Room: How Wall Street’s Social and Cultural Response to Women Has Shaped Securities … Continue reading

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USC Law Prof Elyn Saks Won a MacArthur Foundation Award

Mary Dudziak has the details.

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Where Are the Women? – Upcoming Conferences Installment

I. First up: the John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture at Villanova’s law school. Here is the list of “Conference Participants,” which appears to be entirely male: Joseph Vining Harry Burns Hutchins Collegiate Professor University of Michigan … Continue reading

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The “2010 California Marriage Protection Act” will ban divorce in the state of California.

“People who supported Prop 8 weren’t trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That’s why I’m confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Families, Feminism and Law, It's satire, in case that requires pointing out, LGBT Rights | Comments Off on The “2010 California Marriage Protection Act” will ban divorce in the state of California.

Inciting harassment can be costly.

Check out this settlement: Mid-Trial Settlement for Derogatory Comments by Shock Jocks- $1,000,000.00 Settlement: $1,000,000.00 after three days of trial Caption: Athena Anddrinkopoulis v. Defendant (No Response) Judge: Hon. John Egan, JSC Date of Settlement: 12/6/07 Plaintiff’s Attorney: Daniel Centi, … Continue reading

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Mikula v. Allegheny County of Pennsylvania re-decided based on a broader construction of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

From Womenstake: In a triumphant development for equal pay, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled in favor of Mary Lou Mikula, holding that her Title VII pay discrimination claim had been erroneously dismissed on the basis that her … Continue reading

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Where Are the Women? Not at George Mason’s “Gridlock Economy Conference,” that’s clear.

George Mason University, School of Law is convening a conference entitled: Tragedies of the Gridlock Economy – How Mis-configuring Property Rights Stymies Social Efficiency. Here are the listed participants: Michael Heller Richard Epstein Harold Demsetz Michael Meurer F. Scott Kieff … Continue reading

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Female Supervisors Face Significant Sexual Harassment

From Paul Secunda at Workplace Prof Blog: “Probably not a big surprise to many readers out there that female supervisors are still harassed in large numbers, but the fact that this study show that they are harassed more than non-supervisor … Continue reading

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Blaming a Murder Victim

The Associated Press has recently made a lot of noise about “enforcing” its copyrights on the Internet. Conveniently enough, making bloggers afraid to copy portions of AP articles into posts allows the AP to evade criticism for its unbelievably bad … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law | 1 Comment

First names and judicial destiny for women, at least in South Carolina…

From the ABA Journal: Women lawyers with masculine-sounding first names have better odds of becoming a judge than their counterparts with feminine names, at least in South Carolina, according to a study by two economics researchers. The study finds that … Continue reading

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Posted in Courts and the Judiciary, Feminism and Law, Feminists in Academia, South Carolina | Comments Off on First names and judicial destiny for women, at least in South Carolina…

“A cyberbullying case in Saint Charles County, Missouri, will test a year-old state law on electronic harassment. The law makes it a felony for someone 21 years or older to communicate with someone 17 years or younger by phone or electronic means in order to recklessly frighten, intimidate, or cause emotional distress to that person.”

From CNET News: … Elizabeth Thrasher, 40, allegedly posted a photo and personal contact details of a teenage girl in the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist during the spring. The teen reportedly received phone calls, e-mails, and text messages from … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | Comments Off on “A cyberbullying case in Saint Charles County, Missouri, will test a year-old state law on electronic harassment. The law makes it a felony for someone 21 years or older to communicate with someone 17 years or younger by phone or electronic means in order to recklessly frighten, intimidate, or cause emotional distress to that person.”

“The study found that women were far more likely to suffer minimum wage violations than men, with the highest prevalence among women who were illegal immigrants. Among American-born workers, African-Americans had a violation rate nearly triple that for whites.”

Those are two utterly unsurprising sentences from this depressing NYT article about how often low wage workers are cheated by their employers. –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Feminism and Economics, Feminism and Law, Race and Racism, The Overrepresentation of Women, Women and Economics | Comments Off on “The study found that women were far more likely to suffer minimum wage violations than men, with the highest prevalence among women who were illegal immigrants. Among American-born workers, African-Americans had a violation rate nearly triple that for whites.”

The True Test of President Obama’s Commitment to Diversity on the Supreme Court

President Obama’s appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court this past summer was hailed as a landmark moment in Supreme Court history as Justice Sotomayor became the first Latina on the Court.   But looked at in a … Continue reading

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Why Gender Still Matters

Gender still matters, judging by events of recent months, such as President Obama establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls, to make sure that all federal agencies”take into account the particular needs and concerns of women and girls”and … Continue reading

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Did Texas execute an innocent man?

Read this chilling New Yorker article about Cameron Todd Willingham to understand why this is a very real possibility. I do have to quibble with the description by one expert of a very questionable theory about arson propounded by two … Continue reading

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Deborah L. Rhode, The Injustice of Appearance

INTRODUCTION “It hurts to be beautiful”is a cliché I grew up with.”It hurts not to be beautiful”is a truth I acquired on my own. But not until finishing the research that led to this Article did I begin to grasp … Continue reading

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Where Are the Women? Texas Twofer Edition

First up: 50 SOUTH TEXAS LAW REVIEW, NO. 4, SUMMER, 2009. Symposium: Law, Ethics, and the War on Terror. 50 S. Tex. L. Rev. 617- 974 (2009). [H][L][W] Hansen, Victor. Understanding the role of military lawyers in the war on … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, The Underrepresentation of Women | 1 Comment

The Margaret Sanger Papers Project

A lot gets written and said about Margaret Sanger. This NYU archive provides readers with access to her actual words. It also offers rebuttals to mischaracterizations of her views, and other information about Sanger and her work. –Ann Bartow

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal History, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Reproductive Rights | 1 Comment

Dan Kahan, “Culture, Cognition, and Consent: Who Perceives What, and Why, in ‘Acquaintance Rape’ Cases” – A Request for Input

Prof. Dan Kahan has written a paper that reports the results of an experimental study of perceptions of consent and other facts in a hypothetical date rape case (patterned closely on Commonwealth v. Berkowitz [court stated that the legislature intended … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Feminists in Academia | 1 Comment

Kate Harding on Cyberbullying

Via The Guardian. Here is the first paragraph: This week, a New York state supreme court judge ruled that Google (owners of Blogger.com) must turn over the electronic identity of an anonymous blogger who repeatedly attacked New York model Liskula … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | 1 Comment

Has the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights put universities on notice that indifference to online harassment could result in liability under Title IX?

From the Title IX Blog: … The Department of Education addressed for the first time whether schools could violate Title IX by failing to respond appropriately to sexual harassment on-line, according to advocacy group Security On Campus. The agency was … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law | 2 Comments

“What Were Laura Ling and Euna Lee Looking For in North Korea?”

Ji-Yeon Yuh poses this question in this post at the Women’s Media Center. Here is an excerpt: … Proportionally, the trafficking of North Korean women into China is a small part of an enormous worldwide criminal enterprise … However, of … Continue reading

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Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Sisters In Other Nations | 2 Comments

The Portia Hypothesis for South Carolina Judges

Two Clemson economists have a new paper in the American Law and Economics Review (available here on Westlaw – sorry, I can’t find a free link to it) titled:   Do Masculine Names Help Female Lawyers Become Judges?   Evidence … Continue reading

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New Law in Afghanistan Allows Men to Deny Food to Wives Who Refuse Sex–oh, and there’s good news in rape law as well

1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for? (Thanks to Country Joe and the Fish).  Apparently, for the rights of Afghan men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to fulfill their husbands’ sexual requests; for laws … Continue reading

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On Tasers and “Disorderly Conduct”

When I was a kid I used to watch “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” with some regularity, and learned that tranquilizer darts could stop large angry charging animals (lions, elephants, hippos) as well as much smaller critters very quickly in … Continue reading

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Paranoid or Dead: The modern woman’s dilemma.

That’s a line from this post by Amanda Hess entitled Rape Prevention Tips From Rapists: Stay Inside Or Die A Horrible Death. Here’s a short excerpt: It’s not difficult to parse the real message in this advice:If you don’t want … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law, If you're a woman | 3 Comments

Sex Stereotyping, Legal Research and Feminist Activism

[From Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis student Amelia Deibert] I thought you all would be interested in an experience I had with Westlaw recently: I  was  researching  cross-examination tactics, and I happened upon an American Jurisprudence Trials article … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, Guest Blogger, Legal Profession | 1 Comment

“Comprehensive Health Insurance Reform: An Essential Prescription for Women”

That is the title of a new report issued by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). Below is the abstract: The status-quo health insurance system is serving women poorly. An estimated 64 million women lack … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Economics, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Medicine, If you're a woman, Women's Health | 1 Comment

Reg Graycar and Jenny Jane Morgan, “Equality Rights: What’s Wrong?”

Abstract: In 2009, Australia is debating whether to have a national bill of rights and remains one of the last western democracies that has not yet legislated for (or indeed constitutionally entrenched) some form of human rights law. Nor is … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Sisters In Other Nations | 1 Comment

Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, “Human Rights at Home: Domestic Violence as a Human Rights Violation”

The abstract: In 2005, Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales) initiated the first international legal action against the United States for violating the human rights of a domestic violence victim. Ms. Lenahan’s petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Jessica Gonzales … Continue reading

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Maybe Lucia Whalen should also get a beer?

Caller in Gates Case Says She Didn’t Mention Race By KATIE ZEZIMA CAMBRIDGE, Mass. : Lucia Whalen, whose 911 call led to the arrest of the Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home, made her first public comments … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism and Law, Race and Racism, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment